Has anyone tried the MP3 device feature in the ES 350 yet? Wanted to know about real life sound quality and the controls of these device with the new ES.

 

I used an Ipod and it sounded great but all the controls are manual. You have to start and stop it each time yourself. When a bluetooth call comes in, it may mute out the volume but the Ipod will continue to play. So I created an MP3 CD and I actually like using that better. The one thing I don't like though and have complained to Lexus is that the screen to show artist name, album name, song name, genre is not available while the car is in motion. This is insane. Who sits in their car and just listens to music. The screen is basically unusable. I am hoping this will be fixed with a firmware upgrade if enough people complain. I really don't think that glancing at a song name is a safety issue.

 

Phat,

while I drive the IS350, I think the AUX setup is similar to the ES350 after seeing it over the weekend (wifey is getting ready to buy her new Lexus). In any case, one thing to remember is to turn off any bass enhancing functions on your mp3 player if not your EQ altogether. It really depends on how much distortion you get, but turning off those functions usually does the trick. Also, go ahead and turn down the volume a bit on the player and then let the car system make up the difference.

Finally, I bought two cables - one from Radioshack (no name brand) and one from Best Buy (Monster cable). I thought the distortion originally came from the cheapo cable, but it turns out the monster cable had the same problems until I adjused my player itself. Bottom-line, save yourself $15 and get the el cheapo one.

Good luck and enjoy.