ROLL CALL: Who has surround sound in their car(s)?

[holland123]

I don't say this to dump on anyone. Really I promise. But I hear people talking about rooms that are too small for surround sound and can only have one sweet spot. How can you possibly set up a car so it is a good surround experience even for the driver, let alone him and passengers? I've wondered about this for some time. I can't fully explain it mark and I really don't know if my little hatchback is the best place to listen to music or the worst place but lossless discrete surround such as hi rez Dvd-A in the car with a good quality playback system is just f ing Awesome. I often will take the long way home just to listen to a whole album in its entirety. I can play my music as loud as I want, I don't have any time delay parameters set up on my system , don't care for em, nobody ever rides with me to and from work so I don't know or care what it sounds like in the back seat because I can easily differentiate each channel, and it makes me feel like I am floating down the road without a single care. Every day I watch these jackasses zip in and out of lanes on the freeway like they are fighting for pole position at the Indy 500, never passing a thought of just how dangerous their actions are, and I just don't give half a shit as long as they keep the hell away from me, cuz right now I am digging the groove on some Chicago, or The Doobies or the Doors or Pink Floyd and nothing else matters but the music and getting where I need to be safely. pardon the pun but, it's truly a gas, highly recommended. K

 

[holland123]

Larry,

I meant other than Acura. Heck I've been championing Acura DVD-A and 5.1 since my first TL back in 2004. Lord knows I've put my money where my heart was. However, it should have come around in 2000, and it should have been offered in other manufacturer's cars as well. It didn't have to be ELS, but the DVD Group (or whoever those people were) should have given sweetheart deals to Detroit and others to get the players in the cars for the format launch. Again, missed opportunity. Sour grapes, I know but you know how great it is to hear 5.1 in the car! Just think of how many 2004-2015+ Acura's are out there on the highway and their owners have absolutely no clue what capability they have.

You are so right Jon, and I feel like we've been down this road so to speak once or twice before and each time I think about it I too get a tad more pissed off. They f ing had it and dropped the ball. Hi Rez, True Audiophile grade playback in my car are you kidding, I still remember bringing my homemade portable speaker box with my little Norelco cassette player while driving my parents car and thinking hell yea this is the shit! Never dreaming audio in a car could get thIs good. by 2007 there were a few other than Acura that had Audiophile grade Dvd A, like Cadillac and Mercedes, but the sad fact is most peeps just don't and didn't give a shit, We are the few who did/do. Bluetooth and mp3 are what they wanted, quantity not quality. don't get me wrong there are many factory systems that sound pretty darn good these days, but not like that ELS system, sorry but to my ear nothing factory has come close since. it's been a downhill slide ever since. Back At the turn of the century (whoa that sounds messed) I was heavily involved in competition car audio and I still remember Panasonic and the ELS team asking our 12volt group here in Detroit to audition their next level factory audio, at a mocked set up in Cobo hall and we were all like yea right, cuz at that time factory sytems were so far behind the aftermarket that they were a joke. Aside from a couple of glitches in their playback that seems they corrected before coming to market such as I remember originally the head units would not play homemade dvd A or V's , but We were all truly blown away. however you know they say that what goes around comes around and I truly hope and believe that we have not seen the end of 12v Audiophile Hi Rez surround. K

 

[markshan]

My daughter totaled her Camry (she is fine) and she says the rental has surround in it (a 2019 Camry). I don't know if she is correct or what media it accepts, but perhaps I'll get a chance to experience it first hand if I can get her to be still at home for an hour.

 

[Larry Geller]

Larry,

I meant other than Acura. Heck I've been championing Acura DVD-A and 5.1 since my first TL back in 2004. Lord knows I've put my money where my heart was. However, it should have come around in 2000, and it should have been offered in other manufacturer's cars as well. It didn't have to be ELS, but the DVD Group (or whoever those people were) should have given sweetheart deals to Detroit and others to get the players in the cars for the format launch. Again, missed opportunity. Sour grapes, I know but you know how great it is to hear 5.1 in the car! Just think of how many 2004-2015+ Acura's are out there on the highway and their owners have absolutely no clue what capability they have.

