The November 2021 issue of Car & Driver had an interesting article, entitled "Top of the Charts." It discussed what songs Bose engineers use to design car stereos. To test stereos, they need songs representing a variety of sounds and recording techniques to make sure that new systems can re-create a song with the depth of the original recording. To have a common reference point, Bose engineers all over the world share a 54-track master playlist that is updated periodically. Here are eight of the selections currently being used: Mono Pink Noise Holy Cole Trio- "I Can See Clearly Now" Bruno Mars- "24 Magic" Winterplay- "Billie Jean" Tom Petty- "Learning to Fly" Dave Brubeck Quartet- "Take Five" Steely Dan- "Hey Nineteen" Straight No Chaser- " Homeward Bound" Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Learning To Fly (Version 1) - YouTube
Bleh ^^^ I test out my car stereos with: 1) Black Sabbath 2) Led Zeppelin 3) AC/DC 4) Uriah Heep 5) .... and for the wife, anything POP
I was surprised and disappointed by how inferior the factory Bose system in my 2012 370z was, having experienced a wonderful Bose factory system in my 92 C4.
Me too... Zepplin, Hendricks, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, a ton of them. The wife's Barry Manilow is on a separate jump drive so my music doesn't get infected. Nothing worse that hearing "Mandy" after Jimmy Hendrick's "Fire" just played.
It's interesting to hear you say that as I swear there are different quality systems for different cars. We had a Harmon Kardon stereo in our 2002 BMW Z3 and it was just crap. Speakers broke and the sound quality abysmal. We were shocked but apparently the HK is normally a decent system. We just did not experience that. Our GM and Ford units were light years better and that should not happen. By the way, this unit in our R/T's 'Plus' package with the 6 premium speakers is really good!! I forgot what brand it is at the moment.
Whenever I want to test a stereo I use Tool -Forty Six And Two The different instruments and vocals give a great range to listen to.... crank it!!
The sound system in my 07 335 is the best I've experienced (Logic 7 with 13 speakers which appears to be an optional upgrade). Amazing even at about half throttle! The factory system in my 10 R/T is better than the Nissan Bose.
One of the best factory sounding stereo systems I've had was in a 2005 Chrysler 300 C, it was a Boston Accoustics. I also liked the factory Alpine system that was in my 2013 Ram 1500 limited.
If you are on a quest for great bass, here is one indicator of your bass capability: Get Kriss Kross's Jump and play it. If you don't hear a strong rolling very-deep-base-line backing everything up, your system is lacking. Most people don't even know that is IN the music.