Do you care about car audio?

@sgreg1

What do you mean by "sound better" in this context? I'd not take a second look if you said "enjoy more", but given the noise produced while driving and your proximity to glass which is know to produce hard reflections, I don't get that one. I do take cognizance that our hobby is very subjective and nobody is the same.

Is it a particular genre that sounds better in the car?

Ps. I do listen to music in the car and I do prefer music over talk radio and the sound of the wind rushing past the car. It's just that it is quite a ways below the quality of my audio system at home. 

Upgrading your car stereo can be a very expensive and time consuming process but when you get it all done you still have road noise to overcome so it will only sound great when it is parked.

sgreg1,

"...IMO there are songs that sound better in the car than at home."

I suspect that some material is mixed/mastered with car environment in mind as that is where many (most?) people will listen to it.

"When we had finished a song, we’d take a drive and listen to it on the car stereo to give us that extra objectivity. When you are working so intensely you can lose that objectivity. And when you’re in a studio you’re listening to the absolute best reproduction of the sound. But most people won’t hear it in that environment. So we’d go for a drive – the car test."

Article in the Independent on Sunday - leonardcohenforum.com

Lost interest after CDs took over.

Concord & Nakamichi head units made it work for me - started with a Concord HPL 110 & called it quits after a Nakamich TD700.

Good evening chayro,

I was in the same situation as the past several years with car audio as there was not much interest in upgrading the car stereo system.  A lot of the local car stereo shops seem to focus on the bass and high volume.  One day I walked into a shop with a car stereo dealer that had decades of experience from the time of cassette and even 8 track!  We talked about several different options for my Ridgeline truck. 

The final choice was to keep the original head unit, add a JL Audio - 5 channel 75 watt amp and 4 JL Audio separate component speakers. The amp drives the 4 JL door speakers and the existing subwoofer.
This dealer was able to use the factory head unit with the preamp outputs so the steering wheel controls all work perfectly.

When the work was completed he asked me to demo the truck with the new speakers and amp.  I was absolutely blown away by the night and day difference in sound. Especially when listening to a CD, the sound quality is exceptional.  He even added a small knob to directly control the output of the subwoofer (without going thru the settings on the head unit)!

After having many good quality car stereos I am amazed how well this simple setup works, and I can say that it is now a pleasure to drive that truck everyday.  

Best wishes,

Dan