The way to test it is to hook up an electrical RTA to the output of your head unit so you can see the frequency response. Then run a pink noise signal through each one of the different sources. You'll be able to see which source rolls off the low end bass. Keep in mind that each model of head unit will have different output responses.
He also streamed from Pandora (max of 192Kbps) for USB test and RU-vid (max of 128Kbps) for Bluetooth. Vastly different bitrates. Plus his head unit probably only supports Bluetooth SBC codec which isn't great for streaming music as it rolls off both the upper and lower frequency bands.
Yup I noticed in my car when I have my USB connection on while playing my music vs. using my Bluetooth on my car my USB port is a lot better sound quality
Good video. Good to see you keep us Gen X ers in mind lol. Depends how cd was recorded. If it's an old song and not remastered you have to crank up the recording volume. Newer music is generally recorded better. Digital takes guesswork out of at what level to record it at and you don't have to worry about phones or mp3 players skipping though. I still play cds. I like my playlists and have a lot of music on those cds
That something is most likely bit rate quality. USB was streamed from Pandora which has a max bit rate of 192Kbps whereas Bluetooth was streamed from RU-vid, which has a max bit rate of 128Kbps (for the free version). If both his Head Unit + Phone supported LDAC or AptX Losless codecs, and he streamed both the same song, from the same source, then Bluetooth and USB would sound exactly the same.
Great vid, however if you could try the same song on the 3 different mediums, then that'll make it a better test. Also, check both your phone's and Head Unit's Bluetooth specs for maximum supported codec to determine the max quality you can expect. During your USB test, you streamed from Pandora which has a max bit rate of 192Kbps, whereas Bluetooth was streamed from RU-vid, which only has a max bit rate of 128Kbps (for the free version that is) - this is most likely why USB sounded louder for you.
CDs always sound better I think. More powerful. Otherwise u gotta adjust this and adjust that and that is too much. Pop in a cd and slap! I still use cds sometimes just for more clarity and power but it will skip with certain songs.
That used to be the case back in the late '90s/2000s when the most common quality mp3 was only 128Kbps (because we only had a few GBs of storage on our PCs back then) but now all streaming platforms outperform CD quality. FYI CD quality is 44.1Khz sample rate at 16 bit depth. Most streaming platforms are 48Khz @ 24 bit (max) but the most common bluetooth codec (SBC) doesn't always reproduce that quality due to signal loss. SBC also tends to roll off the upper and lower end frequency bands a lot. A lot of factors come into play, but the best setup is both a phone and head unit that supports either AptX Lossless or LDAC codecs, and an Amazon Music (Unlimited), Deezer (HiFi) or Tidal subscription.
All other things the same, the "loudest" SHOULD be CD, because physical media has little to no packet loss. Next should be USB. Last would be streaming. But without all things being the same (a controlled experiment), ultimately the "loudest" will be whichever is using the highest qualify sound file.
Agreed, however bluetooth and streaming have come a long ways and both can reproduce higher sound quality than CD now. Max sound quality for each are as follows: CD Sample Rate: 44.1Khz | Bit Rate: 16-bit Bluetooth - AptX Lossless Sample Rate: 96Khz | Bit Rate: 24-bit Bluetooh - LDAC Sample Rate: 96Khz | Bit Rate: 24-bit Streaming - Tidal Sample Rate: 192Khz | Bit Rate: 24-bit Streaming - Amazon Music Unlimited (Ultra HD) Sample Rate: 192Khz | Bit Rate: 24-bit
I'm running 4 american bass xr 10s. $170 per sub and these have impressed me more than any other brand I've ran. Sundowns X + Z series, Ds18 EXL XX/Spl + High excursion series were all good and such but these 10s hurt non bass people compared to the others I've ran. And the sound quality is unmatched they do more than just hit sub notes. Definitely don't need $1000 subs to beat. Unofficially over 155db with cheap 10s. 154.1db officially @5k now they are on a 10k, haven't metered it since the switch
I had 4 concrete audio c4 12s in 4th order in my Tahoe I now have an envoy Denali with 2 triton audio d4s in a sealed off sixth order and it hits way harder than my last build I don’t know how these baby subs have 3 inch voice coils also they won’t give up
