This is a rare code radio. Check on google for the same radio code they are worth over 8,000 dollars.

 

The number on the front of the radio doesn't matter, as you found out for yourself. Goodluck, but nobody will pay anything close to that since they can buy a working one for much less. Essentially your radio is for parts.

$8000 is a rip off price from the dealership. There is no used radios going for anything even close to half that price.

 

So I finally managed to get a hands on a working p10819 and there is definitely a difference of the audio quality. The p10824 didn’t have that clean bass and clarity as the p10819 did.

So the head unit definitely matters for the ML system to work.

 

I have my 2015 Mark Levinson one, without the faceplate, that anyone can transfer their existing face plate too. $150 if anyone wants it. I changed my head unit to 2016:
It also has 2017 maps on it.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...013-gsh-4.html

 

What would be the effect of swapping your 2015 into a 2016 car?

 

Better graphics and full screen maps, allowing me to have full screen apple carplay/android auto with an aftermarket kit. I had to change the screen and the head unit.

 

A production Lexus head unit is not 8000$... maybe if it were the LF-A.

 

If you search up p10819, you will see in Lexus Parts website that they go around 8,000-12,000 dollars new.

 

It's all in your head, or you didn't adjust the audio settings to exactly what you had before, coming from a guy that has had a 2014, 2015, and now 2016 head unit the part number on the face plate does not matter at all. All the nice audio from Mark Levinson comes from the amp and the speakers, the radio, just gives you the means to play/change the source of the audio, and adjust the same basic audio settings.

 

When playing songs with high bass, the ML Head unit probably has a different audio codec (I cant confirm this, going by hypothesis) because the bass is so much cleaner ; where when you play it with a Non-ML unit, the bass sounds compressed (bass isn't clear at higher bass frequences). To me, it is a night and day difference.

Also, to be definite, the P10819 unit is alot faster browsing through the navigation features even with the outdated shipped firmware (V15A8840 is the shipped firmware where V15A8940 is the latest currently for Radios).

 

I wonder whether the non ML unit uses analog audio connection and the ML uses analog for radio and optical for DVD and CD. This was the case in the last generation of Lexus. According to my wiring schematics there aren't enough wires to send 6 analog channels to the amplifier so digital is likely in play.

IF the OP is experiencing a difference, could this be why? The DAC in the ML amp is going to be far superior to that of the factory amp.

 

Also remember that they changed ML for the 2015 model year, to add "Clari-Fy Technology" though I've only had 2015+ so I don't know if it made a real difference to the sound.

 

I've looked into that and the "Clari-Fy Technology" is all in the 2015+ Mark Levinson Amp, not the head unit.

 

Ah, thanks. Wasn’t sure.

 

I'm assuming if you swapped amps you would gain this feature. Do you notice a difference in audio from the pre-refresh GS Mark Levinson?