Gen2 R1S Sound quality

[runwithscissors]

Not surprised Gen 2 sounds bad with Rivian doing everything to get costs down. Seems like they skimped on better hardware. It's why I'm sticking with my Gen 1 because there's nothing compelling about Gen 2 at that cost. Like many Gen 1 ownders, I'll wait until Gen 3/4 to see where they are at.

Also, why after the update did my audio presets reset to "default" which sounds like crap. The average person who owns a Rivian, doesn't go in and change these often whether or not an update happens. They should maintain their original setting until I change them. Same goes with the camera defaults, why after every single update does it revert? So frustrating.

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[CGriding]

Updated EQ settings

I’ve grown to dislike the Dynamic Sound Adjustment, turned it off and spent some time running through various reference tracks to build an updated EQ curve if anyone wants to give it a try. My main goals are to tame the resonances and mid harshness while keeping the bass punchy. Thanks your feedback!

(I think the bass on my original curve was a little fluffy, this feels like a punchier balance between the 63, 125 and 250)

Rerence tracks:
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Jacob Collier feat John Legend

First Steps - Cory Henry

Back Pocket - Vulfpeck

Autumn - Couch

3D sound: on
Dynamic: off
Fade and balance: default

63: 0

125: -4

250: -3

500: -5

1k: -7

2k: -4

4k: -6

8k: -6

16k: 0

Nice any changes to your settings since the latest update?

 

[zendavian]

My R1S was in the shop - the front doors were vibrating and rattling when music was playing, which they thankfully resolved! I had my first experience with the Meridian system on the loaner and boy is it better.

At first listen with a flat eq curve I’d say the overall sound is more cohesive and less ‘cheap’ but the bass gets very lost in the low mids. It’s still kind of a wall of sound to my ears.

I would make a few small eq moves to unmask the bass, remove some of the wooly-ness. As others have said though, and I agree, there’s only so much EQ can help on this system.

I think it sounds better with Dynamic Low on, which I think is compressing some section of lows and pulling it forward just a bit. Seems to help.

This change is subtle but I think it opens things up and reduces some of the frequencies that can get fatiguing. That said my daughter’s teenage ears prefer the flat EQ! It’s all subjective. I’d love any feedback!

Dynamic Low on

63: +2

125: 0

250: -1

500: -2

1k: +1 (edited)

2k: +1 (edited)

4k: -1

8k: 0

16k: +1

 

[ggood]

still playing with it on a trip and after the 34 update, which of course needs resetting it did increase the stage presence to me and bass is "bigger" not easy to explain that yet. the update seems to have stopped the random "half way" sound on the left side which i had a mobile tech hear. in previous thread....he tried a few laptop connect test and then fully removed the under passenger seat 12 v connections and waited a bit, presumably to drain anything and then reconnected and hard and soft reset. the left side amps were not fully operable until he did that. not saying everyone should call that ticket in but if the left is noticeably just not there, i would try it.

i still find dolby atmos on most tracks not that full sounding and more center dash focused.

stay tuned !

btw ive been finding this tune to be good to suss out individual instruments and stage presence.

Sonny Rollins Im an Old Cowhand . the Alternate Take i think is better with some rawness and flaws and more hearing the lips and breaths as well as the bass plucking. try it!

 

[zendavian]

Also, my gosh, just discovered Sound Check is on by default in Apple Music - TURN IT OFF. It literally is night and day. The bass just turned on! Spread the word!

CAREFUL: Volume will jump, turn down first. Go to settings (click the person icon) turn off Sound Check under Audio. You might also want to turn off Spatial Audio.

 

[Gurpreet]

Is there a way to upgrade standard sound system to a better one? Like adding sub or replacing the door speakers etc Not sure if anyone done that and willing to share.

 

[ggood]

Still playing w things realizing the subwoofer location and lack of “distribution “ is a big factor.
but today I found that Qobuz in Sublime setting has ability to stream direct now from phone and mostly above CD quality 88 kHz and tunes at 192khz
Tested several vs both Apple Music and Tidal and it is hugely more presence and vol needs to go down ! But yet another subscription;( I’m on a trial for a bit

 

[mkhuffman]

Is there a way to upgrade standard sound system to a better one? Like adding sub or replacing the door speakers etc Not sure if anyone done that and willing to share.

Yes, I believe you can add a subwoofer but you will need to tap off the door speakers. There is at least one thread that explores how to do that.

My Premium sound with subwoofer has the front door speakers out of phase with the rear and sub. Stupidest thing ever. I am willing to bet you have the same issue with standard audio.

It could be all you need to do is reverse the polarity of your front door woofers and your bass will be much better. IDK. But out of phase woofers do exactly what you are experiencing.

 

[Supratachophobia]

Add an aftermarket subwoofer:

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/diving-into-gen2-standard-audio-to-add-a-subwoofer.32237/

 

[Supratachophobia]

You’re not the only one noticing that, the base audio system in the R1S without the Light and Sound package is known to sound flat with weak bass, and even after adjusting the EQ and balance settings, it often still underwhelms.

I'm my experience, quality audio always comes down to, first and foremost, speakers playing the sounds they were designed for.

Second place, sound absorbtion of materials (you don't want echos), and sound dampening (you don't want rattles).

Speaker quality, copper windings, ohm resistance, wattage, etc. will do absolutely nothing if you are in a room with hard walls, and subs trying to play high notes with tweeters trying to play low notes.

All that to say, the basic audio system doesn't have anything that can actually play a low note. The door speakers are something like 6.5"s which may play a quality 125 HZ tone on a good day, but asking them to do anything under 100 HZ is just going to disappoint. I actually think it can do pretty well with everything else as long as a little TLC is given to the equalizer. All the tweeters have crossovers that are keeping them from playing anything outside of their comfort zone, so that certainly helps.

Going a year without a subwoofer caused me a certain amount of falling out of love with listening to audio in the car. And that's understandable because you are missing a huge part of an audio track when that happens. I really don't believe that upgrading any of the factory speakers will amount to noticeable or significant improvements. No amount of software or updates will fix the problem of missing that required physical piece of hardware.

Edit: I will also add that I think we should petition strongly for rivian to enable the wire that still runs to the rear subwoofer area in cars without premium audio. It's disabled in software and could be just as easily enabled with an update. That would give owners a quality audio signal that could be paired with an aftermarket amp and already be filtered for low tones only. Hell, maybe even give us some crossover and gain control in the software.

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