Dear Sirs, I apologize for the intrusion, but I live in Europe, in a city where there are only 4 cars like my 2008 LS 600h L 4-seater (metallic jade green, ivory interior). I will start by saying that it has always been mine, so I can say that I know it like a trusted girlfriend of old. Apart from the normal maintenance, and the replacement of the hybrid battery, I have never needed serious mechanical interventions, and in 160,000 kilometers, (in Europe driving a car like this is like wearing the best vicuna coat.. the urban streets prevent practical use, you need 3-meter cars, to avoid going crazy) I have changed the upper front bushings twice and I am preparing to replace the lower bushings on both sides. But this is banal routine. My problem is that I have developed, over time, a certain hostility to the sound of the car, not that of its amplification (I usually listen to classical music and jazz up to Frank Zappa, so the super bass is of no use to me) but rather that emitted by the very modest radio and DVD player on the dashboard. At first, I circumvented the problem by using the AUX input with a DAP that gives me some satisfaction. I would like to improve the situation by using the balanced output of the DAP and its separate channel management. Now, in Lexus Rome, I am seen as one of the 4 originals who use the "thing" (the new Lexus mechanic told me he didn't know they produced a car that drives like that), so I can't ask for information about it, and although I have (also) the wiring diagrams, I can't risk damaging the amplifier by simply bypassing the radio or the DVD player (I don't use them anyway), and entering the balanced output of the DAP into the amplification line. I tried using the rear DIN input, but it's ridiculously inconvenient. Can you give me some pointers?

 

I'm surprised that anything going into the AUX input sounds audibly superior to the CD. I assume the car came with the Mark Levinson Audio System?

 

Thanks for the interest. Yes, some sources produce a result higher than that of Radio and Multidvd of Lexus, on the Mark Levinson plant. The problem is not the quality of the signal but of its processing: today music is a digital file, which some instruments "ruin" more than others. With the suitable tools, we could even see by the eye that a quality dap elaborates the signal up to the preamplification, causing less damage than how many causes an instrument such as the one contained in the dashboard of our Lexus. The signal that is extracted from a mechanical DVD, is worse than the high quality signal correctly recorded in a device built exclusively to reproduce it. A dap Astell & Kern or Hidizs can reproduce a lossless file very well, a record reader, even Blu Ray, does not have the same quality. And it is the reason why I try to use the balanced exit for the direct entry of the amplifier, abandoning the AUX entrance.