Lucid Audio Experience AMA (March 11, 2025)

[smistry007]

Is there any way to save or add to a “favorites “ list on Tidal?

Also is there anyway to know ahead of time what genre the 7 Tidal mixes are w out having to play each one? Sometimes you are in the mood for a certain genre but randomly selecting the mixes is hit or miss- mostly miss

 

[Lester Atlas]

Response from Bob: "This is something we've discussed a lot on the Audio Team. For any team responsible for the sound quality of any system, whether it be consumer electronics or car audio, there's always the question of enabling an EQ and how much flexibility to give the customer. Of course the ideal situation would be for us to make it sound so good you wouldn't need to adjust anything (as with a home HiFi system, for example), but we do realize everyone has their own personal tastes."

that would be great, but I have to increase my base if I am listening to 80's pop and decrease it if I listen to anything modern.

 

[marqie]

Unlike most people, my 2023 with SSP has very prominent, sometimes overwhelming bass. The Lucid tech tightened something up, and I turned it down in the equalizer but it's still pretty disproportionate at times. Any thoughts?

Response from Bob: "Thank you for the feedback. The system was tuned to have a balanced frequency response while driving. When stopped / parked the bass can perhaps sometimes feel a bit much, but when driving, with the added road noise, it should even out. We're working on DSC (dynamic speed control) which will level this out automatically."

 

[sayansaha]

Can you display the bitrate on the screen on Tidal please?

 

[idiot900]

Responses from Bob:
"1. The hardware mod (butyl tape) didn't in itself increase the low frequency of the system, it stopped the "chuffing" noises that were caused by the open cavity behind the woofers, and thus enabled us to retune to get more bass (among other things).

2. No, we haven't noticed that. We'll have a listen. Are you hearing it all the time or just under certain circumstances?"

All the time when the LED is actually on. I recorded it using a small microphone adjacent, looked at frequency domain, and it’s at about 7850 Hz. Turning headlights on and off also turns these LEDs on and off so it is easy to rule out other causes.

For me and others with sensitive hearing it detracts from the enjoyment of the excellent SSP which is why I’m glad you’ll investigate! Would be happy to provide any further info you’d find helpful.

 

[E LUCID 8]

Nice to have this opportunity. For me, my AGT audio system is a train-wreck and it appears other have some of the same issues. In call cases, I have rebooted Lucid but problems return.

Here are four:

1. No sound coming out of any of the inputs including Apple Carplay, native inputs like FM radio, etc. Bleeps from touching icons on the touch screens can be heard but no audio. Parking the car and coming back later usually fixes the problem but it does come back.

2. Similar to #1 with no sound but the weird performance is that whenever I touch an icon on any screen, the sound comes back for one second and then quits. Each time I touch anything, like the seat heater, it get one second of sound.

3. Song album covers that are playing and displayed on the main audio screen do not match what is shown on the screen in front of the steering wheel. Often the first song of the day stays stuck on the steering wheel screen all day.

4. Sometimes it is impossible to get Apple Carplay to connect to Lucid. Tried deleting the iPhone from Lucid bluetooth, and vice versa, but it would not connect. Over time, it was resolved but from time-to-time it still has trouble connecting to Carplay.

Thanks

I have all of these same problems and Air reboot two or three times a month.

 

[ColonelBadger]

"We're working on DSC (dynamic speed control) which will level this out automatically.". YES !!!!

 

[bmathieu]

Apple CarPlay supports lossless audio via W-Fi up to 16 bit / 48 kHz.
Wireless CarPlay uses Bluetooth only for the handshake. After that it uses Wi-Fi. Even though Wi-Fi offers more than sufficient bandwidth for hi-res audio, currently it isn't supported.
In order to get full hi-res audio (up to 192 kHz) a USB connection is needed: https://support.apple.com/en-us/118295

This is not related to audio tuning, but is interesting, so please start a new thread if you'd like to talk about CarPlay technical details further.

Sorry I didn't know this AMA was only about audio tuning. People pay a LOT of money for this sound system and nowhere is it clear how to actually get the best sound out of it. Understanding how Lucid, integrated with Apple CarPlay, actually works will increase the odds that your customers get the sound they are actually paying for. My takeaway from all this is: if you want to get the best sound possible from CarPlay in Lucid Surreal Sound Pro, connect with a cable, because hi-res audio is not currently supported in Lucid with CarPlay over wifi.

