Is Lucid styling the problem?

[socktucker]

I have an Air loaner right now, and they provided both a charging bundle for home charging and an adapter for DC fast charging. It's strange that some SCs don't do this.

Some SCs are more attentive than others

 

[borski]

I am talking about present day, not hindsight here. I really do not care exactly how they got here. But Lucid seems to have prioritized vehicle performance above basic daily operations and fundamental stuff that has worked in the industry for decades.

Talking about present day is doing so with hindsight, as you cannot “un-know” the past.

But that’s fine - it’s perfectly fine for you not to like the car! I wish you the best in your car purchase.

 

[exxxviii]

Talking about present day is doing so with hindsight, as you cannot “un-know” the past.

But that’s fine - it’s perfectly fine for you not to like the car! I wish you the best in your car purchase.

You put words in my mouth, so I will take another spin at a response... I love the car. I just dislike the current state of the car's software. (My 99%/1% point way above.)

I can observe, in present day, without any hindsight knowledge of the past, that the Gravity appears to have more software issues in areas that directly affect me than other similar cars in today's marketplace. Right now, today, the car is different from other cars. I am hopeful that they show major progress working through them in the near-future, and I am learning a great deal in this forum along the way.

Now, getting to the hindsight part, where we might use past knowledge to speculate, I shall try to entertain you with guesses on how they might have arrived here...

• HUD Issues - I think they got a pitch for a brand new tech and neither Lucid nor the vendor understood the difficulty. GM followed a similar path about five years ago, and it was so bad they de-contented the HUD entirely from the original Lyriq. It took them about three three years to recover, and they finally offered the AR HUD on the Lyriq V, but still not the original Lyriq.
• Fob Issues - Similar to HUD, I think someone thought they had a good idea and Lucid took a path different from every other automaker in the last two decades. Car fobs are a mature technology, and I do not remember seeing anything like this in any other car. I am curious what the promised upsides were that led them down this path. I wish someone inside could say "well, that was a total failure, let's just revert back to normal fobs like everyone else."
• SiriusXM Integration - This is truly a head scratcher. Maybe their UX designer for the media system was sick that day. Not having an SXM receiver in a luxury car is a minor outlier if there is no loss of function. But omitting integration is a downgrade that again, is glaring in the class of competitors available in the market right now.
• PaaK - PaaK is generally table stakes in the luxury class, but Lucid is not that far behind. Porsche only just got there this year. PaaK delay is probably just an issue of prioritization while dealing with other issues.
• SW Stability - I cannot speculate how they got here, but they appear to be lagging behind the current market. Lucid's competitors have all generally stabilized their software a year or two ago at least. Using GM as another baseline, because their problems were so public, it looks like Lucid is about 3 years behind GM in handling their software stability problems.
• Surreal Sound Pro - Not software, but this is another curious historical head scratcher. Cars in this price and luxury class have ultra premium audio systems with far higher specs and performance. For some reason known only to Lucid, Lucid decided to put a high price tag on a mid audio system and market it like an ultra premium offering. Folks shopping for $120K cars are going to notice that. On the software side of SSP, their audio system configuratbility and UI is very basic compared to luxury competitors. If I were going to guess based on hindsight, it is probably just prioritization among other bigger issues.

I am only looking at three cars in this price and performance class (around $120K): The Macan EV, the doesn't-exist-yet iX5 M70, and the Gravity. The Macan EV has stable software and UX, but it is also more primitive. If the iX5 follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, its software will likely be stable and loaded with features, but its timeline and feature packaging are unknowns. The Gravity is super luxurious, available now, and performative, but it has the software issues noted above. I believe the Gravity has by far the greatest potential of all the cars I am shopping, but it is a question of how long it will take their future software organization to catch up and overtake.

If I don't get one of those three cars now, then I will probably aim to get a much cheaper car with low depreciation risk for a year or two until the BMW arrives, Gravity steps up its game, or the Earth/Cosmos arrives. If I do not get a Gravity by December, I could be back in the mix in 2028.

