2018.12 has ruined the audio system

[sorka]

2018.12 has ruined my audio system. It's not that they lowered the maximum eq settings from 12 to 8 but they've also lowered the volume and they are clipping bass even when the eq settings are flat.

Bass Drums from various Telarc performances that are famous for their bass drums tuned down to 30-40 Hz that flutters against your ears with good headphones has been completely destroyed. Even with the EQ flat, it's clipped and can barely be heard.

I can only guess this change was made to prevent amplifier burnout or speaker surround destruction and lower the cost of warranty claims.

 

[davidc18]

Sorry to hear that yet again that Tesla software "updates" are actually "downgrades".

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I have not noticed any changes to the audio quality. Try rebooting?

 

[sorka]

I have not noticed any changes to the audio quality. Try rebooting?

Of course that was the first thing I tried. My wife and daughter also said they can't tell any difference while I can't see how anyone wouldn't but I guess not everyone hears the same.

 

[cruiserlarry]

I agree - the UHF sound system has been downgraded, and that is unacceptable IMO. The equalizer has had its range reduced by 50%, the volume levels have been cut, and the bass response is gone. I've emailed Tesla about this already, and got a generic response that my last update should have helped restore it to previous levels. Nope - got 2018.12 and the equalizer is still at 8db max instead of 12db, the volume used to blast me at 5 and now easily goes to 7 without my eardrums getting excited, and the subwoofer seems to have been virtually eliminated. The response I got did not address the equalizer change at all, but I can't see that as accidental. I expect they will restore the UHF system back to previous functionality, or send me a check for the additional money I paid for it, so I can use that to improve the system myself.

 

[eyedrop]

I find the new update helped even out the frequency response a little bit. I haven’t noticed any clipping or distortion.

I’m not sure why people tend to add more bass and treble on top of an already bloated and wildly inaccurate sound system. Even with no EQ and Dolby off, I find the sound way too over-processed and with massive peaks and valleys everywhere in the frequency response. One note sloppy bass, some random peak in the midrange and piercing treble that will make your ears fatigue after a few songs.

It honestly has always sounded terrible to me. Reminds me of how teenage boys like their Skullcandy headphones to sound with the EQ cranked all the way up while listening to their 128kbps streaming pop music....

I guess the UHF system is fine if your going for a dramatic effect, vivid type of sound. I get that most people will disagree with the recording engineer and will want to listen to the song in their perverted rendition that throws the original intention and atmosphere of the recording entirely out the window.

If listening to the speakers play party tricks is your thing, more power to you. I’m sorry that you can’t boost your bass and treble 12db anymore.

But if your like me, good luck on trying to listen to the recording for what it is. Nothing sounds even remotely accurate on this system, and never has...

 

[sorka]

I find the new update helped even out the frequency response a little bit. I haven’t noticed any clipping or distortion.

I’m not sure why people tend to add more bass and treble on top of an already bloated and wildly inaccurate sound system. Even with no EQ and Dolby off, I find the sound way too over-processed and with massive peaks and valleys everywhere in the frequency response. One note sloppy bass, some random peak in the midrange and piercing treble that will make your ears fatigue after a few songs.

It honestly has always sounded terrible to me. Reminds me of how teenage boys like their Skullcandy headphones to sound with the EQ cranked all the way up while listening to their 128kbps streaming pop music....

I guess the UHF system is fine if your going for a dramatic effect, vivid type of sound. I get that most people will disagree with the recording engineer and will want to listen to the song in their perverted rendition that throws the original intention and atmosphere of the recording entirely out the window.

If listening to the speakers play party tricks is your thing, more power to you. I’m sorry that you can’t boost your bass and treble 12db anymore.

But if your like me, good luck on trying to listen to the recording for what it is. Nothing sounds even remotely accurate on this system, and never has...

I listen to almost everything flat. I mentioned the EQ range reduction as an observation that seems to also have been implemented that coincides with a complete lack of bass.

Most car audio systems have peaks and valleys. I did a generator sweep when I first got it and it's better than most quite frankly but not as flat as the Mark Levinson in our Lexus.

My complaint now is that even if I turn the EQ up, the low low bass is completely gone...not flat...just gone. When I get a chance, I'll run another sweep to see how bad the damage is but I already know what I'm going to find.

What's worse is that the mid bass is still overblown just a tad which makes the lack of really low bass from my Bass Drums completely screwed up.

I listen almost exclusively to movie soundtracks. The UHF was better than average than a lot of stock sound systems. Now it's it worse than the JBL system in my Prius

 

[eyedrop]

Strange, I just ran a frequency sweep again with this new update and I’m still hearing a massive obnoxious peak in the 35-45hz region. If anything, it’s the mid and upper bass that is recessed. Anything under 30hz has always been inaudible in my experience, which doesn’t surprise me being an 8” sub in a small enclosure.

I tried the frequency sweep in the back seat and the bass is much flatter and more balanced. I think music sounds way better in the back seat vs. drivers seat, aside from the soundstage...

