No CD player in 2023?
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 9,556
Likes: 3,398
From: NJ
It's a great cost and weight savings. I've removed them from the 7ES before and they are HEAVY. I mean heavy. i've torn them down too to see whats inside. lots of metal. that space can be used for other things. or not at all.
i have not even used the CD player in any car since the very early 2000s.
It's like the cigarette lighter port. it's so silly but today they're really only used for legacy chargers /accessories people MAY use. i feel that one may go away in the near future too.
i have not even used the CD player in any car since the very early 2000s.
It's like the cigarette lighter port. it's so silly but today they're really only used for legacy chargers /accessories people MAY use. i feel that one may go away in the near future too.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2021
Posts: 1,529
Likes: 573
From: PA
Lexus seems to be a little slow on all such items of progress. My pet peeve is that my 2021 ES 350 is not yet wireless CarPlay---at that point in time, many brands on cars much less expensive than Lexus, were already wireless. Didn't update the ES350 until 2022 or 2023.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 5,296
Likes: 1,589
From: SE PA
The problem is that you're putting MP3 files on your thumb drive. If you copy the CD tracks to your thumb drive using a lossless format (WAV, FLAC, etc.) they will sound identical to the CDs. In these formats, the tracks take up a lot more space than MP3 files. But today's thumb drives are so huge, space is not an issue. You can copy your CDs to WAV files using Windows Media Player. The only problem is that sorting the tracks on the thumb drive to play in the order you want is a tricky process.
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 1,242
Likes: 624
From: Kentucky
It can get complicated fast and trust me, it's not always the easiest thing to explain or make sense of so I will take a stab.
MP3 is a lossy file format, and FLAC comes with none of the compression that can cause some MP3 files to sound distorted. I'll give you an example. Take a CD's original files or any high quality audio file. Once that original file is converted to MP3, you've lost the quality you've been looking to keep in favor of a lower file size or in some cases compatibility on certain media players, especially older players. I don't think compatibility is an issue for you. You can absolutely convert your MP3 files on your thumb drive to FLAC or any other formats you want. The problem is that it won't improve the quality once the original file, say from a CD or other high quality source, has been converted to a lower quality format. Like an MP3 file. You can't gain that back by attempting to convert to a higher quality format since the files have been stripped to a lossy format like an MP3.
Make sense?
Here's another try. MP3 is a lossy format, so you can't improve the audio quality by moving it to a higher quality format. The information just isn't there. It's like trying to zoom and enhance on a low-resolution picture. Unless you can re-encode from a higher quality source, you can't do anything to improve an MP3 by changing formats.
Ex.
Take an original 100 mb high quality audio file from a CD. Convert that to an MP3 and it's now a 30 mb MP3. You could in theory take that same MP3 and convert to a FLAC file that is now 100 mb. It will not sound nearly as good as the original CD source file due to being stripped of some of the quality that occurred with converting to a lower quality MP3 file, even though you've now reconverted that same file to a 100 mb FLAC file.
Last edited by UltraLux22; Oct 24, 2022 at 12:54 PM.
Intermediate
Joined: Oct 2021
Posts: 263
Likes: 166
From: Arizona
I was trying to think of a short and simple way to answer that, and I think this is perfect.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 5,449
Likes: 948
From: IL
As has been mentioned, you can never improve the quality of a digital file. You can just keep it the same, or go down.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 5,296
Likes: 1,589
From: SE PA
To answer your question in short, yes you could convert that MP3 to FLAC or WAV. But you wouldn't want to because you would not achieve the result you might think. You would essentially be repackaging the lower quality MP3 in a larger size file format container. It may be in FLAC or WAV format now but it won't sound any better than the MP3 from your thumb drive. Larger file same MP3 sound.
It can get complicated fast and trust me, it's not always the easiest thing to explain or make sense of so I will take a stab.
MP3 is a lossy file format, and FLAC comes with none of the compression that can cause some MP3 files to sound distorted. I'll give you an example. Take a CD's original files or any high quality audio file. Once that original file is converted to MP3, you've lost the quality you've been looking to keep in favor of a lower file size or in some cases compatibility on certain media players, especially older players. I don't think compatibility is an issue for you. You can absolutely convert your MP3 files on your thumb drive to FLAC or any other formats you want. The problem is that it won't improve the quality once the original file, say from a CD or other high quality source, has been converted to a lower quality format. Like an MP3 file. You can't gain that back by attempting to convert to a higher quality format since the files have been stripped to a lossy format like an MP3.
