First i want to say that i am Hi-Fi enthusiast and i have spent enough time training my ears over the years setting up and picking different audio components for home, portable and cars.
I also want to say that sound is very subjective but the objective part of it is what makes the real difference. "i am happy enough with the way this sounds" is the most common thing you hear and to make a long story short: Most people have no idea with good sound is.
With that said the sound in the
CUPRA (SEAT SOUND) is not good.
The first reason is actually
not the sound system but the sound isolation, the car is just loud as hell and that already ruins the sound independent of how good or bad the sound system in it is. So before you go and spend more money on better speakers start by isolating your car. I have not done this because i am lazy in the way that i don't like ripping a car open and you need to do that to get to the spots where you need to apply the sound isolation. If someone has a friendly method and a tutorial on
how to do this without breaking half the car when putting it back together i would be happy to take a look and maybe try it myself.
So let's turn off the engine and sit in a quite parking: The sound is now already x10 better and it didn't cost anything. Practical? No. As it's a car and not a portable music room but let's take it from here.
1. Source:
- Radio
- Bluetooth
- CD
- SD card
- AUX
The source matters. If your source is **** everything will be ****.
Without getting into details try using the best source you can, i use the newest bluetooth standard via google auto because i use spotify.
Can i put FLAC files on an SD card and listen to those? I probably can if the headunit actually supports FLAC. Will i do this? No, because i like changing tracks or style very often. I won't be cruising with a 256GB SD card full of FLAC. Mainly because it won't matter as i didn't isolate the car.
I used APPLE CAR PLAY before and i believe there was a tad better sound on that.
2.EQ
Everyone has different ears and everyone likes different sound. Again, at some point this is objective as we have sound engineers building sound systems to sound the best. So there is a scientific definition of what good sound is and what bad sound is. This however goes out through the window once you have listened to the "white apple earbuds" most your life and think they sound great or good enough.
Use the EQ to change the sound to your liking. Smiley or stairway etc doesn't matter as EQ is personal. If your ears are half deaf to
lower frequencies raise the bass, if you are sensitive to highs,
lower those. The goal is to get a balanced personal sound YOU like.
When i was a teen every friend had their BASS so loud i couldn't even ride with them listening to music so i started messing with their EQ and they all thanked me and said they didn't believe it can sound so much better!
3. Speakers
The speakers that come with the SEAT SOUND pack are good enough. You can always buy better speakers but that's pointless unless you isolate the car.
Solution? I crank up the volume to night club levels when i actually want to enjoy the sound because at
lower volumes the loudness of this car makes the sound **** anyway. I drive short distances mostly so i found myself just listening to the exhaust instead because i don't want to **** up my ears to get the sound system to cover the road noise.
4. Rattles and **** in the boot.
If you have rattles or other noises that will ruin the sound. My boot is full of stuff and a stroller so that affects the sub performance.
I am actually very disappointing with the level of isolation this car came with. The 2017 300 model i drove was quieter.
Maybe i should just buy insulation and isolate this car.