[Gray_Beard]

I’m going to try this route with my existing USB-C 128GB sandisk drive and reformat and re-add my music and see what happens. Gonna research and see if I can do this with my M4 MacBook Air because I don’t have a windows PC and all my computers at work have bitlocker enabled so I’m not messing with recovery keys and whatnot on my personal drives

YT how to format usb larger than 32gb to FAT32. I saw Apple and MacBook videos.

 

[zo_nyc]

I'm really hoping this works because I don't want to buy another USB-C drive

 

[zo_nyc]

So I formatted my USB-C drive to FAT32 and put my music on it and my PP still doesn't recognize it. My music is organized into folders by artists. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

 

[fx_chip]

With consideration of the success posted by @NancyM above, I think everyone should put the following specifications into their usb selection or search parameters - USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C

 

[LouCam]

Well, I'm still at the Honda dealer service dept. They acknowledge the fact that some drives work and some don't. I showed them the Insignia adaptor & SanDisk drive that works as well as the SanDisk USB c & a combo that failed. They're bringing someone in from Honda to look at the problem & promise to keep me in the loop. About what I expected, but we'll see how it plays out. I tried to impress on them how frustrating it is to customers to spend this kind of $$ only to be disappointed by what should be an easy fix. Stay tuned, film at 11!!

 

[ddywz]

I did some more tests and here is what is working for me.

When I use the USB-C to USB-A adaptor with old USB drives with black color on the plugin port, they seem to work fine. I tried a 16GB from Microcenter with the adaptor that worked fine. So far I have not been able to use any USB 3.0/3.1/3.2 with the blue color on the port. I guess all USB-C thumbdrives are USB3.0 and up. I don't think they make USB-C thumbdrives USB2.0.

So for now I have to use old USB 2.0 thumbdrives, that unfortunately come only as USB type A and use the adaptor to convert them to USB-C.

This is definitely a fix for Honda. I hope they are reading these posts and update the system to be compatible with USB 3.0 drives.

Apart from the USB compatibility, now that at least I have a USB 2.0 working with my FLAC files that are lossless, I'm not too thrilled from the sound quality on the Trailsport Elite 2026. I can say that the music sounded warmer and better in my opinion in my PP Elite 2023 I had. Yes, there is plenty of volume and bass on the lower end, but the midrange on the PP 2026 is too dull and almost missing. You got only the equalizer to fix the issue and I found some settings that it sounds a bit better, but still I'm not satisfied with the audio quality from the "Premium sound system" with Bose speakers. It could be something in the crossovers or speakers themselves, but when you buy a car that says "Premium sound" I'd expect much better than this. Just my observation and others may have a different oppinion on this.

Maybe this is a topic for another thread, and for now I was just focusing to make this USB-C port working.

 

[stevenD]

Just an FYI, I am unaware of any evidence that Honda Corp. reads (or cares) what people say here. I wish it was otherwise..

You can contact Honda Corp (USA), but from my experience in doing so, it's unlikely to effect any major changes. The final say for Honda Design is most likely determined in Japan, with minimal input from the US and the LOGIC behind the software design suffers greatly, as can be seen over and over on this site!

For anyone that wants actual "premium" sound, the only alternative is a major aftermarket upgrade and that costs "stupid" amounts of money (Color me stupid...lol). Car makers today put the cheapest, most basic gear they can in vehicles, I would be surprised if a basic stereo costs them more than $100! While their "Premium" models get bumped up to $200 in components...

It would appear the listening world today has moved on from high-fidelity to low-fidelity streaming! And much of the music world has done the same! Gone are the days of musicianship, guitar and drum solos, wicked synth beats, etc. I mean how high-end do your speakers need to be for a Taylor Swift song?

With the typical car stereo, you are not going to be able to tell the difference between a Mp3 (music) file and a WAV/FLAC file!

Sorry for the rant, but I'm with all of you on this one, and probably MORE SO...

 

[NancyM]

With consideration of the success posted by @NancyM above, I think everyone should put the following specifications into their usb selection or search parameters - USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C

Yes but the OP is looking to hear lossless music (FLAC) vs .mp3 so I guess we’ll just have to stay tuned. No pun intended.😆

 

[zo_nyc]

So I plugged my Sandisk in again just for shits and giggles and it was able to dad it but was really slow populating folder info, I have 75GB of music on there. It said some features would be unavailable while the info loaded. The drive was really hot and after 20 mins didn’t make much progress so I unplugged and tried to plug it back in but wouldn’t recognize it lol

 

[NancyM]

I did some more tests and here is what is working for me.

When I use the USB-C to USB-A adaptor with old USB drives with black color on the plugin port, they seem to work fine. I tried a 16GB from Microcenter with the adaptor that worked fine. So far I have not been able to use any USB 3.0/3.1/3.2 with the blue color on the port. I guess all USB-C thumbdrives are USB3.0 and up. I don't think they make USB-C thumbdrives USB2.0.

So for now I have to use old USB 2.0 thumbdrives, that unfortunately come only as USB type A and use the adaptor to convert them to USB-C.

This is definitely a fix for Honda. I hope they are reading these posts and update the system to be compatible with USB 3.0 drives.

Apart from the USB compatibility, now that at least I have a USB 2.0 working with my FLAC files that are lossless, I'm not too thrilled from the sound quality on the Trailsport Elite 2026. I can say that the music sounded warmer and better in my opinion in my PP Elite 2023 I had. Yes, there is plenty of volume and bass on the lower end, but the midrange on the PP 2026 is too dull and almost missing. You got only the equalizer to fix the issue and I found some settings that it sounds a bit better, but still I'm not satisfied with the audio quality from the "Premium sound system" with Bose speakers. It could be something in the crossovers or speakers themselves, but when you buy a car that says "Premium sound" I'd expect much better than this. Just my observation and others may have a different oppinion on this.

Maybe this is a topic for another thread, and for now I was just focusing to make this USB-C port working.

I feel same way about the Bose. It’s a $15 bottle of wine when I was expecting a $50 bottle but hey, that’s me. Hearing is on the ear of the beholder.

 

[BennysPassport]

Here is what works for me, from Amazon. copied mp3 to it and plugged it in. Used 2 of these so far. I agree, Honda is weak on tech.

 

[Gray_Beard]

I have 3 SanDisk Ultra Flash Drives, 1 is a 256gb that I've had for about a year and others are another 256gb and a 64gb. All configured the same way using RUFUS. All FAT32 and non-bookable with mp3 music files. The only one that will work with the Passport is the older one. I also originally purchased a Samsung 64gb USB-C which would not work (xFAT formatted) until I formatted it to FAT32 and now it works fine.
So out of 4 flash drives 2 work, yet all configured the same way. Crazy