Atomic350F

Gratz on the purchase!! Did you compare them both side by side or just go for the ML?

Agreed the ML isnt going to compare to an all out custom built and finely tuned system for mega earth shaking volume and clarity, but I definitely think its worth the difference in price and meets most needs. To me its "good enough" to not have to replace everything where I would end up likely spending thousands more... everyone that rides in the car is blown away by the sounds it makes for a factory system.

And you have one official request now to see a stock atomic silver with cabernet!! PICS please, she sounds like a beauty!

Afrosheen

Do yourself a favor and bring some DVD videos (and DVD audio discs if you can find them anywhere) into the car and play them in park. Once you start rolling it will cut off thanks to the nanny mode. I played Gladiator after picking the DTS 5.1 surround sound track and it is stunning.

The head unit can decode 5.1 surround in maybe 2 or 3 formats. It's just a knucklehead interface though and won't handle multichannel FLAC files or other digital formats. I even had my dealer contact Lexus to see what formats were approved and they just scratched their heads. Contacted ML directly and they said contact Lexus.

Anyway, go back up to the first paragraph and do that, you'll be surprised.

dseag2

Atomic Silver is a new color for the GS this year, so we all want to see it... stock or not stock.

ckelly14

This is a big issue for me. I have the ML in my current LS460 so I purchased some DVD-A's quite a few years back. Then I found out that the ML system in my car could not process DVD-A audio directly, it was actually streaming 2 channel stereo and then using software to project 5.1 channels. What a waste. The only way the system would play native surround sound is by ripping the DTS or DSS tracks to a separate CD or DVD so I could play them while driving.

I agree that the DTS version of Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly" is incredible. However, since Lexus' support of DVD-A and other high end audio standards has actually worsened over the years, I'm going to save the money and stick with the standard audio.

Since I currently listen to podcasts/MP3's/sports radio on the drive to work, the standard radio will be great for me. However, if you are an audiophile, I would still say the money and replace the radio with something custom. Just my opinion...

Afrosheen

You've got one of two problems then. Either the car is defaulting to the "backup" 2 channel PCM stream, or surround sound decoding is off. What I have to do on David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust is go into the DVD menu on the disc with the car in park, and manually choose the 5.1 presentation. Otherwise, if I just throw it in and start driving, it will play 2 channel PCM. But once I have chosen 5.1 it definitely decodes properly and sounds quite a bit different with instruments assigned to various channels.

Like I said originally, if you'd like to test the theory, grab a DVD movie with 5.1 dolby surround and play it while the car is in park. Make sure you know for a fact it's using the 5.1 audio by navigating the audio menu on the disc. You may be surprised. We had a guy here a few months back who had surround disabled in his car. I can't remember what he changed but he got it working properly.

The only enormous drawback is DVD-A discs that insist on having video clips or persistent images playing with the audio stream. The nanny chip thinks this is bad since you may stare at it while you're driving, so it will interrupt the video (and audio) streams, over and over and over. Not all discs are like this, because evidently there was no standard with regards to how these were produced. I just wish it knew what a SACD was. At least those had well defined parameters.

asadani

Surprising you made such a specific comment. I got an audi garbage only because it had the band and olufsen. The car is a white elephant to maintain but in the end it has the bang and olufsen which sounds a lot better than the lexus ML. I'm however trying to get my hands on the ES 350 but that has been a challenge.