JBL sound difference between Advanced and Premium?

"Sirius" comedy, eh?

I reported earlier that the "Symphony Hall" channel has fairly flat EQ, but I've seen at least a few cases where they crank the bass way the heck up on that channel too.

The again, I often find that I have to sacrifice accuracy a bit and add a little bass, just to keep road noise at highway speeds from drowning it out.

It only complicates things for Sirius only to crank up the bass way the heck up.


iPhone ? Pro

 

I noticed something this morning that appears to help in this regard: It appears that the Advanced's JBL system maintains separate EQ settings for each audio source. I cranked the bass down on Sirius, and I think that did help.

That, while I crank it up for other sources: Again, best of two evils, so to speak, to keep road noise from drowning out the basses...

iPhone ? Pro

 

That is nice, but you still have the issue of SiriusXm messing with the settings on their end differently on each channel.

 

Yeah, I'm not enthralled with it either, although I gather that's not all that unusual.

A much more persistent (by necessity) example is compressing dynamics on radio – traditional analog radio – broadcasts. That is done in order to prevent the transmission from going outside it's allotted frequency band. It's especially apparent on classical music, where the unmodified performance has extremely wide dynamic range.

So that is done by necessity, but I read something – possibly on an NPR website – regarding radio stations intentionally compressing dynamics and then cranking up the volume, just to be the loudest sound in a scan of radio stations in the area. Somebody determined that that increases the probability that people will stay with that station rather than scanning on to the next one. Needless to say, that severely damages the aesthetics of the music!

 

i have noticed this too... i wonder if the front pair of speakers in the dash, near the window, are even affected by the sound controls in the audio system... they do not seem to fade much until you completely set the system all the way to the rear... one notch forward and most of the sound comes out of the pair of speakers by the front window...

 

My second of three, third generation prii (a 2011) had a jbl system. I thought it was a great sounding system then. Then i got a 2013 without jbl but with "hd" radio ( and solar roof package) and i emmediately missed the quality sound. Now with my prime advanced having it, it does not seem to sound as well as that 2011. Having said that, tinkering with the eq in my spotify, my music sounds much better as i remember.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Regarding XM and Bluetooth having lower quality than the wired, "iPhone" connection:

It was already really obvious to me that, yes, XM is not high-quality audio. However, I was expecting Bluetooth vs. wired to be exactly equivalent: CD-grade audio delivered via wired vs. wired connections.

I finally got a chance to compare the two yesterday, and I was surprised that there is indeed a quite substantial increase in clarity listening to the wired connection! The Bluetooth connection in comparison sounds "gritty," which likely means that it has substantial digital-compression artifacts.

Nevertheless, I perceive the Bluetooth connection to be "acceptable" or at least "livable." The difference is considerable for detailed listening of music where the devils and angels are in the details, like the Mozart 13-Winds Divertimento I mentioned earlier. Still, the Bluetooth connection is better than FM or XM, or certainly AM.

Better than XM by a long shot, whose quality I find to vary a lot, and is usually toward the low end. That especially for large-symphonic works recorded in large, reverberant concert halls. Such performances end up muddled, occasionally to the point of unrecognizability - hearing of the individual instruments in the ensemble.


iPhone ? Pro

 

So, what's your verdict regarding the quality of the JBL sound system?