I just purchased a new 2019 RC350 F-Sport over the weekend with the Mark Levinson speakers and I've noticed that the audio seems sub-par. I've tried configuring the fader/balance/treble/mids/bass in countless ways, surround sound on/off, automatic sound leveling on/off, but it all just doesn't sound that good.

The best way to describe it would be that 95% of the music seems to be coming from the front center speaker. Nothing from the side, barely anything from the back. I can't get "immersed" in any songs and for lack of a better term, it's like the "soul" of the song is missing. I've tried setting the fader to favor the rear slightly to counter this, but it doesn't really solve the issue. Not sure how else I can put it. To be honest the stock audio system on my previous 2017 Honda Accord sounds better to me.

Does anyone else have ML on their Lexus that has encountered the same issue?

Update: I found that this might be an issue specific to ML. Most of my concerns have been voiced by other users in this old thread in the GS forums: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...ty-issues.html

 

I personally think the ML in the RC isn't great. I drove plenty of RC's and RCF with the ML and was disappointed. I found it to be way too bright and harsh, and there just wasn't enough adjustability to get it to my liking. I had the ML in my 2013 and 2014 GSs too and found it just OK. I really miss the the ML in my LS's, which sounded fantastic. But that was before ML (which is Harman a Samsung company) went to this "greenedge" switching amplifier (which I suspect is at least part of the problem). I specifically special ordered My RC without ML and am very happy with the standard "premium" sound system.

 

I find the ML system in my 2019 RC to be no better or worse than the one I had in my 2015 IS. When adjusting the equalizer, I always subtract instead of adding. This seems to help the fullness of the sound though results in needing to set the volume slightly louder.

The source of music makes a huge difference and I only listen to HD radio or my phone over USB. Bluetooth has a noticeable degradation and the compression on satellite radio is downright atrocious. I think the clarity of these systems brings out the compression artifacts more noticeably than a lesser system, despite the Clari-Fi and other technologies applied by ML/HARMAN.

 

unfortunately also sounds bad in the 2016 and any other year they used it.

 

This is a complaint on the ES forum for the 2019s. It seems ML (Harman/Samsung) reconfigured the electronics when designing the systems for the 2019 Lexus systems and evidently mucked it up. Too bad because I had an ES300 back in the day with the ML system and it was amazing. The Lexus Premium in my '14 GS is pretty darn good.

 

I had the ML system in my old SC430, and compared to the one I heard in the later model Lexus vehicles, it was head and shoulders above them as far as sound quality. And this is from an untrained ear.

 

It is difficult to to produce accurate sound in a car cabin especially in a way which hides the speakers from view like they have. Some sound wavelengths are longer than the car and the highs need to be absorbed quickly by the car interior materials to sound clear, yet a car needs glass which reflect these sounds. The front speakers are pointed at the glass so your hearing both the frequency response of the speaker and the reflection response of the glass. I have a cheap pair of Yamaha HS8 studio monitors at home and they are far more accurate by virtue of being pointed at me and being in an appropriately sized carpeted room.

 

Considering all of the ML complaints - only good when playing lossless music files- is it better to go with the 10 speaker premium audio instead?

Shouldn't a high end audio system be able to compensate for lossy music files and make it sound better rather than be partial only to lossless formats such as Wav and Flac There’s no reason for somebody to purchase the highest and audio system available from the manufacturer only to be met with sub par sound unless playing lossless audio format. Given the large file size of lossless, it is dumbfounding to insist that a top-of-the-line audio system sound inferior than it’s lesser cousin when playing lossy music files like mp3s or YouTube streams via Bluetooth.

Just not buying the whole superior sound system emphasizes the lossy artifacts playing mp3s acceptable anymore. Nobody plays CDs anymore anyways and you’re lucky to find a late model vehicle that has a CD player anyway.

 

No, high end audio systems don't exist for mp3's. Some high end audio manufacturer’s do taper off the high end as part of their signature sound. This does hide the artifacts a bit but it also hides everything else at the top end.

There is no audible difference between modern 320kbps mp3 and lossless. This has been well tested in multiple blind tests. I have just test Michael Jackson’s Number One CD on the ML system for you. It sounds the same on USB and CD. I even tried upping the treble by 2 points.

 

Try turning off surround and ASL.

 

I don't have ML, I have the premium audio package, and I don't have any complaints besides no low end. But that was quickly remedied by twin 8" kickers subs and an external amp. No complaints from me.

 

After driving a 2019 RC last week with the Mark Levinson, I can confirm that there is indeed a front center bias. It is missing that full sound that the 10 speaker premium audio has. I personally think the premium audio is better than the Mark Levinson for this reason. I even tried changing the settings along with turning off the surround sound and it really didn’t do anything to improve.

There's a slew of comments over in the ES model forums about this problem as of late. What the heck is Lexus thinking and why do they they think it's acceptable for the ML to output inferior sound to the "lesser" 10 speaker premium audio? It's almost as ridiculous as the Circuit Red option in the 2020 RX! The ML should sound on par with the premium audio for lossy music formats and superior when playing lossless CD quality music. This bull about it being so high quality that lossy music files like mp3s sound extra crappy is nonsense.

Now I'm a bit hesitant because all of the RC 350s in SoCal have ML audio. I don't want to opt for a sound system that sounds worse than the premium audio.

 

Has anyone tried disconnecting the centre speaker and see if it sounds any better ??

 

Is the ML different in the RC350 vs RCF? I have no complaints about in my RCF.

 

I wouldnt think so. I think audio quality is really subjective. Some people love heavy bass, others love crisp his and mids. There is a point where this is subjective conversation becomes objective, meaning just really crappy audio quality in terms of static and other things. For the average consumer, I think the audio system fairs just fine.