 

[borski]

You put words in my mouth, so I will take another spin at a response... I love the car. I just dislike the current state of the car's software. (My 99%/1% point way above.)

You’re right, I should have mentioned software specifically, not “the car.” I misspoke.

I can observe, in present day, without any hindsight knowledge of the past, that the Gravity appears to have more software issues in areas that directly affect me than other similar cars in today's marketplace. Right now, today, the car is different from other cars. I am hopeful that they show major progress working through them in the near-future, and I am learning a great deal in this forum along the way.

Now, getting to the hindsight part, where we might use past knowledge to speculate, I shall try to entertain you with guesses on how they might have arrived here...

• HUD Issues - I think they got a pitch for a brand new tech and neither Lucid nor the vendor understood the difficulty. GM followed a similar path about five years ago, and it was so bad they de-contented the HUD entirely from the original Lyriq. It took them about three three years to recover, and they finally offered the AR HUD on the Lyriq V, but still not the original Lyriq.

The HUD was developed internally. They have now pegged an external team to rewrite the software for it (though I don’t know if that has changed post-Silvio). It was not a vendored product though.

• Fob Issues - Similar to HUD, I think someone thought they had a good idea and Lucid took a path different from every other automaker in the last two decades. Car fobs are a mature technology, and I do not remember seeing anything like this in any other car. I am curious what the promised upsides were that led them down this path. I wish someone inside could say "well, that was a total failure, let's just revert back to normal fobs like everyone else."

The fob was built by Marquardt, the same company that makes fobs for countless other manufacturers, including Mercedes. There was no “special path.”

• SiriusXM Integration - This is truly a head scratcher. Maybe their UX designer for the media system was sick that day. Not having an SXM receiver in a luxury car is a minor outlier if there is no loss of function. But omitting integration is a downgrade that again, is glaring in the class of competitors available in the market right now.

Lucid is far from the only brand without a satellite receiver.

• PaaK - PaaK is generally table stakes in the luxury class, but Lucid is not that far behind. Porsche only just got there this year. PaaK delay is probably just an issue of prioritization while dealing with other issues.

I agree. This is a miss, and I’m very much looking forward to this being out.

• SW Stability - I cannot speculate how they got here, but they appear to be lagging behind the current market. Lucid's competitors have all generally stabilized their software a year or two ago at least. Using GM as another baseline, because their problems were so public, it looks like Lucid is about 3 years behind GM in handling their software stability problems.

It’s pretty much there now. In six months, I suspect you won’t find anyone complaining about any issues at all. This was also what happened with the Air; took about 9 months total for them to really figure it out.

• Surreal Sound Pro - Not software, but this is another curious historical head scratcher. Cars in this price and luxury class have ultra premium audio systems with far higher specs and performance. For some reason known only to Lucid, Lucid decided to put a high price tag on a mid audio system and market it like an ultra premium offering. Folks shopping for $120K cars are going to notice that. On the software side of SSP, their audio system configuratbility and UI is very basic compared to luxury competitors. If I were going to guess based on hindsight, it is probably just prioritization among other bigger issues.

This is very subjective, but to my ears Lucid has among the best sound systems in any vehicle. My only request is a better (more bands) EQ.

I am only looking at three cars in this price and performance class (around $120K): The Macan EV, the doesn't-exist-yet iX5 M70, and the Gravity. The Macan EV has stable software and UX, but it is also more primitive. If the iX5 follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, its software will likely be stable and loaded with features, but its timeline and feature packaging are unknowns. The Gravity is super luxurious, available now, and performative, but it has the software issues noted above. I believe the Gravity has by far the greatest potential of all the cars I am shopping, but it is a question of how long it will take their future software organization to catch up and overtake.

