Car audio getting better?

That's good to know. The radio (I hesitate to call it a stereo) in my 2005 Silverado was the crappiest I had heard since the 80's. FM signals would fade as I went under a bridge! Even the guys at Car Toys were shaking their heads at how lousy it was.

 

The Burmester system in my ‘18 C300 Sport sounds pretty great, although I’m sure someone will tell me why it’s no better than the Bose system in my ‘93 300ZX (after all, the numbers are the same). ;0)

 

Amen, amen. I did testing for them and drove everything from X1 to a $105,000 750iL. The latter sounded OK, though oddly me and my coworkers all agreed we could not get comfortable in the 786-way adjustable seats. My brother's new 440 upgrade Harman system sounds decent, though still recessed-mids and harsh when cranked just like back in the day.
Mercedes systems I always found pleasant, and the original Acura RL Bose setup was very nice to listen to. A Golf Alltrack and Chevy Volt I've been driving both sound enjoyable, surprisingly good though not hifi. The best factory setup I ever heard was the Nissan Armada, had a hell of a subwoofer, the only one I've heard to rival aftermarket.

 

Yup. It is often just a licensing arrangement. I once worked on a Ford/JBL system. Not so amazing...except I worked at a competitor of JBL! Turned out the system was specified together but Ford could buy from anyone as long as it met the spec...which meant the sound could be radically different.

 

I am guessing the Armada was similar to the one I had in my Titan. One of the best I’ve had. I loved the sub under the drivers seat. Bottom end literally kicked ass! it was labelled as Rockford.

 

+1 for Audi's B&O installation - sound is fantastic. Doesn't play WAV files though

 

I agree on the sound, plus the DVD-V playback is great for concert videos and more recent surround reissues not released on Blu ray or SACD.

 

Really? That does seem odd. Play them from what-CD-R? USB? What does it play from the same media?

 

Recently added a '12 CTS to the garage. The Bose system therein contained is horrid. It's bass heavy at any volume in the ugliest way even with the bass turned all the way off. A friend suggested I investigate the possibility of there being a subwoofer... if so, find it and disconnect it. Who signed off on this thing?? The Panasonic cassette based system in my, long gone, early 90's Mazda Protege remains the best sounding factory system I've had; miss it. Burmester must be killer...

 

Either from SD card or USB hard drive. Plays FLAC, ALAC, MP3, AAC fine. WAV is not listed in the manual as a recognized file format.

 

I am very pleased with the base system in my 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Altitude. I was going to pay for the upgrade but glad I didn't. This is by far the best sounding factory system I have ever had. No CD player which sucks but it handles other digital media very well. HD radio is nice also.

 

Oh, car audio has improved by leaps and bounds, especially since music is now mastered with a noisy environment in mind.

No more straining to hear quiet passages. Now you can perceive every single detail of the music over the road noise! Just make sure to buy the latest brickwalled remasters.



(sorry, bad joke)

 

I worked with a few OEM car electronics guys for a couple of years. They were all really into high quality car audio, and where hired by the radio electronics chief of a big three automaker whom was also really into high quality car audio (he tried to get DAT as an option for their cars in the early 90s.) Anyways, a new VP of in-vehicle systems, and the whole crew was let go. Their old "premium" system meant discreet amplifiers, separate speakers with tweeters in the dashboard, and most importantly, extensive EQing using dummy heads with instrumentation microphones in each seating position, then dialing it in by ear. The chief was crazy to the point they had separate EQ curves depending on the interior materials of the trim level of the car they were testing. One of the designers had me sit in an otherwise pedestrian looking minivan at a trade show, that had one of the best car stereo systems I've ever heard. He said they spent months EQing it, even developing a custom digital EQ circuit to handle an extra set of speakers they found they needed.

After they were let go, that was all replaced with a name-brand "premium" audio system, where they took the stock package the OEM offered and installed it into every car, as-is. The results where underwhelming.

From the other OEMs we worked with, the Harman brands (JBL, Mark Levinson, Harmon Kardon, Infinity) insisted on EQing every car individually. The rest were a mixed bag.

 

Listening to the stock audio system in a new Kia. I adjust the bass to "0" and the digital radio still sounds very boomy. Not so bad when I've played a ripped CD as mp3 on a usb, but still bass boomy.

