Volume difference between radio and Sirius XM?

Hmm... just confirmed this is not the case on my base PiP; all use the same master volume. Must be a diff between the higher end OEM audio systems in the higher trim levels.

 

Ahh, the joys of flying in coach..

 

Well, I learned something kind of by accident today. When it's just bluetoothing, it shows up as something like music player (or whatever) and that's when the volume seems kind of low no matter how I adjust it on the phone or the stereo. I had the phone plugged into the USB (or whatever) to charge today, and it showed up on the stereo as specifically iPod, and the volume was noticeably louder because the phone volume was all the way up.

All of which is probably totally irrelevant and means nothing to anyone except me, and I don't even know what it means. My phone and car did have some trouble syncing up today, like when I first got in and started everything up, it showed up like my car was calling my phone, and I had the hardest time getting them to communicate properly. All of that was before trying to plug it in. This is the kind of stuff I was afraid of when buying a super computery KITT car. I'm so not tech savvy. I don't want to have to need tech support for car/phone issues.

Anyway, yeah. Louder when plugged in and showing as iPod than it is showing as just music thingy (or whatever).

 

It is.

Apart from all the car audio enthusiast sites around, our own audio forum should have people knowledgeable and experienced enough with Prius-specific issues, like our power system being different than regular cars. Upgrading from the base system allows you to throwaway less too.

I'm noticing the "low" volume I'm experiencing with AM stations and the like seems to be more noticeable when the car is driving (i.e. there's more background noise), such as on the freeway with lots of other traffic. Sitting on the driveway and testing where it's quiet, it's more tolerable. Unfortunately, that's not an ordinary condition. A system with volume settings specific to each source would be valuable in general as well.

Also, do any of your doors sound a little flimsy when being closed? I'm suspecting the car has generally poor soundproofing. I'm considering that, if I wanted to add any kind of aftermarket insulation myself (for thermal more than for sound, but seems that could be valuable too), I'd be interested in the overall addition being lightweight.

 

Yeah.. after watching some how-tos on installing sound dampening on YouTube, I'm kinda surprised at how much just a little can make modern flimsy doors sound like they're really solid.

 

The sound quality of the music from FM or MP3 or XM depends on the music Bit Rate, some are 64 kbps, 128 kbps, 256 kbps, .......etc

Depends on the bit rate the music is being broadcasted on FM or XM or AM or the Bit Rate the files is saved on your ipod, iphone, mp3 player, usb stick, etc

 

I have a Prius with the JBL. The sound LEVEL on different inputs are nowhere near close to equal. The FM radio will blow you out of the car and the Sirius level is so low (from the Sirius tuner) that I think it affects the sound quality significantly. I had a Gen 2 Prius with the after market kit that had two sound level outputs from the Sirus tuner (low and high). When it was set on Low it sounded awful, like my Sirius sounds in my current Gen 3.

This isn't your imagination. Toyota has done a lousy job of balancing the input levels. If you don't drive the input level properly the sound quality suffers.

IMHO this has nothing to do with bit rates of the inputs. I will bet you that if someone took a sound level meter the differences would be dramatic.