TheForce

First of all sorry for my not so perfect English it isn’t my native language

My previous car Lexus IS220d also had a Mark Levinson and could play DVD-A and DTS-CD just fine.

The Mark Levinson in my new Lexus IS300H F Sport can’t play DVD-A or DTS anymore and is only capable of playing MP3, WMA and AAC lossy according to the manual. In the beginning I tried many hours to get the DTS CD’s to work (almost) without any luck…until suddenly the ML played one particular DTS-CD. When this glitch occurs I can remove the CD and insert any another DTS-CD and they all play perfectly (until I shut the ML system down). The sound is amazing (even better than in my previous IS200D). Sadly enough I can only very rarely reproduce this glitch (bug). So I now know that the ML is capable of playing DTS-CD but it is disabled in the software (Probably Lexus doesn’t pay for the DTS license). After this happened I was really frustrated about the Mark Levinson Audio System and I spent many hours to find an alternative.

I found out that the ML system is capable of a lot more formats then mentioned in the manual.
The trick is to rename other formats to MP3, WMA or M4A.
The following formats are tested as working 100%.

AAC-HE and AAC-LE (m4a), 2ch or 6ch, VBR or CBR

MP3

WMA (Standard and Professional) 16bit, 24bit and also LOSSLESS !!!

WAV (Renamed to MP3, WMA or M4A)
- 6Ch, 4234Kbps, 16bit, 44.1Khz
- 8Ch, 9216Kpps, 16bit, 48.0Khz
- 8Ch, 9216Kpps, 24bit, 48.0Khz
- 2ch, 8454Kbps, 24bit, 96Khz
- 2ch, 6802Kbps, 24bit, 176Khz
- 2Ch, 5015Kbps, 24bit, 192Khz (Yes DVD-A Quality !!!)

AC3 (Raw) – 320Kbps, 448Kbps, 640Kbps (Renamed to MP3…)

EAC3 (Raw) - 1662Kbps, 48Khz (Renamed to MP3…)

M2TS - TRUEHD, AC3 640 (Probably using the AC3 core and sound only, and renamed to MP3…)

But sadly enough (again) no multichannel (5.1) with the above formats from USB (disabled in the software?)

The only way to get 5.1 sound that sounds very close to DTS-CD, is to create a DVD-V with AC3 640Kbps audio. I have converted all my DTS-CD’s to this format and the result is very good. TRUE discrete 5.1 surround with much louder volume then normal MP3, WMA and M4A.
To convert your DTS-CD’s (WAVDTS) to AC3 640Kbps you can use TAudioConverter.
(Also converts WAV, DTS, WAVDTS, FLAC, WMA, AAC AC3 etc...)
http://taudioconverter.sourceforge.net/

To create DVD-V Audio DVD’s which contain the converted AC3 sound files you will need “Audio DVD Creator 1.9.1.0” you have to Google to find a copy because the company who created the software no longer exists. It has a few minor bugs (don’t put to many songs on one DVD otherwise with the last songs the “skip to next track” will skip somewhere in the middle of a song and not to the start

Could be working on LS..., ES... and GS... ML systems too (let me know).

I hope this will help to enjoy your ML a little bit more…

Edit:
Drove a RX450H for two days and I can confirm that it doesn't allow the trick of renaming the files. It won't play the renamed above files and skips them. It also won't play a DTS-CD, the DVD-V with AC3 640Kbps plays fine although the sound (according to my opinion) isn't as good as in the IS300H.

specONE

iTrader: (3)

Sadly the world is moving onto compress music files instead of full lossless digital Audio.
Nothing we can do at this point until we wait for society move into close to unlimited storage and bandwidth resources

DJ90

thanks for the info. Is the reason why my 2014 IS ML sound system sounds crap compared to my 2008 IS ML?

TheForce

Try the DVD-V option with AC3 640Kbps or the WAV files (renamed to MP3), your 2014 ML will sound much better. (To my opinion you can't expect good sound (even on a high end audio system) from lossy MP3 or WMA files)

salvadorik

iTrader: (1)

This is a very interest topic here. One of the complaints (very few I have as a matter of fact) is how bad ML sounds compared to other premium sound systems (HK, B&O, Bose etc). Now if in fact the system is capable of producing great sound I would be very VERY glad! I tried to use regular CD I bought from Best Buy and it still did not sound the way that I expected. Do I need to buy a certain type of CD in order to get the best out of ML? Can we please discuss this topic a little more?

TheForce

@salvadorik,

I doubt if the new series MLcan sound as good as the one I had in my previous Lexus IS220D.
When however the bug (glitch) in the new ML occurs and it plays DTS sound from a DTS-CD it sound very good. The DVD-V with AC3 640Kbps also sounds quite good (not as good as DTS-CD in my previous ML).

The renamed WAV files (192Khz, 24bit) also sound good, but to me it seems the new ML doesn't have the full rich and massive sound like the previous ML series. The bass in the previous ML was a strait/dry/massive bass (difficult to explain in English) and in the new ML it is more undefined (like with a cheaper audio installation).

