[ImagesbyMurray]

Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where Schiit continues to grow big and successful enough for car makers to take notice and approach them to have them develop car audio systems for them. You'd still have to content with the physical restrictions of a car interior, obviously, but just imagine how nice it would be if you were given the option to upgrade to an Yggy OG level DAC paired with a Freya+ level pre and a Vidar or Aegir level amp… Let's tube-roll our rides! Wouldn't that be glorious?!?

 

[Andrew Randle]

Which brings me to my actual point:
Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where Schiit continues to grow big and successful enough for car makers to take notice and approach them to have them develop car audio systems for them. You'd still have to content with the physical restrictions of a car interior, obviously, but just imagine how nice it would be if you were given the option to upgrade to an Yggy OG level DAC paired with a Freya+ level pre and a Vidar or Aegir level amp…

That, my friend, is the slippery slope to lifestyle systems. In the UK it has happened to quality hi-fi companies who should have known better.

Now they have foregone their original values of producing better hi-fi for less, instead aiming to out-price the traditional ultra high-end (ironically American) and have lost their demographic.

Instead, my recommendation is buy a big battery, DC to AC converter, and drive around with some Schiit in the trunk .

Andrew

 

[belgiangenius]

Here's the thing, though:
This stuff, which is utterly unbearable on audiophile level gear, actually sounds pretty fantastic and super engaging on this Bose system.

I've noticed this too. Poorly recorded or mastered material actually seems to sound better on crappy gear, like car audio.

 

[Brubacca]

That, my friend, is the slippery slope to lifestyle systems. In the UK it has happened to quality hi-fi companies who should have known better.

Now they have foregone their original values of producing better hi-fi for less, instead aiming to out-price the traditional ultra high-end (ironically American) and have lost their demographic.

Instead, my recommendation is buy a big battery, DC to AC converter, and drive around with some Schiit in the trunk .

Andrew

Would you like to share a Naim or two?

 

[rkw]

I've noticed this too. Poorly recorded or mastered material actually seems to sound better on crappy gear, like car audio.

That is no accident. It is a design goal and competitive advantage in the consumer electronics market.

 

[Odin412]

Here's the thing, though:
This stuff, which is utterly unbearable on audiophile level gear, actually sounds pretty fantastic and super engaging on this Bose system.

That's the main issue with too much of today's audiophile gear - it doesn't sound good with anything but near-perfect recordings.

 

[Plautus001]

We've had this conversation before, but OEM stereo in cars will never sound as good as a properly installed after market solution (which are becoming more and more difficult to integrate into new vehicles).

 

[JanMc]

You could have bought a Lexus with a Mark Levinson system installed. I think they might just make some decent gear.

 

[macdonjh]

Here's the thing, though:
This stuff, which is utterly unbearable on audiophile level gear, actually sounds pretty fantastic and super engaging on this Bose system.

Schiit Gadget 2.0? Bypass mode, and crushing compression + equalization profile which looks like this: --__--

I have to say, I've not heard a recoding of music I like which I consider unlistenable, but I have bunches of albums I wish were better recorded. Much better recorded.

I've noticed this too. Poorly recorded or mastered material actually seems to sound better on crappy gear, like car audio.

Poor gear -> poor recordings -> poor gear -> poor recordings... Kind of a loop without negative feed back and an element of the chicken/egg problem.

 

[Odin412]

You could have bought a Lexus with a Mark Levinson system installed. I think they might just make some decent gear.

Doesn't Jeep have a model with a McIntosh system? Including the blue VU meters (drool).

 

[JanMc]

Doesn't Jeep have a model with a McIntosh system? Including the blue VU meters (drool).

Yes, does it sounds just as bad as every other McIntosh system?

 

[rkw]

Doesn't Jeep have a model with a McIntosh system? Including the blue VU meters (drool).

You know they are just a display on the center console screen?

 

[RickB]

True story: I removed a USB-C to USB-A adapter from a port on my Mac mini and noticed an immediate improvement in sound quality. It's great, but something like that shouldn't have that strong an effect. I removed the adapter because I no longer need it, but what if I did?

 

[Timster]

I only use the computer for watching short news / sports/ other things on-line so that the audio goes thru my system and not the Dell speaker. Quality is not part of the equation

From original post Post - Background: I stream using an Allo UsBridge Sig into BiFrost USB and need a way to pass my computer into the BiFrost, mostly to listen to video content

Missed that for some reason. All good.
Still, get a USB to SPDIF (Opt or Coax). There's heaps out there, and will be better than Analog>Digital>Bifrost almost certainly. PC headphone outs mostly suck IMO.

