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Audio: Sound System Quality?
- Thread starter STxTesla
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- Model S User Interface
Doing a quick google points out that slacker's audio quality is generally not that good. On top of that depending on your location, poor reception also sometime influences quality of streams. As SCW-Geg said, try using a high bit rate song as a base for your judgement.
Greg is right. Judging the system purely from a low bit rate Slacker source isn't the way to go. I'm not saying the system is amazing but it certainly isn't horrible either.
Do you have a USB drive that you can re-rip a few song that you would consider demo quality into the sound format called FLAC? This is a format that has no loss in quality from the CD unlike mp3 and AAC.
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SCW-Greg
Active Member
Yeah, I'm not saying the sound system upgrade, that I opted for, is the best either, but certainly on par. Also no doubt that the Reus system is quality step up too.
Just saying you can't judge off Slacker, or that people may not understand from song to song that recording inputs can vary so widely... or without truly conducting a back to back A B comparison, with the same recording, is the only way.
Just saying you can't judge off Slacker, or that people may not understand from song to song that recording inputs can vary so widely... or without truly conducting a back to back A B comparison, with the same recording, is the only way.
Hi,
My car was delivered Friday in Norway and I had brought a USB stick with MP3s. Slightly distorted sound at low levels. I immediately though of this thread, and concluded that something had to go wrong with my car as well.
Then I thought that MP3 recording is not something I have been doing the past three years. Prior to delivery, I recorded from Spotify at highest quality setting using Applian Stream Recorder or something similarly named, a stand alone $20 software thing, using the default parameters. After saving the tracks on my PC, they sounded fine. When played in the MS, I hear distortion at low levels. I redid the Spotify recordings, this time turning down the gain, and the result when played in the MS is very good, ie no distortion, even at 9/10 sound level.
Conclusion; it could be worthwhile to check the gain settings if recorded material sounds muddy or distorted. In my case, the distortion was not noticeable on my PC with decent speakers, but in my MS it clearly was.
I think the upgraded audio is easily on par with my previous system (BMW 5 series Logic7), probably a notch or two better, and find it difficult to justify spending $$$ on aftermarket upgrades.
Todd Burch
14-Year Member
I think the sound system hardware is capable of being very good--some songs sound excellent (even from Slacker sources), even when they have strong bass.
But I am 98% convinced there's a problem in the firmware/software somewhere that is introducing distortion.
Unfortunately, it's been almost 2 weeks and I haven't received a reply from ownership. Perhaps I need to send the email again (sigh)...
But I am 98% convinced there's a problem in the firmware/software somewhere that is introducing distortion.
Unfortunately, it's been almost 2 weeks and I haven't received a reply from ownership. Perhaps I need to send the email again (sigh)...
SCW-Greg
Active Member
Then you didn't hear/read/understand a word that's been said in the last 10 posts or so.
kevin99
Member
texex91, I hope you did enough study and make up your mind. However I am afraid the more effort you put into to the pursue, the more you ruin your buying experience.
I have known many Model S buyers who did not even do a test drive and they can't be happier.
There is a balance how much you think you are special, and how much you want to leverage the collective wisdom.
I have known many Model S buyers who did not even do a test drive and they can't be happier.
There is a balance how much you think you are special, and how much you want to leverage the collective wisdom.
Good luck! No car is perfect and there are certainly many things Tesla couldn't get implemented right off the bat due to the need to launch the product and to stop bleeding millions of dollars in cash a month. Given time, I would expect at least some of the options to become available as a retrofit but wouldn't count on it. Make sure you order the car with the features you want now assuming they will never come out with any hardware upgrades to be safe. The acceleration and smooth driving experience counts for a lot and for me, makes up for the lack of heads up displays...etc
Austin is a great city to own a Tesla. We have an active owners club, a supportive power company, well placed superchargers, and a top notch service center. (They hired the mechanics away from Lexus.) The people at the showroom are also good about taking care of owners after the sale. This is the first time I've been invited to participate in car shows and parades.
Pretty good for a state where it's illegal to sell the car!
I'm not an audiophile, but I've owned some decent cars with premium factory sound systems. The system should perform well with the 'typical' source material. Sure, for a few that'll be lossless music from a USB stick, but given how connected the car is, for the majority of people the music will be from Slacker, XM, bluetooth or another compressed source.
The consistent source of reference that I can compare to my last few cars is Bluetooth streaming from my iPhone - not perfect by any means, but at least it's consistent. The same songs played in my Model S sound considerably worse than they did in my A5 with the Bose system (and I don't think Bose systems are typically great). To double check I'm not imagining things, I can play the same source in my wife's Q5, again with Bose, and again the music sounds much clearer, with better imaging and zero distortion. If they could just fix the level of music going to the front a-pillar speakers, and therefore eliminate the distortion, I'd be much happier.
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