Another silly question

[IlAClI]

Does audio quality increase with the Bose 14 speaker system when using the dvd player instead of the cd player?

[szh]

Does audio quality increase with the Bose 14 speaker system when using the dvd player instead of the cd player?

Given the poor acoustic environment of the car (any car), I doubt that the difference would be significant enough to matter much!

Personally, I reserve my critical listening (and significant dollars!) on my home stereo system.

Z

[jankenpo30]

No it doesn't. Best quality is DVD-Audio disk via DVD player.

[IlAClI]

That was sort of a contradiction...?

So using a dvd disk in the dvd player is better?

[jankenpo30]

If the DVD is a DVD-Audio disk, yes. There is a difference between DVD Audio, DVD with Mp3s on it...and you can't burn a DVD in CD audio format.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Audio

[paulc]

You will get dolby 5.1 playback from the DVD player. I found that it makes a small difference but given the cabin noise in these cars the benefit is not substantial.

[szh]

but given the cabin noise in these cars the benefit is not substantial.

Yes ... which is what I posted earlier. This is true of any car. The external noises at normal speeds, let alone highway speeds, overwhelm any perceived differences in audio quality when playing a CD Audio disk in the CD player or the DVD player, or when playing a DVD-Audio disk in the DVD player (cannot play that second one in the CD player of course).

Z

[jankenpo30]

Yes ... which is what I posted earlier. This is true of any car. The external noises at normal speeds, let alone highway speeds, overwhelm any perceived differences in audio quality when playing a CD Audio disk in the CD player or the DVD player, or when playing a DVD-Audio disk in the DVD player (cannot play that second one in the CD player of course).

Z

I respectfully disagree. The cabin noise isn't great in these cars, but not horrible by any means.

The difference tween CD Audio to DVD-Audio disk is when recorded correctly is night & day, plain and simple. The DVD can cranked up enough and maintain quality that you will forget completely about cabin noise. Anyone & everyone is ever been in mine, has not said a word about cabin noise when the DVD Audio is playing.

[maxnix]

Look, a D VD or CD has a dynamic range ~100dB.

A very quiet car will make 68dB A 70 mph.

Therefore, there is a lot of background noise and dynamic range is limited.

A lot better than a damn lossy mp3 encoded format, though.

[szh]

I respectfully disagree. The cabin noise isn't great in these cars, but not horrible by any means.

The difference tween CD Audio to DVD-Audio disk is when recorded correctly is night & day, plain and simple. The DVD can cranked up enough and maintain quality that you will forget completely about cabin noise. Anyone & everyone is ever been in mine, has not said a word about cabin noise when the DVD Audio is playing.

Umm, no, I didn't mean to say/imply that it is horrible.

Yes, you can crank up the volume to mask cabin noise to some degree. With most music, the dynamic range between softest and loudest parts is between 10 to 20 db or so. So, this works most of the time - although it may be too loud for conversation at all, or hearing important external sounds (horns, sirens, etc.)

My point would be that the good CD and good DVD-audio will mostly sound close enough to each other under those conditions, to not matter much. And the differences would be imperceptible to most people!

Where DVD-audio excels, is in music with wide dynamic range ... like classical music (which is what I mostly listen to). Here, the typical dynamic range from loud to quiet passages is near 35 to 40 db, sometimes as high as 50 or 55 db for solo instruments (like a piano). In this situation, there is no way you could mask the cabin noise (luxury cars tend to be around 63 to 70 db at highway speeds), so the road noise would intrude ... again mostly masking the differences between DVD-audio and CD's.

Changing the subject a bit (i.e., no longer a comparison between DVD-audio and CD in a car) ... the best listening environment is a properly set up home stereo system. I spent a lot of money on mine, and I can tell you, for sure, that I have never heard any car system (have tried Lexus, Acura, Infiniti and Audi listening tests - not others) even come close to the "live, you-are-there" kind of quality that my home system has!

So, for example, while I do consider myself an audiophile, I never bother upgrading any car stereo "for better sound" in any of the cars I have owned. It will never be good enough for my listening requirements, so why spend money on nominal improvements.

Z

[exbmwdude]

Since I have the Bose DVD Audio system in my M35 and a great stereo in my living room I'll toss my $.02 in here...

You are correct that it would be hard to tell the difference between a DVD-Audio and a CD in the car, provided that you only listen to a 2-channel DVD. However, since most DVD-Audio discs have 5.1 channels of 24/96 sound, the CD is totally blown out of the water. The way the sound surrounds you and the way the instruments seem to pop out of nowhere is a *totally* diffferent experience than playing a CD of the same recording. I know, I've compared a few back to back and the DVD-Audio experience is just in a whole different class.

Provided you can find some DVD-A discs of music you like, you'll be amazed at the experience....

exbmwdude2006 M35S

[jankenpo30]

My point would be that the good CD and good DVD-audio will mostly sound close enough to each other under those conditions, to not matter much. And the differences would be imperceptible to most people!

..

Changing the subject a bit (i.e., no longer a comparison between DVD-audio and CD in a car) ... the best listening environment is a properly set up home stereo system. I spent a lot of money on mine, and I can tell you, for sure, that I have never heard any car system (have tried Lexus, Acura, Infiniti and Audi listening tests - not others) even come close to the "live, you-are-there" kind of quality that my home system has!

Z

I gathered that as your point and again i have to disagree. Again a 5.1 DVD-A disk at any level and regardless of cabin noise is easily detectable as far greater quality than a CD audio disk period. I have some CD audio that has been re-encoded using 5.1 simulation software and even it sounds 10 times better. Classic, pop, hip-hop, etc.

I will agree that a home system will always sound better. However, that's a no brainier as you A) you're not dealing with cabin noise B) the home system marker is leaps & bounds ahead of a car audio setup in terms of technology. I will add, that if this is someone's sole decision making on purchasing this or any other vehicle, they either need to adjust their priorities or have more money than they know what to do with.

[szh]

I am not going to argue too much here, since I think we are mostly on the same page regardless of our stance on the topic!

You guys may well hear differences that I find not as perceptible perhaps ... My listening experiences on some of the cars I tried may not have been with the best of source material perhaps ...

It is not important, because (a) I think your final comment is very accurate: the decision of buying this or any other car should not be solely based on this criterion and (b) my critical music listening environment is my home stereo.

Time for me to just go put that system on ... close my eyes ... and enjoy ... :

Z