 

Every car I've owned has had that boomy bass when the bass control was set in the middle position. I suspect that is an attempt to overcome the road noise that obscures the bass if the bass was not bumped up. I usually set the bass control down a couple notches.

 

I guess on the new cars with factory system has improved a lot comparing to the stock and premium sound of the 80's.
overall comparing to the legendary sound of the alpine 7347 tuner and with the 80's Rockford Fosgate amps and JBL speakers will still be questionable to beat in todays sound. Not just the alpine but the list goes on and on. Or maybe its a just a digital vs analog sound in a personal preference perspective. The Rockford US amps are still very good today probably one of the few US designed sound system that's still on the top 5.

 

Best in-car system I heard was a Mark Levinson in a Lexus IS c. 2008 that I borrowed for three months.

 

As I've posted before the Harmon/Kardon system in my wife's 2015 E-Class Benz is a delight, particularly with multichannel DVD-Audio.

 

My B&O is pretty decent in my Audi, agreed with a previous poster that Bose in my old Infiniti G35 was as bad as it got.

 

Car audio was always an afterthought

But driving your RoadRunner. without good tunes played on an aftermarket (not a stock car setup) was sacrilege.
Initial setup in 1979-80 was a Kenwood cassette deck, 6 Altec Lansing speakers , 2 on rear dash, 2 on lower front car door and 2 tweeters on the front dash. Below the Kenwood was the Tancredi 70 watts per channel with built in EQ.
Never had friends, acquaintances, or my fellow Crazy Eddie employee's including myself heard a better car audio system.
It was that good. Miss it among many other audio acquisitions.
Take care, John M.

 

I just bought a new 20 Mazda CX-5 with a base model stereo. I only listened to the radio when I was test driving and it sounded ok, but now that I have it home and am listening to mp3's from a thumb drive, it's very uninspiring. I have an old 2001 Sienna with a JBL stereo in it, which, before one of the tweeters blew, sounded pretty great. My Mazda stereo sounds very "digital", or maybe it's just that the components are cheap, or maybe the DAC isn't very good, not sure. I haven't plugged an ipod into the aux input yet, but I will do that next. I wouldn't know how to upgrade this type of stereo, because everything is integrated through the touch screen! Yes, I wish I had inquired about the upgraded audio system, but I can't go back now. The speakers might be a good place to start. Does anyone know what are nice efficient, accurate sounding 6.5 inch woofers?
Thank you!

 

In my Subaru Outback replacing the pair of OEM factory door speakers with some Infinity Reference 6.5" speakers was a massive improvement. In my old Mercedes C Coupe (that I just sold) I replaced the speakers with the same Infinity Reference speakers and the rears with the 5.25 midbass from a component set and it sounded amazing. I bragged to the people who bought it how great the stereo sounded. My new to me 2014 SLK250 has the Harman Kardon stereo upgrade and sounds great as it it.

With a stock system the speakers are always the weak link. Sometimes the stereo "upgrade" that is sold at the dealership is nothing but a speaker upgrade - my old 2004 Subaru Legacy had a "speaker" upgrade option and the stereo in that car sounded pretty darn good. I say try replacing the speakers in your CX-5. There are some speakers on the market that are specifically designed for this - to replace stock speakers when leaving the stock stereo in place. My infinities were sold like that and they really delivered the goods.

 

The JBL 'Premium' audio system in my '19 Kia Niro 4 is barely passable, if I take the mid out completely, bass on 0, and treble on 2! (Using an old iPhone as a player).

 

This is a BIG help! Thanks very much for the information. I'm seeing an older version on ebay and a newer version on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B..._title_oth_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Does this look like the correct speaker? I'm guessing the mounting is pretty straight forward, so I will give it a shot!

 

The system in my new E-Class AMG Premium is pretty decent. Not sure who makes it. FM is good but obviously dependent on reception. DAB is really rather acceptable, and much better than my 'old' 2017 one.
Bluetooth (5/aptx) from my phone is very decent via Deezer HiFi is excellent, but the real action starts when I plug my 1tb SanDisk SSD into USB to play lossless m4a files, wow!