Blown away by stock speakers this morning...

[quality_sound]

I can't understand why people say it lacks the lows...My car bumps and shakes with the stock system...???

That's midbass, not low bass. If you want to shake panels, put in a peak at 125-160Hz. It'll sound louder (the illusion of volume comes from the midbass region) and it makes most people happy. It's also why most people don't see a need for a sub...until they hear one.

 

[Skirball]

What the hell is wrong with good ol', tried and true, WAV? You know... the format that the music get RECORDED in?

Nothing, but the lossless formats are suppose to provide identical sound quality with smaller file size. Also, and this may be fixed long ago as I haven't followed, but the tags with WAVs used to be a nightmare. Mostly though, it probably has to do with most of the music that is 'shared' over the internet is not WAV, so therefore, most people don't have it.

Although I get what you're saying, most quality production music isn't actually recorded in redbook - CD standard, but it too is converted (lossy) for distribution to the masses.

 

[nuggstein]

Nothing, but the lossless formats are suppose to provide identical sound quality with smaller file size. Also, and this may be fixed long ago as I haven't followed, but the tags with WAVs used to be a nightmare. Mostly though, it probably has to do with most of the music that is 'shared' over the internet is not WAV, so therefore, most people don't have it.

Although I get what you're saying, most quality production music isn't actually recorded in redbook - CD standard, but it too is converted (lossy) for distribution to the masses.

Haha, WAV files are huge.

 

[McQueen77]

I can't understand why people say it lacks the lows...My car bumps and shakes with the stock system...???

Coming from over a decade in recording studios and working on home studio projects, yes, it totally lacks low end. This is fact, not conjecture. If it sounds ok to you, fine, but it is simply a fact that the stock stereo is only giving you a narrow frequency range and that you arent hearing all of the music, mainly because the stock system has no sub. How would you like to go to see a movie with a theatre that lacks subs? How do you think the movie would sound then? Thats right, terrible and weak.

Those stock 5" door speakers or whatever they are can not accurately reproduce frequencies below a certain threshhold so, likeit or not, youre not hearing all of the
music. Being a bass player, music missing low end blows. Not to mention the stock system just kinf of blows: underpowered, tiny magnets, i could go on.

It sounds ok to you until you add a sub and then you go, oh, thats what the song
sounds like. I new it was crap the second i got the car. Zero impact with the stock stereo. The sub addition makes it livable. With no sub you are missing hearing anything from 25hz give or take to about 80hz, a huge chunk, and you arent physically feeling the music at all. Anything in the 18hz to 30 or so range is the feeling part that you are lacking, in layman's terms anyway

 

[nuggstein]

Coming from over a decade in recording studios and working on home studio projects, yes, it totally lacks low end. This is fact, not conjecture. If it sounds ok to you, fine, but it is simply a fact that the stock stereo is only giving you a narrow frequency range and that you arent hearing all of the music, mainly because the stock system has no sub. How would you like to go to see a movie with a theatre that lacks subs? How do you think the movie would sound then? Thats right, terrible and weak.

Those stock 5" door speakers or whatever they are can not accurately reproduce frequencies below a certain threshhold so, likeit or not, youre not hearing all of the
music. Being a bass player, music missing low end blows. Not to mention the stock system just kinf of blows: underpowered, tiny magnets, i could go on.

It sounds ok to you until you add a sub and then you go, oh, thats what the song
sounds like. I new it was crap the second i got the car. Zero impact with the stock stereo. The sub addition makes it livable. With no sub you are missing hearing anything from 25hz give or take to about 80hz, a huge chunk, and you arent physically feeling the music at all. Anything in the 18hz to 30 or so range is the feeling part that you are lacking, in layman's terms anyway

Thanks for this!

Does adding a sub prevent the other 8 speakers from creating the mid-lows, so that you can make the volume higher without distortion?

 

[ChiGuyGolf2.5]

Nope. Signal is signal. The system might limit it but the cable can't.

Not true. There is a difference in source. The Auxillary cable (analog) for example won't give you as good of music quality as using a CD (digital) or MDI. Bluetooth, I am not sure yet if it affects sound quality at all, good or bad?

Does P2P still exist? I'll have a (crappy quality) song with messed up tags pop up in my playlist from time to time leftover from the Kazaa days.

