JBL sound difference between Advanced and Premium?

Good question! I'll be interested to hear what people reply.

I'm wondering if many (any?) people will have been able to experience both though...

 

The sound quality is noticeably not as crispy as my 07 prius package 4.

 

I had an 08 package 2, I thought it did a little better than the Prime Prem. However I think the Prime does a little better than my Volt

 

The sound system should be the same in the gen 4 too. The base system is not nearly as good as the JBL I have. Still, I've had better sound systems. It's not the best in the business, but it's good.

 

They sound slightly better than stock, but not a huge difference. I can tell the difference, my wife cannot.

 

I drove 1200 miles with a Prius Prime Plus using Bluetooth:

• Weak volume - I don't know if road noise or weak amps and/or speakers
• Bandwidth quality - I agree with Woz.

I pretty much covered my iPhone music so there were no receivers involved.

Bob Wilson

 

I really like the JBL on the advanced, but i had to turn up volume to really get an idea.
I remember the vinyl album cover notes (dating myself...) from Mountain's Mississippi Queen album said that "this music was meant to be played LOUD."
Well, I did and you can hear the nuances in the playing very clearly.

Also tried some old Allman Brothers, some of the tunes like Hot 'Lanta and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed where they had 2 full percussionists playing and inter-weaving, and that really tested the JBL system to my, and the car next to me, satisfaction.

Everyone will have a different favorite tune, and IMHO, I think the JBL will augment it's enjoy-ability.

 

During my brief encounter at the dealer with both models, I made it a point to test the audio system of both the advanced and premium back to back. To my ears, the advanced was noticeably better with more clarity and slightly more impactful bass. It wasn't a night and day difference but it was there. Just another cherry on top for the advanced.

 

Before losing my music room 23 years ago I had a rather revealing system, yes the almond bros have an album that has two large drums on wheels being moved around a large stage, I thought they were upright.
Earl Scruggs anniversary review at times has fifty and more people on a large stage,all separate acts working the same song, incredible musicians all with their own signature sound, wonderful stuff.
My prii sound system gen4, model 4 has good sound, but turn it up and it stays very clear, doesn't distort, it's quite good, sound treatment to the doors and interior would pay off well.

 

I have only experienced the advanced JBL system. Pretty awesome for a car. Remember that for Bluetooth audio, you also have the volume of the phone to contend with. I noticed this on Pandora. So I make sure the Bluetooth media volume is all the way up on the phone. Makes a 'yuge' difference.

 

I don't know why JBL would put their name on the system in the Advanced. It's OK, but nothing great. (The Bose in my Mazda is much better...after I reworked the lousy subwoofer with lots of vinyl sound damping sheet.)

 

The top JBL system in my 2010 gen 3 is much better than what I have in the Premium. Doesn't have the "punch" and sound separation, especially at the lower end that my 2010 had. In that i had much better lower end overall. I've been trying to figure out an after market solution but no luck so far. The 11" head unit makes it complicated to add power and just replacing to aftermarket speaker doesn't change much. I'm disappointed.

 

I was initially disappointed with the JBL system in my Advanced Prime. Shallow sound and no base. Then I realized two things. One, sound from Bluetooth streaming and Satellite radio is subpar. If you use a wired connection on your phone and turn up the volume it's entirely different story. The sound is powerful and clean. One thing I don't like is that the sound is very driver/front centric. Customization of sound is also limited. Either way, the system is superior to the base one found in Premium and Plus trims.

 

I like the JBL in the Advanced much better than the base system. You can adjust the sound quite a bit, from front to back, left to right, bass etc. Those settings can be adjusted for each type of audio input.

 

Its a way better sound between the two. But JBLs arent the best sound quality in general.

 

Now that our P.Prime Advanced has arrived and I've driven it for a few weeks, I think I can make just a few comments on this topic. I'll probably have more to say later.

First, I'll mention that I haven't heard the "regular" system, although it may be the same as is on my stepdaughter's 2016 regular Prius. If so though, I've only heard it very briefly, so making comparisons between the two would be difficult.

First, as a general note, before you test any stereo system, make sure that you know the music you're using to test it very well. That, in order to make sure you're rating it neither high nor low because of characteristics of the music itself. Use familiar music, in other words.

I personally find that the best music for judging any stereo system's accuracy in particular unfortunately is not commonly heard: Small-to-medium-sized woodwind ensembles, like Mozart's famous Bb Serenade #10 for 13 Winds, K. 361/370a. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, no worries, but those of you who might be familiar with this type of music will probably immediately understand what I mean: The amount of subtle auditory nuances you find in such a composition -- the details of each and every articulation -- either come through crisply on a good stereo system and fall flat on a less-good system. Also, with exceptionally clean sounds like those of the oboe, distortion is really hard to miss.

Another revealing type of music in the classical realm is brass ensembles, such as Empire Brass, for example (Canadian Brass works in this regard, but they sometimes are a little ... silly). Brass-instrument sounds are revealing, I find, because brass instruments are, in essence, louder than they actually sound. What I mean by that, is that their peak amplitudes are often higher than their RMS (perceived volume). That can really tax the heck out of a stereo system!

Another surprisingly good test of a stereo system, again in the classical realm, is classical guitar. That, listening especially carefully at the exact details of each note's attack. A bad stereo system, or not surprisingly all but the best MP3 compression, can muddle that up big time! The sustained tones, to the degree that any guitar (or piano for that matter) sound sustains, I find to be less revealing.


iPad ? Pro

 

Ummm so do you think the Advanced is better? Or is it a good system?

 

More thoughts later.

I'll mention, however, that I'm debating how much to throw into Pandora (e.g., possibly increasing my AT&T GB/month to accommodate it), and/versus Sirius XM.

One thing I don't like about Sirius XM is that they seem to really dork around with EQ by station. Their "Symphony Hall" channel (76, I think), thankfully, has a fairly flat EQ. As I recall, their Beatles Channel and/or Classic Vinyl Channel has the bass cranked up stupidly high.

Granted, that's not, strictly speaking, a question of how good the JBL stereo system is. I have, however, noticed considerable digital over-compression on Sirius. Not always, though.


iPhone ? Pro

 

I'm surprised how much I like Sirius XM. They have a huge selection and I like the comedy channels too. It's just annoying how it always turns off when under a tunnel or in a garage.