Audio: Sound System Quality?

[MikeK]

Note to self: must make a USB stick with some high-quality audio files to take to a showroom. On my drive, the audio was streamed and unfamiliar, so it was nearly impossible to judge.

 

[Larry Chanin]

I was also very interested in this. I did get an official answer that the car does not support any discrete multichannel formats, but does support Dolby Surround EX.

Thanks I had thought as much, but hadn't seen an official answer.

So the sound system will take two channel sources and upconvert it to 7.1 via Dolby surround processing.

Larry

 

[PeterW]

Subwoofers can be put almost anywhere. Low frequencies don't sound very directional. Many cars have a small subwoofer under the seat.

Perhaps we need these

I Come With 2 Subwoofers

 

[kevincwelch]

Note to self: must make a USB stick with some high-quality audio files to take to a showroom. On my drive, the audio was streamed and unfamiliar, so it was nearly impossible to judge.

I would think that the best way to test that would be to have a USB stick with the same 30 second music clip encoded in 320, 256, 192, 160, and 128 kbps and test it on the standard audio as well as the upgraded sound system. Choice of songs...

 

[SCW-Greg]

I would think that the best way to test that would be to have a USB stick with the same 30 second music clip encoded in 320, 256, 192, 160, and 128 kbps and test it on the standard audio as well as the upgraded sound system. Choice of songs...

I'm not sure why you would want to bring subpar music in, what would that reveal in the sound system? I.e. if you have 256 kbps or beter music, just bring that. The bit rate won't affect anything other than quality out of the gate.

Side note, I brought my iPhone and USB cable to plug in with a playlist of music created to test different aspects of the stereo, but VIN #50 would not acknowledge its presence. Tried to pair it via Bluetooth, and we couldn't get that to work either. Our Tesla rep was baffled by that, and so she checked in with her TM peers and got feedback, that this showroom model has certain demo configuration that wasn't enabled for the iPhone. Odd. So I made a stick lastnight to bring in and test. It's all 256kbps.

 

[pguerra]

I am very interested in the quality of music coming out of a vehicle's sound system.
I once owned a Hyundai Genesis...and bought the car because of it's outstanding sound system.
One of the selling points of the car was that the sound system was the same as that used in the
Rolls Royce Phantom.

With all that said....how does the upgraded sound system rate in the Model S?

I just reserved a Signature Series S today after being on the waiting list for some time. I will test
drive the Model S in Houston in August...but was wondering what people are thinking about
the music quality.

As I've mentioned before, the sound system in the premium System I heard does not compare to the sound system in my Hybrid Escalade - despite Center-Back fade and EQ settings. In my Hybrid Escalade, there no EQ setting that I use, and the sound is blow-you-away amazing no matter the sound source or song. I think the system in the Model S is just average in cars overall and below average for luxury vehicles.

I'd even go so far as to say the Model S system is only moderately better than my Prius. This is all just an opinion, but coming from a range of vehicles, I do have enough experience to make an educated comparison. The Hybrid Escalade is the sound standard for me. It's much better than Model S. Of course it gets really $hitty gas milage compared to Model S, but we're talking about the sound quality here.

You can't have it all.

 

[kevincwelch]

I'm not sure why you would want to bring subpar music in, what would that reveal in the sound system? I.e. if you have 256 kbps or beter music, just bring that. The bit rate won't affect anything other than quality out of the gate.

Side note, I brought my iPhone and USB cable to plug in with a playlist of music created to test different aspects of the stereo, but VIN #50 would not acknowledge its presence. Tried to pair it via Bluetooth, and we couldn't get that to work either. Our Tesla rep was baffled by that, and so she checked in with her TM peers and got feedback, that this showroom model has certain demo configuration that wasn't enabled for the iPhone. Odd. So I made a stick lastnight to bring in and test. It's all 256kbps.

Not everyone encodes in 256 or greater.

So, I think, and call me crazy, I'd like to test all ranges of my music on both systems. It would give me, and others I assume, a better idea of what their music sounds like.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[MikeK]

Fair enough. I don't use low quality encodes, but I will bring a representative sample of my own library.

 

[kevincwelch]

Fair enough. I don't use low quality encodes, but I will bring a representative sample of my own library.

Unfortunately, I started encoding all my music in the late 90s and early 00s. Because of space concerns, a lot was done in 160kbps...even some in 128kbps. I just don't have the time and energy to go back and encode them again. My collection is only about 9000 songs...so it's not massive by any means...just lost interest in going back I guess.

I try to get flac now or encode in 320kbps now.


Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[spatterso911]

As I've mentioned before, the sound system in the premium System I heard does not compare to the sound system in my Hybrid Escalade - despite Center-Back fade and EQ settings. In my Hybrid Escalade, there no EQ setting that I use, and the sound is blow-you-away amazing no matter the sound source or song. I think the system in the Model S is just average in cars overall and below average for luxury vehicles.

I'd even go so far as to say the Model S system is only moderately better than my Prius. This is all just an opinion, but coming from a range of vehicles, I do have enough experience to make an educated comparison. The Hybrid Escalade is the sound standard for me. It's much better than Model S. Of course it gets really $hitty gas milage compared to Model S, but we're talking about the sound quality here.

You can't have it all.

Hmmm. I've got the same system and I'm underwhelmed by the bass response and clarity at volume. I wish GM would let us have more control over the frequencies in that system.

 

[SCW-Greg]

Not everyone encodes in 256 or greater.

