2. misc-audio
  3. 166417-1635

Do you care about car audio?

I like nice cars and I appreciate the fact that I've been fortunate enough to lease and drive some very nice ones.  I would never drive a luxury car out of warranty, but that's not my point.  My point is, as much as I love audio, I never really had any urge to upgrade my car audio system.  Whatever came with the car was totally satisfactory to me.  Right now, my car came with a somewhat upgraded Meridian stereo, but it is not the full-blown surround/subwoofer deal.  It sounds fine and I've never wanted more than a standard decent car radio had to offer.  
Do you people have any enthusiasm for upgraded car audio as opposed to stock?  Then again, truth be told, I've never listened to the fancy car setups and I might be tempted if I thought it was that much more enjoyable.  Who knows. 
chayro
bkeske's avatar
bkeske
5,597 posts
 
Not really. I usually stream in my car, and most often than not, don’t listen to music except for longer trips, then I stream Tidal.

I used to care about the sound quality in my car, but now, I know it can never compare to my home system, so it’s more an afterthought than a challenge to tackle and make better. I just live with what the car came with. Not bad, but far from great. So be it.
gdnrbob
4,457 posts
 
My Audi TTS has Bang and Olufsen. The previous iteration had Bose.
I have to say the Bose was a better sounding system.
The B&O has less bass and requires high resolution streaming to sound decent.

I really love listening to music while driving, but the B&O has me listening to podcasts more than music nowadays.
Bob

goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot
1,380 posts
 
The good thing about car audio is that it runs off the battery. In my last car, Toyota Corolla, I installed a Kenwood CD player, Audiobahn amp and JBL rear speakers. It was great for rock and that’s all I listen to while I’m driving. Now I own a Kia SUV and the factory stereo is just OK though I’ve been listening to The Faces ‘A Nod...and The Rolling Stones ‘Exile on Main Street’ constantly. Point being, it’s more about driving than listening and I don’t use my iPhone while I’m driving.
I’d like to install an aftermarket amp, CD player and speakers but there’s a hundred things that take a higher priority, including paying attention to the road.
rdk777's avatar
rdk777
577 posts
 
Acura's had the Elliot Scheiner (collaborated) Panasonic 5.1 DVD-Audio player with surround sound (5.1) capability. I bought my car in 2009 and DVD-Audio's soon after became obsolete. They weren't around for a long time, but I managed to get most of the popular (rock) out-of-print titles through Ebay and other similar venues. The DVD player also played DTS 5.1 format. To this day, the DVD-Audio of Hotel California and Rumors (96 khz/24 bit) in my car sounds better than my two channel analog system - it's that good (the enclosed space in the car obviously helps, but nonetheless the sound is magnificent). 
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
Though my BMWs had pretty good audio, I've never owned genuinely first rate car audio gear. I also have to say that if I ever heard truly first rate audio in somebody's car/SUV etc., I can't remember it.  Usually, when somebody, like a car salesman or my hippie era VW Van driving buds, wanted to impress me with the audio they'd just crank the volume to Earsplitting Plus.  I also have to say that I like hearing traffic noise when I drive.  It keeps me more plugged in to what's happening on the road.
More to discover