Is it me or does the 4G TL ADV sound system just sound horrible with "live" sound sources? I realize XM and FM are lower quality sources compared to BT/iPod/CD/HDD but my Wife's '04 BMW 330i sounds awesome when listening to FM. When my wife and I both got new cars back in 2004 we continually argued over who's car was better and the "my sound system sounds better" argument has been my downfall for the past 8 years. I was hoping the 4G would finally improve this but similar to the 3G the 4G ELS systems just sound flat and almost noisy with live sources. Its almost as if the station is not tuned in correctly like back in the analog tuner days if you didn't have the station dialed in correctly.

On the other hand music coming from the iPod/BT/HDD/CD sounds incredible in the 4G TL and DVDA in the 3G sounded much better than the 330i sound system.

Does anyone notice this or is it just my untrained ears? Anyone found a solution to improve the sound either through settings or hardware upgrades?

Thanks,

John

2013 GLM/Ebony TL-SHAWD ADV
2004 Anthracite FWD TL
2004 BMW 330i
1999 Dodge Durango 5.7l boat Puller

 

I kinda thought the same thing when I first started rolling through the xm stations...is there any particular style of music that makes the defects more noticeable for you?

 

I primarily listen to rock and alternative on XM - SIXX Sense on channel 161 (or maybe 164) is one of my favs along with Lithium ch34, Alt Nation ch36 and Faction ch41. I believe XM varies the bit rate based on the station so I wonder if these stations are just being broadcast at a very low bit rate. On FM I listen to the local DFW rock stations. I also listen to CNBC, Bloomburg and NPR but sound quality in non-music stations is pretty hard for me to discern.

 

Sounds about right then...I noticed a pretty significant quality drop when I listened to the rock/metal stations as opposed to the EDM ones, but since then it's been a lot less obvious. Maybe I just got used to it, but another thing is that those stations tended to play a lot of music from the early 80s up til now, and since a lot of the records were done on a lower budget(especially the old punk and death metal tracks)there's a real disparity in the recording quality. Bit rate might also be a factor cause it seems like it goes in and out.

Sorry I don't really have a fix for it lol...I messed around a bit with the EQ and found that the sound is best when everything's more or less flat(sub included) and the bass is turned up just a little bit, as some other members have suggested.

 

Thanks FireAtWill, my very musically inclined son "tuned" the settings on the audio system the first day I owned the car. I will try flattening things out to see if it sounds any better. I also may try a few of the online streaming radio options through my smartphone to see if I can find a better source of "live" music.

 

I generally turn Dolby surround off when listening to XM. That seems to help quite a bit. EQ settings are essentially stock.

 

I tried this today (turning off Dolby) and it made a huge improvement. Thanks!