Is it me or does Audio suck on Prius?

Yes, it sucks. But only when you compare it to other luxury cars. Think of the Prius as a Corola with some upgrades.

 

Others on here say that the BT connection has poor audio. Try plugging your phone in or using a mp3 player or USB stick.

I don't have any issues with the sound through a USB stick. It's not luxury level, but is decent enough.

 

The fact that HD Radio is OK and Bluetooth/Satellite is not tells me that the Prius audio system itself is not the issue, but rather, the issue is the audio sources (the phone "station" and satellite). In order to "cram" lots of audio signals in a limited bandwidth high degrees of compression is required. I can easily tell the difference in quality between Sirus/XM and high bit rate music files of the same music on a USB drive. SirusXM is barely acceptable, my music files on USB sound very good (still not as good as the original CD though)

 

It isn't you. Our Prius IV has the optional JBL audio system and it still sucks: 1. FM sucks. 2. Satellite sucks. 3. Don't have HD FM. 4. The only signal source that sounds okay is the CD player. To make matters worse, the audio controls intermittently malfunction.

 

I have no issue with the sat radio or iPod but my '12 Three's HD radio bites. Sound level is way low compared to the others. I also find Bluetooth sometimes has to be reset when streaming music starts to skip. I dislike that the iPod has to be physically connected to make Entune work.
Also, I found that the factory non-JBL speakers are pretty sensitive. I replaced them and volume capacity dropped a ton, needed to install an amp to bring it back but I'm not too worried, stock speakers were crap regardless.
Aside from that, I love how easy the head unit is to operate.

Sound deadening did help not only the sound but also the overall solid feel of the doors.

 

I wouldn't take it to a retail box store, they normally don't have capable installers.

Yelp local audio specific stores and tell them you want to sound deaden your doors, or if you want to do it yourself, visit Welcome to Sound Deadener Showdown | Sound Deadener Showdown to educate yourself. The guy is also very helpful and responsive.

But in theory, it's not that complicated. Remove panels, install deadening, and re-install panels.

 

Do you have the standard audio system or the JBL?

 

Did you dial/ tune in the gains for each source and select the HD option for that source? I cranked up treble and bass to 2 or 3 away from max and it sounds better.

Then the source. Everything is better than FM.. I found streaming MP3 in bluetooth or USB mode isn't bad at all. Pandora has the same quality as those. It's not that bad IMHO. JBL doesn't fair much better so at least you didn't pay for it.

The cheap fixes sounds reaonable if you are not too picky, upgrade dash and door speakers and some sound dampening(MLV or padding).

 

I have the standard audio and I find it very good for USB files. The albums/songs come up on the screen and the sound is quite decent on files that are not too heavily compressed. There are very small "thumb" drives that are about 1/4" square and these do not get disconnected by things inside the console box.

Then again, I don't do this (warning explicit lyrics):

 

If you consider the HD decent, then the other sources are better.