The ones that you have to start while in Park are DVD-Video discs. A true DVD-Audio disc will play anytime as there is no video signal. My teenage daughter has a 2015 ES UL -- I'll check her car's ML player when she's back home from college. I never really paid any attention to the audio in her car as I seldom drive it.

This article speaks to what you have observed:

https://audiophilereview.com/cd-dac-...dvd-audio.html

A DVD-Audio disc could also include a Dolby Digital 5.1-channel stream with rudimentary video that could play in a DVD-Video player, providing compatibility with existing DVD players, but a DVD-Audio player was required to decode the high-resolution streams. CD-Audio players cannot read DVD discs, so DVD-Audio discs could not be played in the millions of home, portable, and automotive CD players.

All DVD-A discs have a video track that starts up with the disc. SACD does not. Usually, it's just the lyrics being displayed. Sometimes automated and sometimes interactive. There are usually 3 different audio layers on the disc. DD 5.1, high res 2ch and high res surround. I own over 100 DVD-A discs, so I'm pretty familiar with them.

I guess I learned something new from you today Mike728. The DVD-Audio discs that I have only had the high-res surround layer and high res 2 channel layer. They did have the introduction video track to start up the disc but no 5.1 DD layer. They would not play on a plain DVD drive. I had to use an Oppo player to play them at home and they also worked on my 2008 and 2012 LS 460s. They did not work on the 2014, 2017 and 2018 LS.

I'm curious. Who are the artists of your DVD-A's and how old are they? Mine are mostly rock and classic rock. Eagles, ELP, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, etc...

I apologize for restarting this thread, but the conversation has gone in a direction that I'm totally unknown to me.

I wasn't even aware that there are new formats for audio tracks on DVDs. I had assumed the players in our cars could play video DVDs, but using them for high quality audio never occurred to me! Now that you have all opened my eyes to this new world, I have 2 quick questions. Will the ML system in my '19 ES play audio DVDs at the improved resolution (I'm sure that's an incorrect term for audio)? It sounds like maybe the ML system will play SOME of the DVD-A, but would it be in something (resolution) less than what the DVD is capable of producing? Where should I go to learn more about this?

To sum this up quickly, DVD-A is an old technology and pretty much obsolete at this point. They pretty much lost the war with Sony and their SACD format back in the early 2000's. Kind of like HD-DVD and BluRay. SACD is not supported in any vehicle, as far as I know. Lexus needs to get on-board with FLAC, which is a lossless format now supported in many competitive vehicles.

Yes there is a sound button where you can digitally adjust the bass, mid, and treble.

The sound on the Mark Levinson isnt much better(I cant even tell a difference honestly).

That's too bad, I could hear a big difference. I guess all ears aren't made the same :)

Off to the left of the main display. You have to be on the media/radio for it to display, can't be on maps or something.

I could tell a difference between the Mark Levinson and the standard Pioneer but for music over Bluetooth the difference didn't seem huge to me but it was noticable. Where I really noticed the difference was XM which was much better on the Mark Levinson.

All of them are classical music. I bought them around 2009 - 2012.

For me I have solved the rear speaker problem of the ML stereo. Just leave the adjustments at 0 or mid position as it came new. Then forget about changing it to be like you want. Just listen and forget about it. Once I did that I realized it is a very good stereo if one gives it a chance.

I've come to really appreciate the ML sound system. Particularly the clean bass. I'm a LONG way from being an expert on the subject, but I do know what I like to hear with my old ears. I was a little disappointed in the mid range, which sounded a bit tinny, and the treble seemed a bit harsh to me, until I took out a lot of the mid range and and little treble with sound adjustments. In the end, it was a matter of finding the right adjustment that let the bass and treble fill in around the mids. In the meantime, I also discovered the left right separation is pretty much terrific. It is clearly a front biased system though, and I can appreciate that those that like sound from behind would be disappointed. That said, I was listening to a recording of a live performance on my way home last night, and I felt like I was on stage sitting in the middle of the band. Guitars on either side of me, drums (cymbals!) behind, and the vocals up front in the middle. Pretty awesome, and I was thinking that was pretty much what it was supposed to sound like. I listened to that song 3 or 4 times in a row!

In the end, I agree with CJS57. This is a very good system when you finally stop looking for flaws and give it a chance. Maybe just not one for an audiophile.

That's the whole point of the system! The sound stage is done very well. I'm glad you've finally found the sound that lets you experience it :)