If I don't get one of those three cars now, then I will probably aim to get a much cheaper car with low depreciation risk for a year or two until the BMW arrives, Gravity steps up its game, or the Earth/Cosmos arrives. If I do not get a Gravity by December, I could be back in the mix in 2028.

 

[exxxviii]

The HUD was developed internally. They have now pegged an external team to rewrite the software for it (though I don’t know if that has changed post-Silvio). It was not a vendored product though.
...
The fob was built by Marquardt, the same company that makes fobs for countless other manufacturers, including Mercedes. There was no “special path.”
...
Lucid is far from the only brand without a satellite receiver.
...
This is very subjective, but to my ears Lucid has among the best sound systems in any vehicle.

Thanks for all the follow-up... The HUD conundrum is interesting. GM chose Envisics, and it was a colossal fail. Porsche touts an advanced AR HUD from WayRay, but my test drive car did not have the option. There are few like this on the road.

I know the fob is supplied by Marquardt, that is what makes this all the more a mystery. Fobs are a stable, mature technology, so somehow the Gravity behaves differently from the rest of the industry. Thus my commenting them as haven taken a different path.

The only automakers I know without an SXM receivers are Rivian, Tesla (since they discontinued the S&X), and Lucid. Some automakers eschew them in low trims, but still offer them as options. The key is the integration with the SXM streaming app.

You should give a listen to a Bowers & Wilkins Diamond system in a BMW, Volvo, or Polestar. Those will redefine your perception of excellent car audio. The B&W Diamond is commonly reviewed as the best in-car audio system in any car at any price. Some of the Burmesters 4D systems are probably next in line after the B&W, but it depends a lot on the car. And the AKG Studio Reference system in the Escalade is pretty highly regarded as well. These are the Ultra Premium class of audio systems in cars >>$100K. The SSP spec & performance is more like the mid-tier systems in luxury cars that offer a $3K - $5K Ultra Premium third-tier.

If Lucid implements SXM integration, releases PaaK, fixes the HUD, and makes further ground in SW Stability, then they would jump to the #1 or #2 spot in my simple scoring rubric above.

 

[Bdr100]

I have an Air loaner right now, and they provided both a charging bundle for home charging and an adapter for DC fast charging. It's strange that some SCs don't do this.

Thanks. This further supports my assertion that the Houston SC is a total train wreck. Based on comments I have read here as well as number of upvotes on the Houston SC issues for the proposed Reddit Q&A that was canceled, Houston appears to be the worst SC in country and reason I would tell anyone in Texas or area Houston SC supports (LA, AR, OK) to at this time, not purchase a Lucid.

 

[socktucker]

Thanks. This further supports my assertion that the Houston SC is a total train wreck. Based on comments I have read here as well as number of upvotes on the Houston SC issues for the proposed Reddit Q&A that was canceled, Houston appears to be the worst SC in country and reason I would tell anyone in Texas or area Houston SC supports (LA, AR, OK) to at this time, not purchase a Lucid.

is it fully staffed? I know that has caused issues too at least where I am, getting someone trained that doesn't quit take months.

 

[Saksak]

It may not be... I just created a ranking rubric for the cars on my list, and I was very surprised at how they sorted out. In my mind, I had the Gravity very high because it kills it in so many ways. And the car I had pushed out of my thinking was the iX3, mostly because of its janky audio system and the fact that I might have to pay a premium price to get one this year. The cars I am considering are small- to medium-sized SUVs with at least 300 miles EPA range and quick performance. The iX5 is on the list because it is possible, if I can get a long lease extension and then probably go a month or two without a lease.

The criteria I chose are the things that I considered differentiators and important to me. There is no weighting. I scored stuff on a 3-point scale and totaled each car. A big smile meant it was very good in that criteria and got 2 points. The mids got 1 point and were neutral or average. And then the frowns were detractors and got -1 points.