So, I think, and call me crazy, I'd like to test all ranges of my music on both systems. It would give me, and others I assume, a better idea of what their music sounds like.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

True, using what you're used to, or only the best you have, will at least give you some basis for comparison. Just don't see the need to bring different qualities of music, that only would show you the quality difference in bit rates, but not prove anything with the sound system.

 

[SCW-Greg]

I think the system in the Model S is just average in cars overall and below average for luxury vehicles.

I'd even go so far as to say the Model S system is only moderately better than my Prius. This is all just an opinion, but coming from a range of vehicles, I do have enough experience to make an educated comparison. The Hybrid Escalade is the sound standard for me. It's much better than Model S. Of course it gets really $hitty gas milage compared to Model S, but we're talking about the sound quality here.

You can't have it all.

Okay I'm not buying this. You must be either of two things, listening to a non Sound Stage package, or you have the music centered on the driver's position (which will cause the bass to markedly fall off).

I just got back from our local store this afternoon, testing the sound system with some music I brought in... and we pushed the system, even testing it for over loading in the bass range. It blew me away, it could take everything we through at it, and it was articulate, never muddy, just accurate sound across the spectrum. My DTS is pathetic in comparison.

The key here, is tuning the 3 band EQ to the way you like it, but also making sure you have the F/R fade and L/R balance set to zero. That's when the stereo is absolutely best in class.

The Tesla rep with me took notes to send back, about how the system needs to be tuned for proper performance when you drag the fade and balance to center the sound on the driver's position. This should be a simple programmable fix for a future firmware update.

Is it worth $950 more? I haven't heard the stock/base system for compairson yet, but I can say, you can't create the premium sound system much cleaner and accurate in sound reproduction, across the entire audible range. I think the value is there.

P.s. I brought in my own music stick with 256kbps quality music. If you bring in older music tracks from early iTunes, without upgrading to the higher quality bit rate, say the 128kbps... you really aren't listening to quality music that challenges this system.

 

[STxTesla]

Thanks for the review of the sound system....seems that it is better than I thought.

I will be test driving Tesla S in Houston next Saturday afternoon....if we don't have Hurricane Ernesto knocking on our door.
I can't wait to hear it for myself. Will put in my two cents afterwards.

 

[jcadman22]

Unfortunately, I started encoding all my music in the late 90s and early 00s. Because of space concerns, a lot was done in 160kbps...even some in 128kbps. I just don't have the time and energy to go back and encode them again. My collection is only about 9000 songs...so it's not massive by any means...just lost interest in going back I guess.

I try to get flac now or encode in 320kbps now.

Amazon just added music matching to their new Cloud Player Premium. The service will scan your library and match the available tracks with their sources (you don't have to upload). I'm in the same position with older, lower bit rate tracks and I was thrilled that they were upgraded to 256K. I'm now in the process of downloading them to update my local library, but that's just my "backup" plan.

 

[brianman]

Amazon just added music matching to their new Cloud Player Premium. The service will scan your library and match the available tracks with their sources (you don't have to upload). I'm in the same position with older, lower bit rate tracks and I was thrilled that they were upgraded to 256K. I'm now in the process of downloading them to update my local library, but that's just my "backup" plan.

That's a nice feature.

 

[SCW-Greg]

Unfortunately, I started encoding all my music in the late 90s and early 00s. Because of space concerns, a lot was done in 160kbps...even some in 128kbps. I just don't have the time and energy to go back and encode them again. My collection is only about 9000 songs...so it's not massive by any means...just lost interest in going back I guess.

I try to get flac now or encode in 320kbps now.

Amazon just added music matching to their new Cloud Player Premium. The service will scan your library and match the available tracks with their sources (you don't have to upload). I'm in the same position with older, lower bit rate tracks and I was thrilled that they were upgraded to 256K. I'm now in the process of downloading them to update my local library, but that's just my "backup" plan.

Yeah I just recently added matching, and now 99% of my music is 256kbps (I was mostly 192 before that). It makes a noticable difference in the sound. Don't even want to know how much hard drive I lost with 7500 or so tracks doubling or tripling in size.

 

[brianman]

Yeah I just recently added matching, and now 99% of my music is 256kbps (I was mostly 192 before that). It makes a noticable difference in the sound. Don't even want to know how much hard drive I lost with 7500 or so tracks doubling or tripling in size.

A few weeks ago I reripped my CDs to raw WAVs.

1476 files
57,648,846,534 bytes


I'll make a Tesla-compatible version of them once I get the car home.

 

[Jason S]

... or you have the music centered on the driver's position (which will cause the bass to markedly fall off).
...
The Tesla rep with me took notes to send back, about how the system needs to be tuned for proper performance when you drag the fade and balance to center the sound on the driver's position.
This should be a simple programmable fix for a future firmware update.

Sound like an odd out-of-phase issue with the driver's position. Maybe they reversed +/- on some of the system? (unlikely, prolly something esoteric about the Dolby config) That's a really odd problem.

 

[SCW-Greg]

a few weeks ago i reripped my cds to raw wavs.

1476 files
57,648,846,534 bytes


i'll make a tesla-compatible version of them once i get the car home.

yikes!

 

[SCW-Greg]

Sound like an odd out-of-phase issue with the driver's position. Maybe they reversed +/- on some of the system? (unlikely, prolly something esoteric about the Dolby config) That's a really odd problem.

Hmmm. Hadn't thought of that. But you'd think that would show up even when you have the music centered.

I would love for others to go I and test for this on their local showroom models, or test drive units. To confirm if this is a one-off or not.
Either way, it's an easy fix, if out of phase, or just a software update to have a dynamically tuned EQ with position.