Harman Kardon stereo?

[itsmarc]

I honestly find these things to be very subjective - I went from a 2018 Kia Sportage with a JBL system, to an 2019 E-Pace with Meridian to a 2019 BMW 4-series with HK, to a 2020 A4 Allroad with B&O and one thing that was consistent is that the new system never sounded as good as the last to begin with. Each time I changed cars, I disliked the new sound system and spent ages trying to get it sounding the way I liked it and eventually getting used to it, and then ultimately liking the sound. Then changed car again and back to missing the previous system. I experienced that same thing recently going from the B&O in my Allroad to the HK in the XC40 and 1-month in, only just really starting to get used to the HK again.. even though I actually missed the HK from the 4-series when I go the Allroad. And my music source was always AAC lossless audio tracks via USB (Carplay using the native iOS music app).

One does get used to what you have, although I do find the lack of flexibility when it comes to fine-tuning the HK in AAOS a little jarring. I'm not sure how configurable it was in the Sensus cars, but the HK in my 4-series could be fine tuned using a digital EQ within iDrive and I spent a good bit of time fine tuning it to my liking. With AAOS, it's basic tone controls (and a silly fader-that-isn't-a-fader control), which is quite disappointing.

[adrian_xc40]

Hello to all!
The human ear needs a little time to accommodate with a new enviroment/room/car/home. The electronics -
as well need to “burn in” for a while, to get the thermal saturation/stability etc. It’s complex, i know, i’m a hi-fi enthusiast and i speak from experience.
The H/K in XC40 is pretty decent IMO, after one month of use it sounds better and better every day for me.
I have Tidal hi-fi plus installed via Google play but i compared Tidal via iPhone through cable Apple CarPlay and sounded better this way (louder, more powerful). But for radio i use Radio FM app and sounds decent (at 128 to 320 kbps).