No huge shock that the Polestar is #1, because it checks most of my boxes. But they are exiting the US market, so they are out.
View attachment 39817

It’s interesting that you put the Polestar 3 at #1, yet will not purchase the Polestar. Obviously, something is missing in the ranking, as you will not be purchasing what the ranking tells you to select. Also, giving equal weight to all categories isn’t being objective. In reality, some things are critically important “must haves” while other things are “nice to haves”.

All rankings have biases but in - just because they are in a nice table doesn’t mean they are objective. I can just as easily make a ranking that puts the Gravity at #1, which supports my own decision:

• Range: #2. The Cadillac Escalade IQ is barely #1 (465 miles vs 450 miles) with a huge battery pack (205 kWh vs 123 kWh), but it’s a lumbering hulk with one of the poorest efficiencies. The newer BMW’s are coming close, but fails in other categories.
• Comfortable 3rd row for adults: #1. This drops many vehicles from consideration.
• Cargo/passenger space: #1/#2. Comparable to the Cadillac Escalade but the Escalade is a whopping 2 foot longer and 3.5 inches wider. Nothing else comes close.
• Performance/handling: #1 in its class. Read the reviews. I don’t push my Gravity nearly that hard, but I did have fun on some rainy days in a safe area!
• Quite/comfort/luxury: Highly subjective, and right up there with the big names.

PAAK would be nice, but it didn’t even make it onto my list (weighting of zero), and it’s coming, anyway. I wear pants with pockets and my wife carries a purse, and we don’t think twice about the FOB.

I’m also in the 75% of people with zero to few FOB problems, and Lucid is addressing the 25% with problems (stats from the unofficial Lucid poll somewhere in this forum). I had to use my card key exactly once - when my FOB battery died in my 6 months of ownership.

My point is that rankings are far from objective and are very personal depending on your priorities. After living with my Gravity for over 6 months, I still love my Gravity (as does my entire family), and there is still no other vehicle that comes close to its capabilities. Its software warts are disappearing, and Lucid is continuously adding high demand features (CarPlay, Hands-free driving, etc.).

 

[Bdr100]

is it fully staffed? I know that has caused issues too at least where I am, getting someone trained that doesn't quit take months.

Don’t know and don’t care. Lucid just needs to fix it ASAP.

 

[exxxviii]

It’s interesting that you put the Polestar 3 at #1, yet will not purchase the Polestar. Obviously, something is missing in the ranking, as you will not be purchasing what the ranking tells you to select. Also, giving equal weight to all categories isn’t being objective. In reality, some things are critically important “must haves” while other things are “nice to haves”.

All rankings have biases but in - just because they are in a nice table doesn’t mean they are objective. I can just as easily make a ranking that puts the Gravity at #1, which supports my own decision:

• Range: #2. The Cadillac Escalade IQ is barely #1 (465 miles vs 450 miles) with a huge battery pack (205 kWh vs 123 kWh), but it’s a lumbering hulk with one of the poorest efficiencies. The newer BMW’s are coming close, but fails in other categories.
• Comfortable 3rd row for adults: #1. This drops many vehicles from consideration.
• Cargo/passenger space: #1/#2. Comparable to the Cadillac Escalade but the Escalade is a whopping 2 foot longer and 3.5 inches wider. Nothing else comes close.
• Performance/handling: #1 in its class. Read the reviews. I don’t push my Gravity nearly that hard, but I did have fun on some rainy days in a safe area!
• Quite/comfort/luxury: Highly subjective, and right up there with the big names.

PAAK would be nice, but it didn’t even make it onto my list (weighting of zero), and it’s coming, anyway. I wear pants with pockets and my wife carries a purse, and we don’t think twice about the FOB.

I’m also in the 75% of people with zero to few FOB problems, and Lucid is addressing the 25% with problems (stats from the unofficial Lucid poll somewhere in this forum). I had to use my card key exactly once - when my FOB battery died in my 6 months of ownership.

