2012 Sony Nav HD Radio Sound Quality???
05-08-2012, 05:05 PM
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2012 Sony Nav HD Radio Sound Quality???
I just recently traded in my 2010 FX4 SCREW for a 2012 FX4 SCREW w Ecoboost... My new truck came stock with the Sony Nav system w built in HD radio tuner. Although I hardly ever listen to standard FM or HD radio channels, I noticed that the sound quality of both of them is TERRIBLE!!! When you tune the FM radio into a standard channel, it will sound fine for about 3 seconds. But then the Multicast display pops up on the screen and it sounds like the FM channel all of a sudden has a digital signal laid on top of an analog signal... It sounds like a very poor quality MP3. The HD channels are even worse!!! I thought maybe I had a defective head unit, but after I took it in to the dealer, they informed me that all of the radios sound like that. And sure enough, I tested a few others on the lot and they were all the same. I was going to just disconnect the HD tuner since I'm positive thats what is causing the distortion, however the tuner is built into the radio... Has anyone found a solution for this???
05-09-2012, 08:50 AM
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I have already gutted all of the stock set up except for the head unit. I'm now running Focal 165 V30's front and rear off of a JL 450/4 with one JL 13TW5 running off of a JL 500/1. The sound quality is amazing when I'm playing an external mp3 device or even Satellite Radio... It's just the FM and HD radio channels. I've been doing custom installs for the past 15 years and I've never encountered this problem before.
05-12-2012, 05:48 PM
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I'm not impressed with HD Radio at all. I don't listen to much FM radio, but when I do, I keep HD radio off unless I am listening to a station that is broadcast only in HD. It seems to me that the signal is compressed so much that the sound quality suffers... like a poor quality MP3. This is true for both my F150 and another car I have with an aftermarket Kenwood headunit and HD radio tuner box.