LC500 is so bad on the pocket books. The way I drive this thing, I'm literally throwing cash out the window as I step on the throttle. It drinks fuel as I drink water on a hot day.

 

The sound is like the car...you have to turn it UP to get the full effect

 

Drinks in Vegas are $20 a pop...but I still buy them Have to pay extra for quality.

 

uh and those of us who've enjoyed a little too much whine with our cheese should take this advice !

 

haha, reminds me of south beach miami with the $20 drinks. absolute robbery.

 

take your cheap shots elsewhere.

 

not meant to be cheap at all. the suggestion regarding measurement is made in good faith;
the comment regarding wine and cheese merely references some of your previous posts .... !

 

There are hardly any objective measurements that we have ever come up with that can differenciate the human perception of “quality” in sound reproduction. So many factors to weigh, many totally subjective, opinion. Sure we have watts, number of speakers. All amps sound the same in this environment until they distort, that’s not the LC’s issue.

I fully agree that the source is largely the determining factor. And it is something we can affect.
I’d like to run Tidal at Master bit rates (the phone can provide this), run through a fancy outboard DAC and USB cable and see what we have. I’ve never seen use for an outboard DAC until now though, with this higher quality source. Anyone here done this?

 

thanks for your most sensitive contribution. i mean you got 13 speakers comin at ya from 9 different directions as loud as you like in a tiny little leather lined two seater,
obviously yer not gonna get a lot of free standing low end bass waves, the drums too small, but otherwise how could it sound bad ? as suggested, you could turn it up a little more with that beautiful dial

 

i mean you got high end electrostats, tweeters, mid rangers, woofers, a non-passive sub woofer: whats not to like ?

 

doesn't make any sense to me - the Tidal music is a digital stream, you want to convert to analog with a DAC and then somehow convert it back to digital so it can be fed via usb back into the car?

we've got it, you think the LC ML system is perfect.

 

I’ve wondered about this too, only seen an outboard DAC on a phone be used for headphones. I have experienced a marked transformation of my home system with a DAC upgrade. Hoping someone would chime in who is familiar, and has done this in a car. Or does the car have to have some physical analog input?

EDIT: something I’ve found that addresses this https://www.lifewire.com/car-audio-dacs-534571

Exerpt:

“Portable Car Audio DACs and Head Units
Most portable DACs are designed for use with laptops, and they essentially offload the heavy lifting of converting digital music to an analog signal from computer software to a physical device. This type of portable DAC can be used in your car as well, if you have an audio source that is capable of outputting via USB and your head unit has an analog input.

The other way that DACs come into play in cars is that some head units include digital inputs, typically in the form of a USB or proprietary jack. The way that this type of connection works is that it allows you to plug in your iPhone, tablet, or any other MP3 player and offload the processing to the head unit, rather than relying on the DAC in your phone or another device.

Do You Need a DAC Component in Your Car?
If you want the best possible sound quality, and you've already upgraded your head unit, amplifier, or speakers, then adding a DAC can help push your sound quality to the next level.

Even if you have a factory car stereo that sounds decent, you can benefit from adding a portable DAC like the Apogee One, which sits between your phone or portable music player and your car stereo.

It's also important to remember that you don't have to buy an expensive portable DAC to experience better sound. Your car stereo probably has a decent DAC built right in that's designed for use with car speakers.

Instead of using an analog connection like an auxiliary jack to plug your phone or music player into your car stereo, consider using a USB port. If your car stereo has a USB port, or you're willing to upgrade, you can feed digital music files directly to the stereo.

This allows the built-in DAC in the head unit to do the heavy lifting instead of the DAC in your phone or music player, which will typically result in better-sounding music.”


Increasing signal quality would be the easiest path to improving quality in the car. Anything else is going to be fun to do but involved and pricey.

 

Lexus SXM is the worst of the worst, depending on what year you have. My 2016 doesn’t even have SXM, it’s just XM & the reception is the worst of ANY car I’ve ever driven, period! It is so bad, that I canceled my subscription & I won’t renew, not even for free. Some channels are distorted sounding due to heavy compression, while others constantly drop out, even when I’m in the middle of nowhere without a tree, building or clouds. My AM radio sounds better than some SXM channels. A good strong HD FM station is far superior than SXM. My Camaro SS is also only XM, but it STILL cuts out near cell phone towers & also has severe compression distortion. We are SXM FREE!

 

When we purchased our RX 450h, we pulled one with the ML system right next to the Premium model & used a USB connection to my iTunes. The ML definitely sounded better with the same songs (more midrange & separation), but it just wasn’t enough to justify the difference in price.

I’m not happy with the Lexus reception on any radio band in comparison to the Acura I used to have. That system just pulled in more stations without all the fluttering & static - even on AM. If given the choice of buying a new Lexus with no system, I would go that route. Lexus infotainment systems are bloated, problematic, outdated & overpriced.

 

Just for the record, there is no such thing as "only XM" rather than SXM. Since the (ill-advised) merger in 2008 that combined XM and Sirius, the merged company has been known as SiriusXM or SXM.

The transmission, satellite systems and receivers use either the original XM technical system or the original Sirius technical system, depending on the contract signed by each automotive company long ago.

Toyota/Lexus (and GM/Chevy) have been on the original XM system since 2005 (Toyota/Lexus) or 2006 (GM) and they still use that inherited XM hardware and satellite system. Other OEMs (Ford, Mercedes, and others) are on the inherited Sirius system. Each system has its technical assets and liabilities, though the XM system (used by Toyota/Lexus) generally is regarded as the more powerful and consistent.

Regardless of the hardware system (XM or Sirius), the programming is virtually identical. (And, yes, much of the music is highly compressed, though the ill effects of that have been moderated over time.)

So, it is not a matter of your 2016 Lexus having "just XM" rather than SXM. You can call it XM or SXM - it's the same thing.