My point is that rankings are far from objective and are very personal depending on your priorities. After living with my Gravity for over 6 months, I still love my Gravity (as does my entire family), and there is still no other vehicle that comes close to its capabilities. Its software warts are disappearing, and Lucid is continuously adding high demand features (CarPlay, Hands-free driving, etc.).

Ummmmmm. I used the phrases "me," "mine," "I," many times in describing that ranking. It is clearly not meant to be objective but personal to me and my preferences in the differentiators to me that set the cars apart. And as I commented in one or two posts above, if Lucid fixes the software-related issues, the car jumps to #1. Others are tolerant of software issues or have other priorities that are not differentiators to me. To your personal list above (and I'll add a couple that are implied)...

• Range - As I stated, 300 mile EPA range is sufficient for me, because I do not road trip the car. Anything more is fun, but not material to me. But if intended to road trip the car, then Range would be at the top of my differentiators.
• DCFC Charge Curve - Ditto to range. I have only used a DCFC three times in 4 years of BEV driving. Fast charging is not a thing for me.
• Efficiency - Most cars are similar enough that it does not matter to me. GM cars are horrible, as you noted. But if they have a car with at least 300 miles EPA range, that is good enough.
• 3rd Row - I actually prefer a smaller car. My use case is a car big enough to put my bike in back without removing the wheels. If I order a Gravity, I am 50-50 of whether I would order the 3rd row. We use my wife's 3-row SUV when we need the capacity. But, if we needed the room, then the Gravity's size would be a top priority and several cars on my list would be removed.
• Cargo Space - Ditto above; I only need a car big enough for my bike.
• Performance & Handling - The Macan EV outperforms the Gravity in braking, acceleration, and roadholding. Same as the now-discontinued BMW iX. The Macan's level of driving precision crushes everyone. I am skeptical that the future iX5 M70 will perform at the same level as the iX M70, because it is a porker, but it is starting from a point of advantage. But again, they are all close enough in this category that it is not a major differentiator to me.
• Quiet - Yep, no huge differentiation between the top tier cars. I did not include it in my table because they are approaching parity. (Even the lowly Model Y gets high marks for a quiet cabin now.)
• Luxury & Comfort - I simply forgot that one. I will add it to my little table and see where they fall. To me, the top is the Macan EV, then the GLC EV followed closely by the Gravity. But they are very close. After that, I would probably rank the Lyriq V, EX60, and iX5 in the next tier and put the R2, Model Y, and iX3 at the bottom. (But those are super subjective, since some do not exist yet on the market to look at.)
• Exterior Styling - I did not put this on my list, because none of the cars get me excited about their looks. Well, except the Macan EV - that car is pure hotness to me. The Gravity is very meh to me because it does not offer any colors I like. Maybe the R2 is high, because it is more unique in this group.
• Interior Styling - The Gravity rocks this space, along with the Macan EV. The rest are all kind of the same to me.

 

[borski]

Thanks for all the follow-up... The HUD conundrum is interesting. GM chose Envisics, and it was a colossal fail. Porsche touts an advanced AR HUD from WayRay, but my test drive car did not have the option. There are few like this on the road.

Yeah. I’m not saying I’m happy with the HUD, but it’s not like it was a failed vendor. That one really was an internal project that seems to not have gotten to where it needed to be yet.

I know the fob is supplied by Marquardt, that is what makes this all the more a mystery. Fobs are a stable, mature technology, so somehow the Gravity behaves differently from the rest of the industry. Thus my commenting them as haven taken a different path.

I hear you. FWIW, I haven’t really heard of many people having issues with the fob anymore. Whatever it was appears to have been resolved.

The only automakers I know without an SXM receivers are Rivian, Tesla (since they discontinued the S&X), and Lucid. Some automakers eschew them in low trims, but still offer them as options. The key is the integration with the SXM streaming app.

Polestar, Honda, and Acura (which I guess is Honda, heh), also.

