I see everyone rave about the speakers - and yes, they are definitely really good. I thought it could be slightly better so I went to settings and turned on DTS Neural Surround Sound.

It adds this "surround sound" feel to music. The song I was listening to immediately sounded like it was coming from a stage and I sort of liked it a bit! I haven't really seen anyone talk about this setting.
Does anyone drive around with it on? I didn't get a chance to test a variety of genres but does it excel on some songs and less so on others?

 

I have had it set this way since I purchased the vehicle and absolutely everyone needs to have this setting checked.. Makes a world of difference

 

Amen. Had skipped over it when I set up the system first time, but just turned it on -- makes noticeable difference. Good advice.

 

Some of the purists feel that it introduces unwanted distortion. If so, I don't hear it. Yes, it definitely opens up the sound.

If you are just discovering this, you should also be aware that there is a level above even this. It involves getting flac encoded files that are specially encoded for 5.1 surround sound. I don't have any, but I upgraded my thumb drive to all 2 channel (normal) flac files (when I have good enough source music that is) and the sound is demonstrably better than very well (high bitrate) encoded mp3 files.

 

Thanks for the tip! I usually use Spotify for my music needs, but now I'm really thinking about getting a USB stick with some songs to sample! Do you know any good sources to find these files?

I find myself wanting to sit in the car more and more, just to listen to music! What a wonderful system!

 

If you are old school enough, rip your CDs to .flac format for the 2 channel .flac files. The flac codec was developed for storing CDs without loss in quality. Codec is a contraction of Coding/Decoding, converting the music from the original WAV or CDA form found on the CD to something smaller for storage.

As to the 5.1 surround, I have been told that if you go to Acura customer support on the webpage you can request a demo stick with some. Failing that, there is a procedure for taking files from CDs or higher and running them through sound processing programs to produce 5.1 surround. I have no idea of your level of expertise so I won't bother you with the details. There are threads on this site. Files from DVDs and BluRays are sources for 5.1 music but you will need to do some tricks to get at them. Also, there are a few web sites that sell audiophile quality songs by the download. Some sites for the high end audio files are HDtracks and iTrax. Expect sticker shock. That is why I haven't tried it yet.

Note, you will not get CD quality from Amazon or iTunes, don't even think about that.

 

ABX High Fidelity Test list

I used this site to test whether or not I could tell the difference between lossless and lossy files and apparently I can't. lol
I guess I'll stick to spotify for now.

 

I have a major catalog of .flac files and nothing touches them for audio quality. Hearing Queen especially in .flac is unreal to say the least

 

 

 

I tried with it ON for a couple of days, but i thought it sounded, I don't know...fake? Turned it off. I use mostly SiriusXM

 

 

I leave it off. It's nowhere near as good as the Dolby Surround option in the older RDX's. That's from a guy who ALWAYS takes the DTS-HD Master Audio track over the Dolby Digital track on BluRays and DVD's. For some reason, DTS just doesn't do faux surround as well as Dolby.