How Can I Listen to HD Radio on a Factory Stereo? | Wirecutter
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Dear Wirecutter: How Can I Listen to HD Radio on a Factory Stereo?

Q: I’ve got a 2014 Dodge Charger and live in Southeast Florida, where there are no longer any classical radio stations. I’d love to get an HD radio that would easily add on to my basic factory radio. I’ve looked throughout the years for something that will work with Bluetooth, USB, or a 3.5 mm auxiliary jack to no avail. What do you recommend?

If you’re driving an older car and want to be able to jam to your tunes without installing a new head unit, a Bluetooth car receiver can help.

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A: You’re right, there don’t appear to be any hardware add-ons for receiving HD Radio without fully replacing the basic factory radio. The best solution for you is to connect your phone to your car’s stereo and use an app for HD Radio. I’d suggest using either a streaming app like the ones AppAdvice recommends, or the proprietary app from a station you might like. WLRN, a classical radio station local to you, has free apps for both iOS and Android. You simply have to tap on the radio icon in the top right corner and hit the blue “WLRN Classical HD2” button to start the stream.

Screenshot of WLRN app.
To listen to the radio on WLRN’s app, just tap the radio icon on the top right corner of your screen.

This will, of course, use your cellular data. We don’t know what streaming quality WLRN uses, but most apps stream in the range of 64 kbps (kilobits per second) to 320 kbps, per a 2014 Gizmodo article. At the low end, that’d be about 29 MB of data an hour, or 115.2 MB at the high end. If you happen to use T-Mobile as your carrier, you can stream from many music services without using your data allotment.

To physically connect your phone to your car, you could use an auxiliary or USB cable, or even go wireless with one of the options in our guide to Bluetooth car kits.

You might also consider activating the SiriusXM Radio on your Uconnect infotainment system if the streaming data is going to be a problem. The service offers three separate classical stations, starting at $11 a month.

The Wirecutter’s editors answer reader questions all the time (much more than once a week). Send an email to notes@thewirecutter.com, or talk to us on Twitter and Facebook. Published questions are edited for space and clarity.

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