You should give a listen to a Bowers & Wilkins Diamond system in a BMW, Volvo, or Polestar. Those will redefine your perception of excellent car audio. The B&W Diamond is commonly reviewed as the best in-car audio system in any car at any price. Some of the Burmesters 4D systems are probably next in line after the B&W, but it depends a lot on the car. And the AKG Studio Reference system in the Escalade is pretty highly regarded as well. These are the Ultra Premium class of audio systems in cars >>$100K. The SSP spec & performance is more like the mid-tier systems in luxury cars that offer a $3K - $5K Ultra Premium third-tier.

I have listened to Burmeister and B&W. They’re great too, but to my ears SS Pro is right up there with them.

The folks working on tuning the system are the same folks who tuned all of Apple’s sound stack, so it’s not like they lack experience or taste.

 

[borski]

The Macan EV outperforms the Gravity in braking, acceleration, and roadholding. Same as the now-discontinued BMW iX. The Macan's level of driving precision crushes everyone.

This is where you and I disagree most. The Macan is a fantastic driving car, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the Gravity in either acceleration (unless you purely mean from 0-45) or roadholding.

I’m quite glad there are lots of vehicles for lots of tastes!

 

[Lycra]

This is where you and I disagree most. The Macan is a fantastic driving car, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the Gravity in either acceleration (unless you purely mean from 0-45) or roadholding.

I’m quite glad there are lots of vehicles for lots of tastes!

Did you check out the Porsche Cayenne vs Gravity?

 

[TahoeMichael]

This is where you and I disagree most. The Macan is a fantastic driving car, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the Gravity in either acceleration (unless you purely mean from 0-45) or roadholding.

I’m quite glad there are lots of vehicles for lots of tastes!

Lucid's decision to prioritize changing speed while driving over hot-off-the-line launch acceleration was a great choice! Not that launch acceleration is a problem in anything other than head-to-head competitions.

 

[TahoeMichael]

I’ve seen a few posts that the fob is better since 3.6, but still several more that still have issues. I think they’re close.

I believe PaaK is more secure than a fob.

...

Neither PaaK nor fobs are all the same technology under the hood. Early fob protocols did have known security issues, but as far as I'm aware the Gravity is using the latest-and-greatest protocol for the fob, and no commercially available vehicle has anything more secure. PaaK for Gravity is expect to use the same protocol as the fob, and not deliver any additional security.

 

[borski]

Did you check out the Porsche Cayenne vs Gravity?

Nope. The EV didn’t exist at the time. Will have to test drive one.

 

[BrianBigNFun]

Nope. The EV didn’t exist at the time. Will have to test drive one.

Help Wanted: New Forum Moderator

 

[exxxviii]

I have listened to Burmeister and B&W. They’re great too, but to my ears SS Pro is right up there with them.

This is where you and I disagree most. The Macan is a fantastic driving car, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the Gravity in either acceleration (unless you purely mean from 0-45) or roadholding.

I'll start with my caveat: I think the Gravity is truly an amazing car and accomplishment.

I feel like you and I must have driven and listened to vastly different cars... I had some free time after my Gravity Demo Drive, and the Porsche dealer was about a mile away. So I went straight over to the Macan 4S Electric. Those two are very much not the same species. I was blown away by the Macan's steering precision, braking engagement, and road confidence over different surfaces. I have a little Porsche track time in both 911 and 718, and the Macan feels a lot more like those than an SUV. The Gravity was simply not in the same conversation. The Gravity roadholding is around 0.1g less than the Macan, and you notice it in casual cornering. Same with braking - the Macan will stop like 15' shorter. But again, I am filtering to the top few performance oriented cars, so the differences are not a differentiator to me. The big three are all plenty good enough.

