Android Auto update ruins audio quality on some head units, and Google might not fix it

A bug with Android Auto is causing users to see audio quality for music muffled and otherwise cut down drastically following the use of Google Assistant, phone calls, and other features.

The appeal of Android Auto boils down to a few key things, such as mapping/navigation, as well as using your favorite music apps on your car’s screen and having access to a handy voice assistant. For some, though, those haven’t been playing nicely together as of late, with a recent update effectively ruining sound quality.

Some users have chimed in across Google’s forums and Reddit, saying that they’ve noticed degraded audio quality when streaming music via Android Auto but only after using Google Assistant or making a phone call. When first starting up the car and getting the music going, everything sounds normal, but invoking the Assistant or making a call breaks the quality and leaves music sounding “muffled” and almost like static, as one affected user explained. Notification sounds can also trigger audio quality to degrade.

Those affected do report that restarting Android Auto/the head unit fixes the problem until the next time Assistant is used or there is a call.

The issue doesn’t seem especially widespread, and that might be because it appears to at least primarily affect, if not only affect, some aftermarket Android Auto head units. An ongoing issue with head units that use “ZLink” software first appeared in late August with Android Auto v10.0 and higher. There’s a thread on Google’s Issue Tracker regarding the bug, and Google has previously said that the problem is being investigated. “ZLink” is a piece of software that was developed to run Android Auto, CarPlay, and other platforms on aftermarket head units.

While this has been ongoing since around August 20, it seems to be affecting more users as of late, as most reports have come out within the past few days as the latest Android Auto versions have become more widely available.

However, it’s possible that this issue may not be fixed by Google.

Seeing as most units affected seem to be generic units using what Google considers “a pirate product,” the company has marked the issue as “infeasible” and suggests that a fix will not come because the products were not certified by Google. While that makes sense to a certain degree, it’s also more than a bit harsh for an update from Google to break support for these admittedly not-approved units, only for Google to then say that future updates won’t fix the problem.

If you’re affected by this problem, drop a comment below and let us know.

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