I'm an idiot. I didn't notice that I was replying to YOU, who of course knows all of this. I am totally embarrassed. I will now pay penance by listening to Artificial Paradise in surround.

 

[JonUrban]

I'm an idiot. I didn't notice that I was replying to YOU, who of course knows all of this. I am totally embarrassed. I will now pay penance by listening to Artificial Paradise in surround.

Larry, Larry, Larry.........you are NOT an idiot! I can vouch for that. After all, you have an Acura!

Now get out that Artificial Paradise DVD-A and crank it up!

 

[Dr Jones]

I have read this forum for years, but had not joined until now. I love music in surround. I started buying DTS cd's when
they came out, then SACD's and DVD-audio discs, to Blu-ray audio discs. I was at CES in the early 2000's and got to try out the new
Acura ELS system. I wanted a Acura, but didn't get one until two years ago. I bought a 2015 RDX for the audio system.
People look at me like I am crazy when I tell them that. I really like the car as well. I listen to most of my music in
the car and wanted to listen to my large surround collection not just at home anymore. Over the last five years I have been
ripping all my music to a large hard drive adding metadata and hooking it up to my Oppo so, I don't have to pull the disc
to play my music. This made it easy to create DVD-A's (using HD-Audio Solo Ultra) of my surround music for the car. I don't
like taking original disc's in the car. If the car gets busted into, I can create new discs. How many of you do the same
with your surround collections? How many people are riding around with these fabulous sound systems and never put a single
DVD-Audio disc in them? I will definitely be getting another Acura when this one calls it quits.
Question for JonUrban. Can the new Acura's take a Hard drive? How big? NTFS or FAT format?

 

[bossfan]

Thanks for the note Dr Jones. I too, bought my Acura TL for the primarily for the surround system but I must admit I quickly fell in love with the car. I think one of the great overlooked features of the sound system is the outstanding hard-drive music system that came with my package... For those who are not aware of this feature, you basically load your favourite CDs into the hard drive and the outstanding 5.1 sound system spits out the music in Dolby pro-logic ll. I mean I listen to my favourite stereo Cds in 5.1 every day I drive the car whether there is a DVD audio in the drive or not.... It's heaven... and with 307 raw horsepower under the hood, the growl of this baby is also music to my ears... and the tan leather upholstery adds the class and comfort to make this car my dream car...

 

[par4ken]

The big old boats we used to drive were perfect for surround, with a couple of 6x9's mounted on the rear deck. Today the rear speakers are usually mounted low in the rear doors, really only good to provide stereo to rear seated passengers, not very audible in the front. How do factory systems get around this? In my aging Pathfinder I added a couple of 6x9's in homemade cabinets made high enough to clear the back seats, connecting the speakers in the rear doors to the front channels.

 

[Dr Jones]

Glad to here I am not the only one. The only problem I have with the hard drive is it rips CD's lossey. When not playing DVD-A's or DTS cd's, I use an old school I-Pod loaded with Apple lossless tracks. The nice thing about the I-Pod is the head unit reads all the metadata, including artwork. If I could keep this car forever, I would.

QUOTE="bossfan, post: 462118, member: 6548"]
Thanks for the note Dr Jones. I too, bought my Acura TL for the primarily for the surround system but I must admit I quickly fell in love with the car. I think one of the great overlooked features of the sound system is the outstanding hard-drive music system that came with my package... For those who are not aware of this feature, you basically load your favourite CDs into the hard drive and the outstanding 5.1 sound system spits out the music in Dolby pro-logic ll. I mean I listen to my favourite stereo Cds in 5.1 every day I drive the car whether there is a DVD audio in the drive or not.... It's heaven... and with 307 raw horsepower under the hood, the growl of this baby is also music to my ears... and the tan leather upholstery adds the class and comfort to make this car my dream car...
[/QUOTE]

 

[Steve Schoultz]

I have the 2020 RDX. I put my music on a PNY Elite-X Fit 256GB 200MB/Sec USB 3.0 Flash Drive (P-FDI256EXFIT-GE). FAT format. You need to follow Jon’s instructions to properly convert 5.1 flacs to play on the system. There are a few issues were the system temporarily loses sync with drive or doesn’t play the correct track order. But I really love the interface and the sound quality. I traded in my 2012 TL.