Ditto with the audio systems. I did a quick side-by-side comparison of SSP and B&W Diamond with a audio demo playlist I am familiar with. If you are comparing at conversational levels, like below 70dB, then yeah, it is probably tough to differentiate most systems. But push it a little into the ~80dB range, and that is where the SSP starts falling apart. It is vastly under-powerd (compared to competing ultra premium systems) so bass below around 100 Hz falls off sharply. It does not have the watts to cover that frequency range. I was surprised that the bass line in Lorde's Royals becomes almost in inaudible in the Gravity compared to a B&W Diamond maintaining accurate and balanced bass well into the 90dB range. Same with a favorite Vangelis track of mine with a lot of timpani drum activity alongside his synth. Those drums just fade out in the Gravity but they are front-and-center on a B&W Diamond. On the upper-mid range, the SSP got a little muddy to me. I'm not sure why - if it is tuning, component position, or component selection - but it did not seem to carry the crisp highs and sound stage of the B&W. I have read that Gravity's audio performance has improved over time with some of the updates, so maybe they will make progress in the upper-midrange frequency balance. But SSP would need significantly more hardware to solve the lower frequency imbalance.

 

[borski]

I'll start with my caveat: I think the Gravity is truly an amazing car and accomplishment.

I feel like you and I must have driven and listened to vastly different cars... I had some free time after my Gravity Demo Drive, and the Porsche dealer was about a mile away. So I went straight over to the Macan 4S Electric. Those two are very much not the same species. I was blown away by the Macan's steering precision, braking engagement, and road confidence over different surfaces. I have a little Porsche track time in both 911 and 718, and the Macan feels a lot more like those than an SUV. The Gravity was simply not in the same conversation. The Gravity roadholding is around 0.1g less than the Macan, and you notice it in casual cornering. Same with braking - the Macan will stop like 15' shorter. But again, I am filtering to the top few performance oriented cars, so the differences are not a differentiator to me. The big three are all plenty good enough.

Ditto with the audio systems. I did a quick side-by-side comparison of SSP and B&W Diamond with an audio demo playlist I am familiar with. If you are comparing at conversational levels, like below 70dB, then yeah, it is probably tough to differentiate most systems. But push it a little into the ~80dB range, and that is where the SSP starts falling apart. It is vastly under-powerd (compared to competing ultra premium systems) so bass below around 100 Hz falls off sharply. It does not have the watts to cover that frequency range. I was surprised that the bass line in Lorde's Royals becomes almost in inaudible in the Gravity compared to a B&W Diamond maintaining accurate and balanced bass well into the 90dB range. Same with a favorite Vangelis track of mine with a lot of timpani drum activity alongside his synth. Those drums just fade out in the Gravity but they are front-and-center on a B&W Diamond. On the upper-mid range, the SSP got a little muddy to me. I'm not sure why - if it is tuning, component position, or component selection - but it did not seem to carry the crisp highs and sound stage of the B&W. I have read that Gravity's audio performance has improved over time with some of the updates, so maybe they will make progress in the upper-midrange frequency balance. But SSP would need significantly more hardware to solve the lower frequency imbalance.

Re: audio, I wonder if the car you drove had something up with it? I’ll have to take a listen specifically to the songs you mentioned, but I’m traveling right now so can’t.

 

[exxxviii]

Re: audio, I wonder if the car you drove had something up with it? I’ll have to take a listen specifically to the songs you mentioned, but I’m traveling right now so can’t.

Could be... The car I drove did not have SSP, so the associate let me play with SSP in another car on the lot. I plan to do another round of drives on all the cars I am considering before I pull the trigger. I was more surprised by the higher frequencies than the bass. The system just does not have the power and drivers to reproduce bass, so I was more curious how they tuned the system around that limitation. They did what I have noticed in other similar systems - they just attenuate the frequencies below around 100 Hz as you turn up the volume. The result is that it never distorts, but it loses balance above conversational levels. However I expected the voices, especially female voices (Lorde, Enya, Indigo Girls, etc.), to sound better than they did. Lorde and Duffy have rich, soulful voices that just came across flat in SSP.