ThePlainsman

I can't find any music on DVD-A format! So what good does it do to have DVD-Audio with the ELS Audio system? I went Best Buy's music section and even the young audiophile sales kids never heard of DVD-A or DVD-Audio. And there was no DVD-A music section.

White92

I've had the same problem with Best Buy. Try Circuit City online. I've seen pretty much everything there. Most of it around $13.99.

dombey

amazon.com

ThePlainsman

Thanks. I just wonder if Acura stuck us with technology that is passe. Someone on another board said DVD-A went out two years as a failed technology.

johnny99

Most people do not really care about sound quality. That is why MP3s are so popular. None of the high-definition audio formats are doing well. Still, DVD-A is not completely dead. I know that Neil Young's latest album (released in October) is available on DVD-A.

F.Rizzo

Not only that, but the stereo in the vehicle is over rated too.

Even if you manage to obtain and listen to DVD-A's, the 5.1 in a vehicle is confusing to (my) ear. Just look at the rear speakers over the hatch....they are facing the back of your head. It keeps making me want to turn around and see what's behind me. It's not realistic, no concert anywhere has the sound coming from behind you. And there is an incredible lack of bass. I could go on and on, but it's really just "OK" in my book, far from the "spectacular" rave that everyone heaps on it.

It think I'm gonna try to add an Infinity Bass Link or som other powered subwoofer to help even things out.

.

XIS

Planichick - First of all, the limited selection of DVD-A's at this time does not translate to an over-rated stereo system in the RDX.

Rizzo - Are your ears wired bassackwards or something? And yes, concerts have sound coming from behind you also?? Been to many ??
Lack of bass?? I have to turn mine down because it is so strong.

The DVD-A system / ELS in the RDX & MDX is second to none... Period. Please name a better stock system if you can.

VQPower37

^Infiniti's bose system in their m35 ... siiiickest car system i have ever heard ... the fx system is off the hook too ... not that acura's is bad or nething

XIS

IF it plays DVD-A's also, I must hear it...

F.Rizzo

Nice, sweeping generalizations then. I'd venture to say that you've never heard a really good sound system.

I am just saying that 5.1 in a car is poor choice.
Almost no one else uses it for good reason. I think it's more of a gimmick in the car than a useful feature. The only correct application for the "surround" sound systems is in home theater. A more straightforward 2 channel system is much more rewarding and true to the original recording(s).

Also - no matter how much you drink the kool-aid and think you have something special, once you get into this upper class of factory car audio they all sound about the same, E/L/S, Levinson, B&O, Bose - because they all appeal to the same type of market. They are all middle of the road systems made to appeal to a wide audience without offending, and are merely OK to me, with no spectacular characteristics.

catnippants

No need to wonder any more. The answer is 'Yes, they did'. DVD-A is dead. You can still find some online, but it died a long time ago. Don't expect to see many new ones...if any. Acura was stupid. They should have allowed us to play audio DVDs - which are essentially just the audio portion of video DVDs. Then we'd at least be able to listen to concert DVDs in 5.1. Instead they took a route that will just frustrate new buyers.

Mike

XIS

Now it is time for your generalizations??
Your undeducated opinions are shared by your mirror.

White92

One could use the same logic to say that our feet don't have ears either, which is where 99% of car stereo speakers are aimed. They could have put them coming straight down out of the ceiling. If it still sounded good, I'd be ok with that.

neo1738

DVD-A isnt gone...yet. I love the sound of the ELS for a stock system EVERYONE who rides in the car is impressed. Also I feel like the RDX is nicer than the TL ELS, (I have both). my two cents

johnny99

Interesting article about the "death" of DVD-A:
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9829466-1.html

While there are few new releases these days (Neil Young released one in October), the article does say that Amazon.com still lists 3300 different DVD-A titles.

F.Rizzo

What are you, like 7 yrs old?
If someone does not agree with your opinions you lob insults?

Also - you misspelled "uneducated" - how ironic.


Welcome to ignore....

ThePlainsman

I think you could benefit from charm school. Disagree with our opinions, fine, but don't insult us.

By the way, the BOSE system that came with my 2002 Altima V6 is at least the equal of this RDX system. Or maybe it just sounds better given different acoustics, i.e. sedan vs. hatchback compact SUV.

mau108

DVD-A - close to 60 tracks of cd quality music (if not higher) vs MP3 of compression and loss.

I have 2 dvd-a's I made sitting in the rdx with all the music I can enjoy. SQ wise the RDX ELS system is quite impressive especially comming from a crappy crv system. The lude has a SP type system lol pure brain crushing bass.

catnippants

I think we all need to calm down and remember that with all of these higher end systems, there is a component of preference that is being ignored. Once you're already talking about fairly good systems, it's not as simple as saying one is better than another. If we were arguing about 'faithful reproduction' then we should all be listening to music on high end studio monitors and comparing the output frequency response to the originally recorded sound - with everything eq'd flat. We all know that most people do not listen to music eq'd flat - we like more bass, more highs, etc.

I for one, can't stand the 'BOSE' sound. BOSE is one of those companies that relies heavily on audio 'trickery' (ie: reflected sound, shaped enclosures, etc.), and to me, everything they make lacks midrange. But that is simply my PREFERENCE. I would never say that my ELS is simply 'better' - it's just better FOR ME.

Mike

MMike1981

I dont really agree with car manufacturers hopping on this surround sound bandwagon, dolby digi kick that they all seem to be stuck on. That stuff is meant for your home, not your car. A car system should have solid acousitcs, with adjustments in lows, mids, and highs. What pisses me off is that in the base model (i dont know about the tech) there is only low and high adjustment. To me, any stereo worth anything you should be able to adjust a mid freq range. AND, what i have noticed in the last few vehicles i've owned, is that the front speaks are gained out big time and its like there is no sound "surrounding" you from the back (other than the sub filling out the bass). In the base RDX, the rear door speakers are more or less pointless, the most driving sound is heard from the twiddlers on the doors and the sub. Dont get me wrong, i love those twiddler speaks in the front and the solid sound in the front, but the system, at least in the base model, needs to be more rounded out for my ears and at least for the rear passengers.

overall, i give the base system a B. just enough for me not to pull the entire thing out, and lacks enough for me to gripe about it.

MMike1981

why Acura seems to push the DVD-A is beyond me, rather than sticking it to your higher end customers with one specific media, they should have expanded other medias like allowing a more universal drive, hell even the CRV has a media card slot.

catnippants

I couldn't agree more. Besides the media slot (hell - there is one there, we just can't use it like people can with their CIVICs!!!), they should have allowed us to play regular DVDs - even if they blanked out the video while the car was in drive. Then at least we could listen to concert DVDs and others while driving. The other thing that pisses me off is that our drive clearly reads DVDs, yet we can't use them to store MP3s like the MDX. In my opinion, that's just a plain STUPID thing to cheap out on or use for product differentiation.

The bottom line is that the systems in FAR cheaper cars are more capable than ours. What do we get? Support for a dead format? Geez....

Mike

F.Rizzo

Great description at the end there!

I think I expected more from the E/L/S because of all the hype and in reality it does not come close to it's advertised greatness - so I'm a little bitter. I have definitely heard much better car audio systems (not foolish enough to make any Nissan/Bose comparison here - I mean that would actually sound good) and this is not quite the quantum leap as it is presented. I'm also surprised that the DVD-A titles do not show up on the display.