When you listen to the AC3 640Kbps on a DVD-V the sound is much louder and fills the whole car with good separation of the rear, front and center channels. I really don't understand why Lexus decided to disable the DTS option in the new ML (DTS is 1500Kbps and sound better then 640Kbps AC3).

Also why disable WAV file playback when the system can play it (rename them to MP3) and why play 5.1 surround WAV files, AC3, AAC files from USB only as stereo???

Maybe Lexus want's their cars to revert to a regular Toyota

salvadorik

iTrader: (1)

Is that hardware or software related? If an old ML system sounded great I believe we can safely assume that at least the hardware (speakers, sub, amp etc) on the current generation should be the same, right? In other words a proper software update can make our ML sound great.

TheForce

I think it’s hardware and software related.

The IS220D ML was only about 300watts and the new ML is 830watts but it sounds not as loud and massive (full) as the old ML.
When you ‘slam’ the doors of the IS220D they sound much more massive (heavier) then the IS300H, that could also be one of the reasons because the doors are used as a resonance box.

When you turn up the volume of the new ML you can feel that the doors are much more vibrating then in the IS220D. It also looks as if the front door speakers produce much more of the bass then in the old ML system where the sub-woofer produced most of the bass. And sometimes you even can hear some unwanted resonance from the door materials, I never had that with my old ML at the same volumes.

With high volume (50 or more) most of the music starts to sound full with a decent bass but I have several CD’s where the high frequencies are hurting your ears, they simply sound to shrill like there is some kind of distortion. But when setting the high frequencies a bit lower (in the audio settings) will make the sound too dull (flat).

And then the software part which is really annoying:

1. No support for DTS CD or DVD-A anymore although the new ML is capable of playing DTS (see my first post). In my previous car I listened 90% of the time to DTS or DVD-A.

2. Compared to the Harman Kardon in a BMW 5 Active Hybrid the format support (MP3, WMA and AAC) of the ML is from the stone-age. The BMW played everything from USB that you did feed it: FLAC, WAV up to 24bit 192Khz, AC3, DTS-WAV (yes also DTS-WAV which is the raw format of a DTS-CD) etc… (only Ogg wasn’t playing) and it played 5.1 surround formats and several video formats. The BMW even had a full spectrum equalizer and the Haram Kardon I listened for 3 days wasn’t there top system they also could install a B&O system with popup front speaker which I listened for a short while and which sounded amazing (just as good as the old ML system or maybe even better, too little time to do a real comparison). Why disable most of these formats in the new ML, yes I am saying disable because you can play some of those formats when you rename them to MP3.

3. What is really strange is that Mark Levinson states at her website that the new ML system in the Lexus is capable of playing DTS and DD: http://www.marklevinson.com/Info/Story/49 and from my first post you know that it is (sometimes) capable of playing DTS so it is disabled in software.

4. Sound is not as loud as in the previous ML systems, only with AC3 DVD-V or when the DTS glitch (bug) occurs the sound is MUCH louder.

I think that Lexus has to change the software of the ML system if they want to keep up with the rest of the high end audio systems in other cars. When people did listen to music in my previous Lexus they were stunned, now my audio system sounds almost just like any other car.

I am absolutely not impressed and happy with the new ML. And yes I have a high end audio system at home and no I almost never listen to compressed music like MP3 or WMA, what else is the use of a HIGH END audio system.

unowned

2 reasons for this, cost cutting and lexus segment differentiation. Probably in the LS all these audio features are unlocked vs the IS which is their entry level luxury vehicle.

TheForce

Nop...Tried GS450H and LS600H they both don't play DTS and DVD-A.

unowned

what about the format limitations and 5.1 from USB? The car doesn't even come with a multi-disc changer anymore since disc based media is dying out pretty rapidly. Regardless the hardware can do these things with your trick, but is disabled in software by default for cost cutting reasons. Not much you can do besides try to join a lexus focus group to vent your frustrations.

TheForce

It will play the AAC, WAV and AC3 multichannel files but only in stereo. But the ability to play WAV files up to 24bit, 192Khz which is DVDA quality (when renamed to MP3) or WMA lossless is a huge difference compared to lossy MP3 or WMA. Since the car doesn't have a disc changer anymore it is even more important to have the ability to play WAV, FLAC, etc.. in Stereo or Multichannel like the BMW Harman Kardon does. So I vote for: Lexus remove these limitations!!!.

Glashub

Aston Martin remove these limitations from the 250K car --

"The Garmin navigation system, however, still feels decidedly old-school, as does entering destinations or searching for POIs character by character via the control wheel. Aston can't get on board with CarPlay or MirrorLink (or both) soon enough. There's also little in the way of driver aids beyond traction and launch control, with no adaptive cruise or lane departure warnings. "

http://www.cnet.com/products/2014-as...quish-coupe/2/

C'mon. I had the ELS and the Lexicon both well regarded and I enjoy the MLS I have the most for sound fidelity.

TheForce

I am happy for you that you can live with lossy MP3 or WMA on a high end audio system. I prefer better quality source material on my high end system. And yes for some people it can be a disappointment if they were used to a better system like the old ML.

Glashub

Just trying to provide some perspective. It's a fairly inexpensive car in the grand scheme of things that does most things right.