 

[dieslemat]

I have become a music segregationist.

About a month ago, I bought a new car.*

It comes with a 12-speaker Bose sound system.

While I don't particularly like Bose, it's still better than the plasticy junk that you would get in lower trim levels of that particular car.
This specific Bose system sounds surprisingly good. Not just "decent", but it's actually "seriously good"-adjacent.
Granted, detail retrieval is about as horrid as you'd expect, and thanks to Bose's DSP that (as it appears) one can't fully defeat and the fact that you're sitting in a cluttered car cabin surrounded by an eclectic mix of glass and about a dozen other sound-deadening and ultra-reflective materials, there's literally no imaging whatsoever.
But as far as car systems go, it's actually pretty darn good. I've driven cars that cost five times as much but come with audio systems that are much less engaging.

All the music I usually really enjoy on my Schiit gear sounds like ass on that Bose system, though.
Not utterly horrible, but it just sounds ……… boring.
I start a track, and 30 seconds in I feel like skipping to the next track. And then, 30 seconds later, to the next track again. And so on.
That never happens when I listen to the same tracks using my Schiit Schtuuf™. Instead, I usually find myself repeating the same songs over and over again because they're so engaging.

The system in my old car was so bad it didn't matter what I listened to. It all sounded like ass. And not just your normal level of ass as defined by @Baldr, but hiking-in-Louisiana-during-a-heat-wave-swamp-ass levels of bad. So I just listened to the same stuff I usually do, it didn't really make a difference either way.

Since I'm not "able" to listen to my usual music while driving anymore, however, I ended up revisiting bands and albums I stopped listening to many moons ago because they sound like utter crap on audiophile-level gear. You know, recordings that are a bit more mainstream, stuff where it's clear that the clout of the artist alone sells the record well enough, so the label clearly didn't see a need to splurge for luxuries like, you know, a quality mix or something. Stuff where even the CD and other "lossless" sources are so riddled with compression artifacts that listening to it on anything nicer than a 25$ bluetooth speaker will give you instant stage IV ear cancer. I'm looking at you, The Pretty Reckless and Black Stone Cherry (which are just some particularly bad examples among countless others).

Here's the thing, though:
This stuff, which is utterly unbearable on audiophile level gear, actually sounds pretty fantastic and super engaging on this Bose system.

Which is why, since the purchase of this new car, I have developed a bit of a split personality when it comes to my music listening habits. Depending on whether I'm driving or whether I'm at home, I find myself in two entirely different universes, with two seemingly diametrically opposed tastes in music.

Which brings me to my actual point:
Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where Schiit continues to grow big and successful enough for car makers to take notice and approach them to have them develop car audio systems for them. You'd still have to content with the physical restrictions of a car interior, obviously, but just imagine how nice it would be if you were given the option to upgrade to an Yggy OG level DAC paired with a Freya+ level pre and a Vidar or Aegir level amp… Let's tube-roll our rides! Wouldn't that be glorious?!? Heck, I'd already settle for something like a Modi MB feeding into something like an Asgard, if I could just defeat this damned DSP crap they all force on you nowadays!

The usual disclaimer:
Of course this will never happen. I am aware of that. Not because Schiit could never get big and influential enough to get approached for something like that, their current trajectory makes it pretty clear that they're already well on their way towards that point. But because I can see neither @Baldr nor @Jason Stoddard be willing to have some car manufacturer with their pea counting committees and litany of focus groups dictate to them what the system should sound like or how much it should cost. Nor should they be, it's at the root of what makes Schiit Schiit.
But personally, I think it would be nice to, maybe some day, see some actual audiophile-level gear in cars, not just a litany of glorified boom boxes with DSP up the wazoo and a bunch of logos from some has-been audio brands slapped on them. I mean, you can even buy Jeeps now that come with McIntosh systems right from the factory. Ugh…

*Yes, I'm crazy. Yes, there was a dealer markup. But due to an even crazier used car market, I came out of that deal waaaaay ahead of what it would have been pre-pandemic.

Dont take this as an offense - but have you ever considered starting your own thread? You can write a lot. So much so that your very own thread would be an interesting thing