someguy10

Hi All,

The Mrs. has a 400H which she loves. I'm looking at trading up my Camry Hybrid for a used ES 350, probably a 2007 or 2008. One thing I'm having trouble telling for sure is the options packages. Can you guys help set me straight? It appears that the Mark Levinson audio only (or essentially only) comes with Nav--is this true? What about bluetooth? Finally, what does the ultra luxury package include and does it always include any or all of these: ML and/or nav and/or bluetooth? I believe the UL package also includes upgraded leather -- is it noticably better? Thanks all!

dman00001

This should help...

http://www.automotive.com/2007/12/le...ges/index.html

I went with the UL package with ML sound on my 07 and I'm loving it!

someguy10

Thanks! That site is very helpful. In your opinion, what is the best improvement the UL package w/ ML audio makes?

Can anyone comment on base audio vs. premium audio vs. ML audio? Crappy audio is one reason I've ruled out the M35x. I listened to the ML audio in an IS350 a while back and thought it sounded overly processed -- like it was trying to make 5+ channels out of a 2-channel regular CD recording. I didn't have a SACD or DVD-A to try, although most of my audio is lossless or low-loss 2-channel via digital music player.

bobsobi

If sound quality is very important to you, then you'll have to opt for the ML -- the stock "premium" system is terrible. Once I heard the stock system, I wound up with the UL & ML. If you search the Audio, Video, Security & Electronics forum, you'll find some useful info.

What you heard in the IS was the ML's DSP, which attempts to do exactly what you described -- synthesize surround out of two-channel program material. You can turn it off if it's not to your liking.

One caveat if you're looking at pre-2010 ML-equipped models: due to a data throughput issue with the ML amp's front end DSP, high-resolution (LPCM) 5.1 content is down-mixed to stereo! (And some DVD-As are not properly down-mixed, either -- Steely Dan Gaucho loses horns and anything else fully panned to the rears, for example.) Dolby and DTS are not affected by this limitation, so you can still listen to discrete 5.1 with those compressed formats.