I use frostwire. It still works okay. Some bad music files every now and then. :thumbsup:

What the hell is wrong with good ol', tried and true, WAV? You know... the format that the music get RECORDED in?

I love WAV files but others mentioned they are too large. This is why I prefer CD's any day over my iPhone/iPod.

I actually bought the car because the stock stereo is very good compared to most. Especially my 1996 Ford Explorer which had its own stock sub and amp. That car's audio was HORRIBLE.

My 94 Accord EX with a stock Bose sound system was the best so far. I would roll up and people would ask what kind of subs I had. I would tell them two 6X9's. :laugh:

 

[Apexeater]

Here is my question; how can anyone critically listen to music in a environment that is full of tire noise, engine noise, wind noise and any of the other variences that come from a car system? I get the difference between lossless and mainstream MP3 but I have realistic expectations for listening in my car. I listen to my music with the SD card and at 320 and am happy (unless I have to listen to Sirrus). And I think the Dynaudio system is one of the better OEM systems out there (in this price point anyways).

Just my .02

 

[McQueen77]

Thanks for this!

Does adding a sub prevent the other 8 speakers from creating the mid-lows, so that you can make the volume higher without distortion?

yes, the crossover prevents frequencies above a certain threshold from going to those speakers so they don't work as hard and there is less audible distortion/mush, etc. adding a powered sub is a no brainer in this car. its a cheap fix. otherwise you are getting into dumping a bunch of money into some off the hook car stereo and then you're like, one of those guys..

 

[nuggstein]

Here is my question; how can anyone critically listen to music in a environment that is full of tire noise, engine noise, wind noise and any of the other variences that come from a car system? I get the difference between lossless and mainstream MP3 but I have realistic expectations for listening in my car. I listen to my music with the SD card and at 320 and am happy (unless I have to listen to Sirrus). And I think the Dynaudio system is one of the better OEM systems out there (in this price point anyways).

Just my .02

Because when you have the volume over 20, you can't hear the tire noise, engine noise, and wind noise.

yes, the crossover prevents frequencies above a certain threshold from going to those speakers so they don't work as hard and there is less audible distortion/mush, etc. adding a powered sub is a no brainer in this car. its a cheap fix. otherwise you are getting into dumping a bunch of money into some off the hook car stereo and then you're like, one of those guys..

The one thing I'm nervous about is hearing the bass throughout the entire car, like it's surrounding you. At least with the stock system there's a little bass out of every speaker (except for the tweeters of course).

 

[Skirball]

yes, the crossover prevents frequencies above a certain threshold from going to those speakers so they don't work as hard and there is less audible distortion/mush, etc.

What crossover, in the HU or did you put in XOs?

If you're just tapping off the b-pillar like a lot on here, you can turn down the bass on the HU but other than that I don't see how it really reduces bass on the stock speakers.

 

[Jaxper]

Based on some of the discussion here, I wonder how long it would take to convert all 16GBs of my music to Apple lossless format...

 

[nuggstein]

Based on some of the discussion here, I wonder how long it would take to convert all 16GBs of my music to Apple lossless format...

Well you can't upconvert. While the file size will be bigger, you can't upconvert 192 kbps to 320kbps. So unless you have lossless audio files already either on a CD or FLAC...you might be out of luck.

 

[Jaxper]

Well you can't upconvert. While the file size will be bigger, you can't upconvert 192 kbps to 320kbps. So unless you have lossless audio files already either on a CD or FLAC...you might be out of luck.

Ah, that makes sense. Didn't even think of that this morning when I was reading this. I think I may have a few GBs that I'll be able to convert then.

 

[quality_sound]

Not true. There is a difference in source. The Auxillary cable (analog) for example won't give you as good of music quality as using a CD (digital) or MDI. Bluetooth, I am not sure yet if it affects sound quality at all, good or bad?

You can't compare analog transmission to digital. But the point of my post was that cable is cable. Of the same type, cable is cable. Once you compare CD to MDI you get into the differences in the DACs.

 

[quality_sound]

Well you can't upconvert. While the file size will be bigger, you can't upconvert 192 kbps to 320kbps. So unless you have lossless audio files already either on a CD or FLAC...you might be out of luck.

He could still do it, but it would be a lossless version of what he has vs. original quality. I agree though, no point unless you're using the original format as the source.