 

[Dr Jones]

I have the 2020 RDX. I put my music on a PNY Elite-X Fit 256GB 200MB/Sec USB 3.0 Flash Drive (P-FDI256EXFIT-GE). FAT format. You need to follow Jon’s instructions to properly convert 5.1 flacs to play on the system. There are a few issues were the system temporarily loses sync with drive or doesn’t play the correct track order. But I really love the interface and the sound quality. I traded in my 2012 TL.

Is that the largest drive it will take? Has the gapless play issue been fixed? How do you like the sound compared to the TL?

 

[Blrac]

I purchased a 2012 Cadillac CTS with the Bose 5.1 surround system about a year ago. It actually sounds very good. I am not a fan of Bose at all, but I can't complain about the sound quality. I realize it helps that these are better quality discs and surround always make it sound better. I sought out this option when I bought my car and am glad i did. If I weren't so cheap and drove this car more than a few miles a week, I would try the Bose fake surround conversion using Sirius XM. I may try it once to see how it compares to Dolby, Auro, etc. If anyone can attest to the quality of it, I may be inclined to use it and incorporate Sirius into other listening environments.

 

[Steve Schoultz]

Is that the largest drive it will take? Has the gapless play issue been fixed? How do you like the sound compared to the TL?

I’m not sure of the maximum size, but I’ve seen in the acurazine forum up to 512 GB. I just picked the 256 due to cost.

It does not play gapless, not a deal breaker for me.

I think the sound is comparable to my TL. It sounds great especially with well mastered 5.1 flacs. The usb interface is still somewhat buggy. Every time you start the car, an initialization process runs before the audio function works. This process can be less than a minute, but sometimes longer. You also get the occasional usb error message. Solved by removing the drive then reinstalling. These issues are annoying but I’m thankful for the 5.1 audio capability. I couldn’t drive the 2012 TL much longer without some significant repair costs.

 

[Dr Jones]

I’m not sure of the maximum size, but I’ve seen in the acurazine forum up to 512 GB. I just picked the 256 due to cost.

It does not play gapless, not a deal breaker for me.

I think the sound is comparable to my TL. It sounds great especially with well mastered 5.1 flacs. The usb interface is still somewhat buggy. Every time you start the car, an initialization process runs before the audio function works. This process can be less than a minute, but sometimes longer. You also get the occasional usb error message. Solved by removing the drive then reinstalling. These issues are annoying but I’m thankful for the 5.1 audio capability. I couldn’t drive the 2012 TL much longer without some significant repair costs.

Thanks for the info. Hopefully, they will fix the gapless and allow compression of Flacs (other than 0) in the future, but nether would be a deal breaker for me either. Enjoy your new sound system and the car as well.

 

[JonUrban]

Thanks for the info. Hopefully, they will fix the gapless and allow compression of Flacs (other than 0) in the future, but nether would be a deal breaker for me either. Enjoy your new sound system and the car as well.

Hey Dr. Jones!

I am currently using a 512Gb HD in my 19 RDX without issue. However, at times it does need to be unplugged and plugged back in, but the annoying screech that used to appear at times has been banished by the last over the air software update.

As for the gapless playback, read back in this thread and you'll see that's out of ELS's hands as that function is part of the MOST bus that's used by the cars electronics, that and the zero compression deal, and quite frankly I don't think that the .0000001% of us that actually use the 5.1 feature rank very high on the "list of future fixes/features" list at Acura.

