Poor sound quality and other questions/issues

5874 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by herrp58, Mar 10, 2021

Greatness

Discussion Starter · Mar 20, 2017

Hello. Proud owner of 2017 Sport. Put about 2000km since I got it.

However, I can't listen to anything but the radio because sound quality from any other source is just awful.

PROBELM-Bass and treble way too prominent and mid-range almost not there, except when listening to radio.

DESCRIPTION: at factory defaults (sub, bass, treble all at "0") the bass actually shakes the truck when the music is up. The most prominent sounds in any rock song are the repetitive "tss, tss, tss" of the highhat (treble) and the thumping of the bass drum and guitar. Vocal and every other instrument are there, but nearly lost. Even when stereo is turned down to the level that i can just barely hear the song, the main things I hear are those highs and lows.

(Failed) SOLUTION ATTEMPTS:
-Tweaks via LCD screen to bass, treble, and sub provide some minor relief from peircing and pounding, but also flatten the midrange greatly
-Multiple sources tried including: iPhone and 2 different android phones, using both Bluetooth and auxiliary for each. I have also adjust the output settings on each phone and uses multiple music apps
-Ipod using auxiliary
-Usb key directly to stereo
-Android auto

The weird thing is the radio sounds fine.

QUESTIONS:
1) any ideas?
2) whenever I connect to android auto (via usb) the Bluetooth on my phone must be on. Do you know ow if it is playing music via Bluetooth or via the cable?
3) do you know what compression format the Bluetooth player in the car uses? Is it lossless?

Thanks!

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jfpenkala

· #2 · Mar 21, 2017 (Edited)

Firstly, I think most stock audio systems installed in cars sound like poo. From the factory they have hyped low end and sometimes hyped high end like you describe. Even many of the "premium" systems suffer from this. FWIW, I use Apple CarPlay and it needs the cable to function in the Ridgeline. It sounds pretty good. If it were me, I would rip a track off of a CD to a lossless MP3 and see if that makes a difference. Also, I'd be curious to hear what an Apple device sounds like on your system to see if there's any difference. YMMV

JP

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Tidewater BE

· #3 · Mar 21, 2017

I'd swing by the dealer & plug the phone nto a different truck to see if there's a difference. That may be the easiest first troubleshooting step if the dealer isn't too far away.

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Greatness

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 23, 2017

Thanks guys! I did try and iPhone but it wasn't any better.

I will try both a high quality rip and testing it at the dealer.

Thanks!

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

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Greatness

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 9, 2017

Updates and hoping for more help:
1) none of the dealers in my area have a Sport in stock (only Black editions) for me to test

2) when I asked the technician to check it out he said it was normal. However, he didn't investigate or listen for more than 5 seconds (more of an eyeroll situation, despite my acknowledging it was an odd concern).

3) does anyone know where the subwoofer is located? I have some experience with car stereos and can look myself, just don't know where to start.

4) I've tried 4 diff phone makers (including iPhone). The problem is present with CDs (files in various formats), USB key directly to the port, phones via Bluetooth, aux, and android auto. Wierd thing is the radio is not bad...

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

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windplr

· #6 · May 9, 2017

Don't have the 'sport', but my RTL-T has a very boomy bass which I have somewhat mitigated by playing with the bass and sub-woofer settings. I also adjusted the sound more to the rear speakers. The front tweeters seem to be junk and put out a horribly tinny sound. I plan on replacing these (the tweeters) first. Also, using high quality MP3s have made a big difference for me.

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JSpring

· #7 · Mar 7, 2021

Greatness said:
Updates and hoping for more help:
1) none of the dealers in my area have a Sport in stock (only Black editions) for me to test

2) when I asked the technician to check it out he said it was normal. However, he didn't investigate or listen for more than 5 seconds (more of an eyeroll situation, despite my acknowledging it was an odd concern).

3) does anyone know where the subwoofer is located? I have some experience with car stereos and can look myself, just don't know where to start.

4) I've tried 4 diff phone makers (including iPhone). The problem is present with CDs (files in various formats), USB key directly to the port, phones via Bluetooth, aux, and android auto. Wierd thing is the radio is not bad...

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

I hate to have these problems, and it’s only on radio that I can’t notice it. I chalked it up to the fact that the radio reception isn’t all that good. Can’t wait to hear what Honda hast to say. There on site tech was completely useless, so I quickly had it escalated and they’re having an engineer look at it remotely, using attack as their hands.

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herrp58

· #8 · Mar 10, 2021

I've got a '19 Sport and kindly accepted my wife's generous offer to have the OEM CD installed. (I know I'm in a time warp...) But as I was driving home from the dealer post-install, I threw in a Springsteen CD, only to discover that the CD quality of the player only helped to bring out the mediocre-ness of the stock sound system. Those Bass and Treble ranges aren't very wide. So I did what Windplr did and faded more to the back, just to trick my ears into thinking the sound is better than it actually is.

Maybe down the road I'll plunk down some serious green for a real upgrade.

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181804

· #9 · Mar 10, 2021

herrp58 said:
I threw in a Springsteen CD, only to discover that the CD quality of the player only helped to bring out the mediocre-ness of the stock sound system. Those Bass and Treble ranges aren't very wide. So I did what Windplr did and faded more to the back, just to trick my ears into thinking the sound is better than it actually is.

Sound quality has to be pretty poor if it improves when you fade to the rear speakers

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herrp58

· #10 · Mar 10, 2021

That about sums it up.

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