Make sense?
Here's another try. MP3 is a lossy format, so you can't improve the audio quality by moving it to a higher quality format. The information just isn't there. It's like trying to zoom and enhance on a low-resolution picture. Unless you can re-encode from a higher quality source, you can't do anything to improve an MP3 by changing formats.
Ex.
Take an original 100 mb high quality audio file from a CD. Convert that to an MP3 and it's now a 30 mb MP3. You could in theory take that same MP3 and convert to a FLAC file that is now 100 mb. It will not sound nearly as good as the original CD source file due to being stripped of some of the quality that occurred with converting to a lower quality MP3 file, even though you've now reconverted that same file to a 100 mb FLAC file.
It can get complicated fast and trust me, it's not always the easiest thing to explain or make sense of so I will take a stab.
MP3 is a lossy file format, and FLAC comes with none of the compression that can cause some MP3 files to sound distorted. I'll give you an example. Take a CD's original files or any high quality audio file. Once that original file is converted to MP3, you've lost the quality you've been looking to keep in favor of a lower file size or in some cases compatibility on certain media players, especially older players. I don't think compatibility is an issue for you. You can absolutely convert your MP3 files on your thumb drive to FLAC or any other formats you want. The problem is that it won't improve the quality once the original file, say from a CD or other high quality source, has been converted to a lower quality format. Like an MP3 file. You can't gain that back by attempting to convert to a higher quality format since the files have been stripped to a lossy format like an MP3.
Make sense?
Here's another try. MP3 is a lossy format, so you can't improve the audio quality by moving it to a higher quality format. The information just isn't there. It's like trying to zoom and enhance on a low-resolution picture. Unless you can re-encode from a higher quality source, you can't do anything to improve an MP3 by changing formats.
Ex.
Take an original 100 mb high quality audio file from a CD. Convert that to an MP3 and it's now a 30 mb MP3. You could in theory take that same MP3 and convert to a FLAC file that is now 100 mb. It will not sound nearly as good as the original CD source file due to being stripped of some of the quality that occurred with converting to a lower quality MP3 file, even though you've now reconverted that same file to a 100 mb FLAC file.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 9,556
Likes: 3,398
From: NJ
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 1,242
Likes: 624
From: Kentucky
https://homedjstudio.com/audio-bitrates-formats/
Comprehensive site for some explanations of audio formats and conversions.
Comprehensive site for some explanations of audio formats and conversions.
Rookie
Joined: Oct 2022
Posts: 43
Likes: 18
From: Texas
On my way home after we reserved our 2023 ES 300h - I asked my wife - did it have a CD player? She asked me - when was the last time we used a CD in the car. I said point taken.
Looks like it will support FLAC, WAV and ALAC (Apple Lossless). It does not look like it supports any DSD formats - I probably have about 30 SACD rips and other 10 or so DSD formatted albums.
Looks like it will support FLAC, WAV and ALAC (Apple Lossless). It does not look like it supports any DSD formats - I probably have about 30 SACD rips and other 10 or so DSD formatted albums.
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 1,242
Likes: 624
From: Kentucky
On my way home after we reserved our 2023 ES 300h - I asked my wife - did it have a CD player? She asked me - when was the last time we used a CD in the car. I said point taken.
Looks like it will support FLAC, WAV and ALAC (Apple Lossless). It does not look like it supports any DSD formats - I probably have about 30 SACD rips and other 10 or so DSD formatted albums.
Looks like it will support FLAC, WAV and ALAC (Apple Lossless). It does not look like it supports any DSD formats - I probably have about 30 SACD rips and other 10 or so DSD formatted albums.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2021
Posts: 1,529
Likes: 573
From: PA
On my 22 there are the usual usb -a ports with the aux jack above the shifter. For the rear, directly behind the console near the floor are 2 usb c charging(only) ports. For 23, the ES gets 1 usb c near the shifter. I believe it’s only 1. I didn’t look in the rear but I’m going to assume there are still 2 usb c charging ports for the rear passengers.
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 1,242
Likes: 624
From: Kentucky
I'm not much on digital technology but on my 2021 ES 350, I can connect my USB-C iPad into one of the two inserts on the front dash. I may have had to buy a cable from Amazon that enabled it, if the receptacle is USB-A. Don't quite remember. But point us, connection of USB-C device is doable for charging and use. Obviously, Bluetooth also enables access of music from the USB-C iPad to head unit.