 

[sorka]

Strange, I just ran a frequency sweep again with this new update and I’m still hearing a massive obnoxious peak in the 35-45hz region. If anything, it’s the mid and upper bass that is recessed. Anything under 30hz has always been inaudible in my experience, which doesn’t surprise me being an 8” sub in a small enclosure.

I tried the frequency sweep in the back seat and the bass is much flatter and more balanced. I think music sounds way better in the back seat vs. drivers seat, aside from the soundstage...

I'm on the road right now, but when I get back from this weekend, I'll do the same. Please post your graph.

Getting down to 35 hz flat is not possible with the 8" sub let alone higher than flat. My complaint is that there used to be *some* there where there is none now.

 

[trayloader]

We unfortunately have TWO discussions going on.

One is the obvious change in Audio in 2018.12
The other one is @Eydrops general frustration with the audio system per se and this has nothing to do here.
The second row NEVER EVER had any bass, since they use a heavy digital cutfilter there.

Please post elswhere. We have an issue about the update. thanks

 

[eyedrop]

I apologize for hijacking this thread. One last thing I will say is that the peak at 35-45hz in the drivers seat seems to be due to a node or build up of acoustic energy in that area of the car rather than an intentional tuning from the engineer. I doubt they would use a cut filter for the back seat on purpose...

I could see how people will perceive the back seat as having no bass. I find the bass much tighter and in line with what a reference bass response should be. While in the back seat, It sounds more like I’m listening to studio reference monitors. In the drivers seat, it sounds like a gang banger sound system.

Anyways, I do hope the update issue gets resolved for the people who preferred the previous setup, which is the vast majority. There seems to be a lot of people who are angry about their bloated bass and EQ extremes disappearing... Maybe they should get their hearing checked or see a counselor... haha only kidding, I say give people what they want.

 

[Ande]

I must shoot down this crazy discussion.
I had no feelings towards to equalizer displaying -8..8 or -12..12 , as long it's not decibels, numbers they choose are irelevant unless the step count is a problem.

not being biased by number, my honest experience is that I think they improved loudness at lower volumes, my car has extra noise dampening, so i usually play at volume 4, sometimes 5, - recently, I "discovered" that it sounds better. that was about the time I got 2018.14 or 2018.14.2

 

[qwk]

Software downgrades are old news. The newest Tesla trend is hardware downgrades. This company is unbelievable.....

 

[kev1n]

i've listened to both systems side by side and can confirm that my P85D on .12 sounds worse than my P85 on .6 and both are equipped with the premium audio package

also had a model x loaner on .14 for a day and it sounds much better.

as far as i know, the S/X speaker layout is the same? correct me if im wrong.

 

[sorka]

I must shoot down this crazy discussion.
I had no feelings towards to equalizer displaying -8..8 or -12..12 , as long it's not decibels, numbers they choose are irelevant unless the step count is a problem.

not being biased by number, my honest experience is that I think they improved loudness at lower volumes, my car has extra noise dampening, so i usually play at volume 4, sometimes 5, - recently, I "discovered" that it sounds better. that was about the time I got 2018.14 or 2018.14.2

I look forward to getting 14. Hopefully they tweaked it again. I'd also prefer improved loudness as I like to play music quietly often when parked and our ears are non linear in bass and treble which is WHY loudness was developed in the first place.

 

[sorka]

i've listened to both systems side by side and can confirm that my P85D on .12 sounds worse than my P85 on .6 and both are equipped with the premium audio package

also had a model x loaner on .14 for a day and it sounds much better.

as far as i know, the S/X speaker layout is the same? correct me if im wrong.

Cool. Another bit of optimism for improvment in 14.

 

[kev1n]

Cool. Another bit of optimism for improvment in 14.

there are no improvements for S .12 -> .14

the X however, sounds just fine on .14

not sure what difference there is between the two

 

[thecloud]

I'm on 2018.14.2, and really haven't noticed any obvious difference in sound quality from prior 2018 releases. Thanks to this thread, I went and checked my EQ settings again, and sure enough, the scale is now -8..8 instead of -12..12. However, the settings (relative to each other) seem to have been retained across updates. I had reduced all the EQ levels a few months ago so the highest adjustment was +3 above baseline, which meant that I needed to have the overall volume a bit higher. Wonder whether the effect is noticeably changed if folks had set their levels greater than +8.

OK, I just had a very strange moment with the audio system. Opened it up to take a picture of my settings, and noticed it had a new set of "Immersive Sound" options:

But when I closed and reopened the equalizer settings, those options had been replaced by the normal Dolby Surround checkbox:

Did it just not recognize my UHFS audio for a moment, or is this some new option I wasn't supposed to see?

 

[MP3Mike]

Did it just not recognize my UHFS audio for a moment, or is this some new option I wasn't supposed to see?

It is what MCU2 cars have instead of Dolby.

 

[Tech_Guy]

I have also noticed this issue and emailed Tesla about it. It’s not the first time I’ve caught Tesla reduceing the performance of the car in one way or another with a software update... color me disappointed again!!


To me it’s not the EQ but the way the audio is processed, it sounds so flat now and no amount of eq could resolve the issue of how the audio is processed. For your information before this update I had all my EQ set at 0.