Still, my RDX now has 30K miles on it, I've been through some bizarre software changes and glitches, but as of right now, they are far and few between.

However, to this day, I still long for my DVD-A player as it was SO NICE to grab a disc (or disc copy) and take it with me in the car if it was something I wanted to hear on a whim and not have to go and rip it, convert it, and .flac it to a stick. On the other hand, it's like having all of my DVD-A's, SACD's and BluRays along with the quad conversions in my car at once, so who's to complain?

 

[Dr Jones]

Hey Dr. Jones!

I am currently using a 512Gb HD in my 19 RDX without issue. However, at times it does need to be unplugged and plugged back in, but the annoying screech that used to appear at times has been banished by the last over the air software update.

As for the gapless playback, read back in this thread and you'll see that's out of ELS's hands as that function is part of the MOST bus that's used by the cars electronics, that and the zero compression deal, and quite frankly I don't think that the .0000001% of us that actually use the 5.1 feature rank very high on the "list of future fixes/features" list at Acura.

Still, my RDX now has 30K miles on it, I've been through some bizarre software changes and glitches, but as of right now, they are far and few between.

However, to this day, I still long for my DVD-A player as it was SO NICE to grab a disc (or disc copy) and take it with me in the car if it was something I wanted to hear on a whim and not have to go and rip it, convert it, and .flac it to a stick. On the other hand, it's like having all of my DVD-A's, SACD's and BluRays along with the quad conversions in my car at once, so who's to complain?

Thanks for the info. The lack of gapless playback and the no higher than zero compression are not deal breakers for me, but would have made a excellent system even better. Even in my 2015, I wish Acura/Panasonic would have added reading metadata on DVD-Audio discs and had an option to rip CD's to it's Hard Drive as waves as well as lossey files. We can't have everything. It looks like when I upgrade my car I will just be buying a lot of sticks and instead of swapping out discs each LP, I will swap out Sticks when wanting an LP that isn't currently on the stick inserted. Sounds like an easier problem to have. Also, when ripping my discs, I will create a large 0 compression LP flac for LP's like the Beatles Love for gapless play. Problems solved.

 

[Kernelpanic]

2019 Acura RDX technology here. First time Acura owner. Researched the car to no end and learned about the ELS audio system but still did not understand the capabilities until I found this forum. Jon Urban and Bob Romano helped me along my journey of FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, ALC, Surround 5.1, Bit Rate, Bit Depth, Sample Rate, XLD, a tool for transcoding lossless audio files (it’s the dBpoweramp for OSX) Big and Little Endian Byte Order, lets see what else! Just bought a Fluance RT83 turntable, Audio-Technica VM520EB/H cartridge, then installed Vinyl studio on my MacPro. Why am I doing this. I should have just bought the Chevy Sonic.

 

[HIBY]

I am surprised no one on hear has Lexus models with Mark Levinson discrete 5.1? In 2020, only the GS, RC, and IS have the capabilty still. Playback is native 24bit 44.1/48khz.

· Discrete 5.1 multi-channel playback via a 7.1 speaker topology
· Mark Levinson Surround (MLS) audio software optimizes discrete 5.1 playback for Multiseat™ listening and provides a surround sound experience for stereo source material.
· Full digital transmission from the digital source to the discrete output topology power amplifiers
· Proprietary metal cone midrange and tweeter transducers
· 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS decoding of DVD Video, DVD Audio and DVD-R discs

 

[HIBY]

No love for older Range Rover, Infinity, or Mercedes S class 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS decoding of DVD Video? Can't believe no one has a Acura RLX with Krell audio package in here!

 

[HIBY]

Back in 2006 Sony released SACD capable headunits. The MEX-DV1000 could only play 2ch/MEX-DV2000 & XAV-W1 could play both multi channcel & 2 ch SACD, as well as DTS, Dolby digital CD/DVD playback. Pro logic II upsampling capable & phantom center channel capable.

https://www.highfidelityreview.com/sony-announces-three-super-audio-cd-car-stereo-players.html