Installed Vaistech SL3B yesterday and tested it vs CD
09-21-14, 06:19 AM
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Installed Vaistech SL3B yesterday and tested it vs CD
First off a BIG thank you to LexusLover for the tutorial. It was so easy to follow and I was done in less than a half hour. Everything went smoothly and no lost screws, broken anything. Big thanks to Vaistech for the product as well.
The reason for this post is for those audiophiles that are concerned with any loss of sound etc. I didn't not find any full write-ups describing the difference in sound of BT vs CD so I wanted to make this post addressing that for those that might care.
Well the BT music source on my IPhone is in ITunes m4a format. My CD is one I burned and I used AVS to convert it to the highest quality MP3 format. I have listened to both formats on my home sound system and they are both good sources that sound pretty much the same.
The songs I chose was The Script - Falling to Pieces, Jah Cure - World Cry and Evanescence - My Last Breath. So I cycled listening to these between in-dash CD and IPhone BT. It is immediately apparent there is a significant loss in fullness of sound between CD and BT music. At equal volume for both the BT sound is lower and the biggest loss is the punch of the bass. Even if you turn up the volume to match the loudness of the CD version you still will never get back the loss of bass and overall fullness that the CD gives you.
I did not give up trying to see if there was anyway to get some of the fullness back. So I went into the "Settings" on my IPhone and messed around with the equalizer settings. I noticed that when I selected off, the volume and some fullness returned to everything but the bass. It still pales to the CD sound but it was better with the EQ turned off on the iPhone well at least to my ears. Most of the EQ settings tends to mute the sound a bit.
I tried other tracks too that were bass heavy, vocal heavy etc and across the board there is a significant loss of musical quality between the CD and BT. This is not to say the product is bad. On the contrary it is excellently made and for those that don't have an audiophile ear it is more than great as the convenience of having no wires is nice and the sound is definitely good enough for most. But then again you still have to hook it up to the charging cable for charging so if I had to do it again I would have chosen the wired version because I care more about sound quality than the wireless interface. If you have the "ear" I suggest you don't play CD's in your car anymore if you bought the SL3B lol. The difference is that noticeable. That's my plan since I just bought the SL3B last week.
Anyway, although not deeply scientific approach lol, I hope this helps those that are more interested in sound quality than the convenience of wireless. I suspect that the majority will be fine with the product, and I do like it and it is well made and functions excellently. I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a way to get BT sound and convenience.
The reason for this post is for those audiophiles that are concerned with any loss of sound etc. I didn't not find any full write-ups describing the difference in sound of BT vs CD so I wanted to make this post addressing that for those that might care.
Well the BT music source on my IPhone is in ITunes m4a format. My CD is one I burned and I used AVS to convert it to the highest quality MP3 format. I have listened to both formats on my home sound system and they are both good sources that sound pretty much the same.
The songs I chose was The Script - Falling to Pieces, Jah Cure - World Cry and Evanescence - My Last Breath. So I cycled listening to these between in-dash CD and IPhone BT. It is immediately apparent there is a significant loss in fullness of sound between CD and BT music. At equal volume for both the BT sound is lower and the biggest loss is the punch of the bass. Even if you turn up the volume to match the loudness of the CD version you still will never get back the loss of bass and overall fullness that the CD gives you.
I did not give up trying to see if there was anyway to get some of the fullness back. So I went into the "Settings" on my IPhone and messed around with the equalizer settings. I noticed that when I selected off, the volume and some fullness returned to everything but the bass. It still pales to the CD sound but it was better with the EQ turned off on the iPhone well at least to my ears. Most of the EQ settings tends to mute the sound a bit.
I tried other tracks too that were bass heavy, vocal heavy etc and across the board there is a significant loss of musical quality between the CD and BT. This is not to say the product is bad. On the contrary it is excellently made and for those that don't have an audiophile ear it is more than great as the convenience of having no wires is nice and the sound is definitely good enough for most. But then again you still have to hook it up to the charging cable for charging so if I had to do it again I would have chosen the wired version because I care more about sound quality than the wireless interface. If you have the "ear" I suggest you don't play CD's in your car anymore if you bought the SL3B lol. The difference is that noticeable. That's my plan since I just bought the SL3B last week.
Anyway, although not deeply scientific approach lol, I hope this helps those that are more interested in sound quality than the convenience of wireless. I suspect that the majority will be fine with the product, and I do like it and it is well made and functions excellently. I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a way to get BT sound and convenience.
10-08-15, 09:52 AM
#3
OP was last ative (you can click on any user name for stats) on 1/24/15.
What aux in port? The 2nd gen doesn't have them stock.
Most of the codecs used for Bluetooth are lossy and have a bit of an impact on sound quality versus going wired. AptX allegedly provides better audio quality for Bluetooth audio but the devices on both ends must support it.
What aux in port? The 2nd gen doesn't have them stock.
Most of the codecs used for Bluetooth are lossy and have a bit of an impact on sound quality versus going wired. AptX allegedly provides better audio quality for Bluetooth audio but the devices on both ends must support it.
Last edited by takeshi74; 10-08-15 at 09:58 AM.
10-08-15, 04:23 PM
#5
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