guitarf1

Are we just limited to basically a measly 3-band EQ with Treble, Mid, and Bass? Why not a 30-band EQ? No separate subwoofer level control? Just surround on/off and crossfade controls? Nothing else? What gives? With all the bells and whistles, I would have expected more settings to tune the audio without having to resort to 3rd party apps or interventions. I find the ML system to be overly bright, hollow, and lacking warmth even with many attempts to EQ around it. Hopefully things get better with some breaking in but could we expect some kind of software update to intervene in the future? If not, that is a bummer.

Urlik

It is overly bright, hollow, and lacking warmth IMHO. I blame the stupid decision to only use 2 woofers in a 21 speaker system. Beats the stock system but is still behind what so many competitors do. You still get that perceived Lexus reliability though. Someday that will fail them.

babinjunior64

ML stereo is Terrible. When I use my iPhone for music source, I choose heavy bass on iPhone equalizer settings and it helps.

BLUKTY2

I agree. The ML sound system is by far the worst sound system in any of the past four other vehicles that I have purchased in the past 12 years. And three of those only had the stock sound system rather than an upgrade or premium system. The sound quality is so poor that I initially thought that I must be missing something in the sound settings. Sadly I was not missing anything.

Quite frankly I think a good old-fashioned boom-box tossed in the back seat would sound better than the ML system!

djrees

Oh no. I am about to take delivery of a RX 450h+ that has the ML option. Would not have chose it if I had the choice just to keep the price down. But the model we found in the colors we wanted already had this and some other options I would not have picked pre-selected. Hope the wife likes it, will be her car. I just get to pay for it.

guitarf1

Lexus obviously needs to add better signal processing in the UI. What we have now is comically lacking. It's all software so adding an advanced equalizer and other audio tuning options shouldn't be too difficult to implement. Being able to balance each speaker component level should also be possible.

There seems to be enough amplifier power to work with so for now, I'm exploring equalization through the various iOS CarPlay streaming apps, which does help give more control. YouTube Music is DOA with no EQ at all unfortunately. Spotify's EQ works but it's still lacking with just a handful of bands and no custom parameters. The next step up might be the Boom EQ with Tidal, which would be more bands and options along with a small monthly fee. There's generally a break-in period for speakers in general so I'm going to give it a year or so and dig into things slowly. If I can't close the gap with software signal processing, I'm going to lean towards a less-destructive full sound system install and just bite the bullet by replacing components and amplifiers, as well as adding sound deadening. By then, the 5th gen RX should have enough time in the market for companies to offer more options.

happy1977

Try these settings to see if it helps with lowering the audio brightness:

​​​​​​Treble: move the slider 3/4 up
Midrange: movr slider all the way down
Bass: Full or 2 clicks below full

F/R: Move 2 clicks back.

As for car audio acoustics, the speakera themselves need after market to hear audio difference.

Lossless or compressed doesn't matter due to the car acoustics.

The ML advantages is more speakers and some separations. There's a thread at the RC where someone replaced their ML speakers and it made a difference in audio quality.

Yes, Lexus decision making in functionality and audio isn't the best and they're still catered to the mass users who, are not audiophiles nor tech savvy.

jugdish

My 2018 RX450HL with the ML is the best stock audio system I've ever heard. It's warm, balanced with a great sound stage. Added a JL Audio sub and that brought it to the next level. Was looking at the 2024 RX and if the ML is as bad as y'all are saying, that's a deal breaker for me as I have lots of windshield time for work.

toyotaman7

I've a 2016 RX with ML and a 24 with ML.

I drive at least 3 hours per day with stereo on all the time.

I honestly can't tell if the 24 is worse.

The base in the 2016 is a bit stronger, other than that they are both excellent for me.

I had a 20 ES with base stereo and hated that compared to these.

I'm not an expert in music or sound quality either.

happy1977

It's really not bad once you tweak the settings. Bass is actually good for it's size. You should test it in person and bring a lossless player if you have one. Spotify was adequate.

CommodoreAmiga

the ML is really bad on my 2023. Base was bad in the demo unit, too. Of all the “premium” systems, this seems to be the biggest miss, imo.

happy1977

In comparison to what?

Urlik

The Fender system in my Golf R for one.

CommodoreAmiga

Everything else I test drove, as well as the previous vehicles I've owned.