 

[borski]

Sorry I didn't know this AMA was only about audio tuning. People pay a LOT of money for this sound system and nowhere is it clear how to actually get the best sound out of it. Understanding how Lucid, integrated with Apple CarPlay, actually works will increase the odds that your customers get the sound they are actually paying for. My takeaway from all this is: if you want to get the best sound possible from CarPlay in Lucid Surreal Sound Pro, connect with a cable, because hi-res audio is not currently supported in Lucid with CarPlay over wifi.

Spot on, with one adjustment: hi-res audio is not currently supported in any vehicle with CarPlay over wifi. This is an Apple limitation, not a Lucid limitation.

 

[marqie]

I am on 2.6.0 and mobile service performed the audio upgrade...I never detected much difference following the upgrade. Maybe a bit more bass, but not as pronounced as other forum members had suggested in their experience. Do I need to have service look at this?

It appears that the software improvement was not fully enabled after you had the butyl tape applied to the A-pillars in your car. I have now enabled the update and you should experience an improvement the next time you drive the car. You might experience the screens rebooting when you first enter. It should only take about a minute to complete. Let me know if you are still experiencing low volume once you have a chance to go for a drive.

 

[marqie]

How many true subwoofers are in the Gravity? And where are they located?

Response from Colin: "Gravity SSP system has 2 subwoofers in the rear of the vehicle."

 

[marqie]

Any chance you will add adaptive volume, so that music volume compensates for road noise (Highway vs local driving) ? I aways need to increase the volume on the highway. Didn't need to do that in previous cars because of adaptive volume.

Response from Colin: "Yes this is something that we are actively working on to create a consistent listening experience when stopped and driving at speed."

 

[marqie]

Hello, when I was listening to music with Dolby Atmos, Balance menu underneath of Audio setting is disabled. Is this a bug or is this the way it has been designed? Any possibility to change balance settings with Dolby Atmos?

Response from Colin: "This was a design choice that was made during Air development and is not a bug. We are actively pursuing alternative approaches to provide balance and fade control regardless of stereo or multichannel playback."

 

[A Fischman]

Is it possible to have playback from USB not stop after playing a selection but continue from album to album? All my other cars do that, they will continue to play through the entire contents of the USB drive without any intervention from me.

 

[pyle112]

Regarding an equalizer, can you incorporate winamp, it really whips the llamas ass! Thanks for doing this AMA!

 

[marqie]

I’d like to second the question about staging in the Dolby Atmos application. At its base, it must be designed for a centralized listening location as in home theater. In this case, it seems to be the center backseat. It is definitely not the driver seat in the front left. This can result in unintended listening consequences where the front pillar speaker, for example, is projecting much louder to the driver of the car than intended by the music. My guess is that Dolby Atmos does not allow any sort of fade/balance to reorient the sweet spot, but can you confirm that this is not possible or might be looked into?

By the way, I really like the sound system. I just wish that the very best spatial audio could be enjoyed with peak experience from the drivers position since that’s where I always sit.

Response from Bob: "There's a difference in the way Atmos content is handled in car audio vs your home theater or mixing studio. The content in the car is upmixed in a way that is spread more evenly throughout the cabin to deliver a more consistent experience. If this wasn't done, the rear passengers wouldn't get much vocal at all, for example. The issue with the current implementation of fade / balance in the car is that you'd essentially "throw away" content if you hard panned the balance / fade control; ie, if you faded all the way to the rear, you'd mute the front speakers and all content that was routed to them. The system doesn't remix content from the muted channels to the ones to which you've panned. I hope this makes sense."

 

[marqie]

Here's a feature suggestion very common in higher-end cars: when the car first 'starts' the volume should take a second or so to achieve the full set volume. This keeps people from getting their ears blasted if they had it cranked up the last time they were listening and forgot to turn it down before leaving the car. Has happened to me multiple times and can scare the passengers.

Response from Colin: "This is a great suggestion and something we are actively pursuing to improve the audio playback experience on ingress/ egress."

 

[marqie]

Thank you for offering up this topic-specific AMA.

Any planned changes for base Surreal Sound (non-Pro) to improve the base system's performance?

Response from Bob: "Yes, this is something we're actively working on."

 

[marqie]

Is it possible to have playback from USB not stop after playing a selection but continue from album to album? All my other cars do that, they will continue to play through the entire contents of the USB drive without any intervention from me.

Response from Bob: "I can see why that would be frustrating. This is a question for our software engineers. We'll pass this along and see what's needed to make it happen."

 

[fisheral]

Any future software (or minor hardware) adjustments coming to the Base Surreal Sound system?

I also notice that under very specific conditions in certain songs, the hertz of the music is just right to cause a buzzing in the subwoofer, regardless of volume.

I've been able to reproduce this with my original and a replacement subwoofer.

Thanks!