Dear All,
Things are going pretty well so far for us and our new Velar - she is called Holly.
However, because the ICT is so advanced for a car, I am having to learn how to get the best out of Holly. I thought I would share what I have learned so far when playing music from a USB drive and what still leaves me bewildered.
Why USB for music files?
..... I hear you ask! I am an audiophile. I love music and I want to hear it at its best. I have found Bluetooth compresses the sound quality too much. An iPod connected via a cable is better but not the best. The USB drive, a tiny 128Mb Samsung thumbnail USB, slots neatly into one of the ports. The sound is very good and I can update it when needed from my home laptop / external hard drive. I could use Holly's onboard hard drive but that seems like a lot of hassle if the USB can be made to work seamlessly.
File Structure and Format
This seems important. When I first connected my USB, Holly only discovered about 350 tracks from a total library of nearly 3,000. I needed to clean up the file structure on the USB drive. I deleted the non-music files and folders. I also moved all of my music out of sub-folders so that the files were all at the same level.
I have found that I can detect some subtle sound improvements when playing uncompressed FLAC files ripped directly from CDs. Of course, the original CD recording quality is important but these are generally better than the Apple ALAC or general MP3 files at 256kbps or 320kbps. The discernible difference is the stereo separation of instruments which is the speciality of the Meridian tri-field surround sound system. Meridian is not so good at playing poorer quality MP3 files at a low bit rate. Good is good and poor is poor with Meridian. I don't think clubbers and DJs would make Meridian their system of choice as the brand is about faithfully reproducing the music and not thumping it out via extensive use of graphic equalisers!
Sound Quality Experience
I have struggled with this. Normally, with other systems, I have ramped up bass and treble with lower levels of midrange. But the Meridian system isn't like anything else I have had, other than perhaps my Marantz amplifier on my separates at home. For now, I have only the slightest additional bass, and slightest upward tweak on subwoofer. Treble is set to neutral. I find the music precise, possibly a little too bright and digital? The tonal richness of the Jaguar XJ I had before Holly (she was called Camille) arrived was a little better. It's good but not quite as great as I had hoped - almost but not quite.
Problems
Things are a little erratic on start-up. Sometimes the screen says the music queue is corrupt and won't play anything (usually resolved by simply unplugging and re-inserting the USB in the other port). Or it reverts to the very first track alphabetically on the USB drive - I have heard that track so many times I could scream. It's one of the new releases from Steps in 2017. I then need to re-select shuffle mode and move on! Occasionally Holly remembers where she left off last time and seamlessly starts from there again - that's rare though.
So, as at today's date, we are in a good place but not perfect. I will continue the slow but enjoyable experience of ripping high quality FLAC files from my CDs to the USB drive so I will eventually end up with a clean, orderly and consistent music library. I am unsure right now what I will do with my downloaded music - most of that, from whatever source (Amazon, MSN Music Store (now defunct) and iTunes) has been upgraded via an amazing little facility offered by Apple by which it matches your music and then, if found, duplicates the file but at the best 320kbps / 256kbps AAC file iTunes can find. Neat! Some of my oldest digital music is now upgraded to a much better standard. Once complete, I simply deleted the original poor quality, low bitrate files.
Anyone else have any Ideas?
I hope this may have offered some ideas or solutions for others? Crowd sourcing solutions, not just moaning about them, is the way to go and let's use this forum to exploit the power of The Community. Obviously, Amelia or perhaps even a dealership may want to contribute (I live in hope on the latter) but I have found that many issues are resolved faster and better by the end user - i.e. us!
Best wishes and I will update this thread when I have something new and useful to share about music in the Velar.
Regards,
Arianne
Things are going pretty well so far for us and our new Velar - she is called Holly.
However, because the ICT is so advanced for a car, I am having to learn how to get the best out of Holly. I thought I would share what I have learned so far when playing music from a USB drive and what still leaves me bewildered.
Why USB for music files?
..... I hear you ask! I am an audiophile. I love music and I want to hear it at its best. I have found Bluetooth compresses the sound quality too much. An iPod connected via a cable is better but not the best. The USB drive, a tiny 128Mb Samsung thumbnail USB, slots neatly into one of the ports. The sound is very good and I can update it when needed from my home laptop / external hard drive. I could use Holly's onboard hard drive but that seems like a lot of hassle if the USB can be made to work seamlessly.
File Structure and Format
This seems important. When I first connected my USB, Holly only discovered about 350 tracks from a total library of nearly 3,000. I needed to clean up the file structure on the USB drive. I deleted the non-music files and folders. I also moved all of my music out of sub-folders so that the files were all at the same level.
I have found that I can detect some subtle sound improvements when playing uncompressed FLAC files ripped directly from CDs. Of course, the original CD recording quality is important but these are generally better than the Apple ALAC or general MP3 files at 256kbps or 320kbps. The discernible difference is the stereo separation of instruments which is the speciality of the Meridian tri-field surround sound system. Meridian is not so good at playing poorer quality MP3 files at a low bit rate. Good is good and poor is poor with Meridian. I don't think clubbers and DJs would make Meridian their system of choice as the brand is about faithfully reproducing the music and not thumping it out via extensive use of graphic equalisers!
Sound Quality Experience
I have struggled with this. Normally, with other systems, I have ramped up bass and treble with lower levels of midrange. But the Meridian system isn't like anything else I have had, other than perhaps my Marantz amplifier on my separates at home. For now, I have only the slightest additional bass, and slightest upward tweak on subwoofer. Treble is set to neutral. I find the music precise, possibly a little too bright and digital? The tonal richness of the Jaguar XJ I had before Holly (she was called Camille) arrived was a little better. It's good but not quite as great as I had hoped - almost but not quite.
Problems
Things are a little erratic on start-up. Sometimes the screen says the music queue is corrupt and won't play anything (usually resolved by simply unplugging and re-inserting the USB in the other port). Or it reverts to the very first track alphabetically on the USB drive - I have heard that track so many times I could scream. It's one of the new releases from Steps in 2017. I then need to re-select shuffle mode and move on! Occasionally Holly remembers where she left off last time and seamlessly starts from there again - that's rare though.
So, as at today's date, we are in a good place but not perfect. I will continue the slow but enjoyable experience of ripping high quality FLAC files from my CDs to the USB drive so I will eventually end up with a clean, orderly and consistent music library. I am unsure right now what I will do with my downloaded music - most of that, from whatever source (Amazon, MSN Music Store (now defunct) and iTunes) has been upgraded via an amazing little facility offered by Apple by which it matches your music and then, if found, duplicates the file but at the best 320kbps / 256kbps AAC file iTunes can find. Neat! Some of my oldest digital music is now upgraded to a much better standard. Once complete, I simply deleted the original poor quality, low bitrate files.
Anyone else have any Ideas?
I hope this may have offered some ideas or solutions for others? Crowd sourcing solutions, not just moaning about them, is the way to go and let's use this forum to exploit the power of The Community. Obviously, Amelia or perhaps even a dealership may want to contribute (I live in hope on the latter) but I have found that many issues are resolved faster and better by the end user - i.e. us!
Best wishes and I will update this thread when I have something new and useful to share about music in the Velar.
Regards,
Arianne
