Brad Carlson
Member
There’s two great chargers for iPhones. But you have to take the case off to charge.
Disappointing Surreal Sound Pro
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Tidal is not the only streaming source that uses Dolby Atmos in the Air. For instance, iHeart Radio also streams in Dolby Atmos. And Dolby Labs did work directly with Lucid on using the Dolby Atmos system in the car:
Brad Carlson
Member
It’s a great car, but it’s 0.75.
Brad Carlson
Member
Well, tell me the audio is better than your last car.
Brad Carlson
Member
I love my Lucid. I’m just trying to be a non totally satisfied customer and stir up comment.
Brad Carlson
Member
I expect volume, equalizer and balance in a 10 year old Buick.
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Sorry man but you don’t know what you’re talking about. You can’t “balance” ANY Dolby mix, 5.1, 7.1, Atmos, etc. They don’t allow it, it pre-assigns speaker location and balance to that speaker, you can just increase global volume and adjust frequency. Also their codec is licensed on both the encoded delivery format end (Tidal etc) and the decoding end (the car). Lucid was the first to offer Atmos, and now also Maybach and Nio’s top end car, because they have the hardware and speaker array capable of playing back an Atmos encoded mix.
Brad Carlson
Member
Maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. I appreciate the Lucid offers Dolby Atmos. You’re right changing the balance doesn’t make it sound better. Are you saying it sounds great and better than any other car you’ve been in?
Brad Carlson
Member
The rear speakers are really weak and the bass is weak.
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Yes and I’ve said so before. You don’t even need Atmos to confirm it. I was part of the sound post production team and in the mixing studio for the final mixes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Departed, Shutter Island, The Aviator, and several other films and when I’ve played those soundtracks back in Tidal HiFi it sounded like I was back in the studio. That level of accurate reproduction is not an easy feat to pull off especially with the glass roof and carpets and angular reflective dash. And those weren’t even Atmos mixes, they were done before Atmos existed. Two goosebump inducing moments for me was hearing the opening theme for Eternal Sunshine and the track Fog Tropes from Shutter Island. I literally said “holy shit” out loud the fidelity was so fantastic. My prior reference was the Burmester system in the Mercedes which sounds excellent but less accurate than the Lucid, even with the Burmeister surround sound algorithm. Maybe there are certain types of music the Lucid’s system doesn’t excel at as well to some people’s ears but every genre I listen to sounds fantastic in the car to me.
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Are you streaming in Tidal HiFi? Put on The Cure’s Other Voices or Underworld’s Born Slippy or Yosi Horikawa’s Bump and then come back and tell me the bass sucks. The bass is full range and not just subwoofer below 120hz brown note boom, it’s the whole range. Too many car audio systems hype the low lows but have a shitty crossover to the sub to trick you into thinking that “big bass” = quality, when really the system will have steep drops at 200hz and 400hz. @copper did a frequency response curve in the Lucid. Find that thread, the car definitely has some dips but they’re surprisingly very narrow band (I suspect they’re EQing out resonance from all the glass).
My 2018 Navigator sounds much better, to me. It has more bass, better highs and just a bigger sound stage. It seems to sound best with music from a USB drive so I can't compare that to the Lucid.
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What format is it in on the USB vs what streaming resolution are you playing on the Lucid? Just curious. I’ve found Bluetooth streaming versions of identical tracks compared to Lucid’s Tidal app set to HiFi sound much better in Tidal than via Bluetooth, even though it’s set to HiFi on my phone. I don’t deny Lucid’s software is sabotaging the audio experience for some people as well as the inability to play a USB source, and I’m wondering if there’s some inconsistencies between cars if all other conditions (streaming format, EQ setting, volume) were identical as what I’m hearing in my car doesn’t seem to match what some drivers are describing as poor quality.
I believe they are WAV files but will need to verify that. I listen to SiriusXM and USB files in the Navigator so I do feel like it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. I tried Tidal for a couple of months and it sounded "OK". Amazon music sounds "OK" also, when Alexa is in a good mood and will play music for me! Streaming SiriusXM from my phone does not sound great, to me.
I am sure that software improvements will help Lucid.
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Ah that’s part of the problem. .WAV format is essentially uncompressed audio, if it the source was uncompressed. Tidal MQA (part of the HiFi subscription which is not cheap) format is indistinguishable to my ears from uncompressed .WAV but you can only hear it that way if you’ve got the top end Tidal subscription.
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My 2019 F-250 Limited TurboDiesel cost more than Air Pure or equates to inflation-adjusted Air Touring today. Its B&O sound system is not even close to half as good as Air Surreal Sound System Pro. Sure it can be louder than Air sound within its luxury cabin, but nowhere near crispy sharp sound and it’s bass sounds like cheap low rider cracking subwoofer waffles.
Brad Carlson
Member
Somebody can tell me I’m wrong, but I think the speakers are Bose with self-contained amplifier. You have to have a true amplifier system with good speakers and software processing to have good music quality and bass.
What service are you using to listen to music?
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I’m on team @bunnylebowski on this. I just went into my garage to listen to Dolby Atmos tracks for the first time and am totally blown away. I’m not a sound engineer or an audiophile, but I was a music major and understand music and tone. Dolby Atmos on the Air is exceptional and to say otherwise is to take a contrarian view for the sake of taking a contrarian view.
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I guess I'm confused or I missed it on one of your earlier posts. Your details indicate you are a Lucid Air Touring buyer but to my knowledge no Touring models have been delivered?? So where/how are you listening to the Air's sound system? And as others have asked, what source are you using for your listening on your Touring vehicle?
