listening to music in the car

I’m like gdhal. Always looking for time to listen to music. A good car audio system helps. A quiet ride also helps. I think I read the Acura ELS system uses active noise cancellation. In any case the overall result is very good and I hear more in the recordings without having to up the volume. Bass is very controlled and does not obscure the midrange as often happens in cars. Very happy! Silly to compare to home. Totally different. I had a Nakamichi unit in a fairly noisy SUV years ago. Good sound but lots of background noise.

In any case I’d be interested in others opinions of the Acura system. If they have heard it. Again using good quality streamer on smart phone like Plex helps greatly. Sirius is still pretty unlistenable though. I will let the free trial expire.

Mapman,

A quite ride would indeed help.   A random Acura I looked up at Motor Trend shows 68 DB.   That may not include the ELS system?

Background noise would indeed be a big deal.

I am glad I found this thread because I do not feel fully an oddball anymore. I accepted that car environment and, probably, lesser quality electronics will degrade sound from what I am used at home. Still, when looking for a new car, I went around checking sound systems specifically. Huh, that was an experience. I brought an iPod Touch and one USB jump drive with different types of files (DSD, FLAC multiple resolutions, WAV, AIFF, nothing under 16/44.1) and puzzled each and every car salesman along the way. All the listening was done in stationary, non-running cars and some also during driving.

After all, I was disappointed with some that I had expected to be top-notch. Burmester in S coupe, for example. Not bad compared to others, but not as stunning as pedigree would make me think. For some reason, Jaguar XJ with Meridian system was the most pleasing to me. Another revelation was inconsistency of what a certain system could play. Pretty much nothing I tried could play AIFF, unless played from iPod, and pretty much everything could play FLAC, but resolutions varied. Tesla would play from iPod (or your iPhone) only via Bluetooth despite having an USB port which serves for...charging. Nothing I tried played DSD at that time. BMW was charging $1200 for Harman/Kardon upgrade, but deep at the end of instructions that most would never read, says that it would not play anything over, I believe, 320 Kbps. I had no mp3s, but it had no problem with AIFFs, for whatever it is worth. Volkswagen with Fender system was the most convenient by far with SD card slot (works even with 512 GB card) and USB port that actually connects. Unfortunately, Fender made sure that your opera will sound like a garage band. Everything else, too. It was basically unlistenable on most of the material/genres. So, these days we got to the point that sound is just a half of the problem.

glupson,

Your experience is much like my own.   I had a BMW X5 that had iPod connection in glove box.  It played all the files I had on the iPod but I admit most were ripped from CD rather than high res downloads.

Then I lost my mind and bought a C7 Stingray.  Terrible car but I'll skip that conversation and just say that listening at almost any speed was impossible due to noise and quality of the factory Bose system.

That car lasted about year, it was driving me crazy for many reasons but now addicted to performance and handling but needed a SUV I had a time finding something that would do both.

A friend suggested Porsche Macan, I drove one and it was instant love affair.  Ordered the Turbo (highest performance version) but skipped the Burmester in favor of other options.

Noise level is about 66 DB for my model with special glass.  Making it  quieter than Cadillac, Jag and Mercedes. 

Even with nice quiet levels the Bose is not great,  and like you I find it hard to play AIFF other than iPod.   Mine has option for SD cards and it recognizes the card but won't play unless it's FLAC or MP4.   I find that strange since Car Play is supposedly backed by Apple and AIFF is an Apple format.

I need more space in my iPod but currently the new iPod touch is available with maximum 128GB.   These days with memory so cheap I don't understand why Apple does not offer a premium model with 512 or even higher memory.  

Sync music to iPod is simple and reliable and plugged into the USB on car with Car Play it displays everything about what's being played and can be controlled a number of ways including voice command.

I've looked at other high end portable players but none seem to be compatible with USB much less Car Play.   I guess could buy a used iPhone and turn off the SIM which essentially converts it to an iPod but what a hassle and waste of money just to get some additional music space. 

My home system has a server with 12TB of music.   512 GB does not seem to me an unreasonable requirement for a portable player. 

My Sienna van has a pretty crappy system with it's ear piercing  pillar mounted tweeters and door speakers that rattle.    It makes coming home and turning on my system much more enjoyable.