Tested Acura Integra Stereo

[tonyE]

The manual does have a mechanical limited slip differential.

Well audio is a big deal is to us people on here obviously. So the idea of having a lesser experience due to being limited from file format is a big deal to me.

As in the move to usb only and throwing away CD and aux input.

My current issue is all my music library is in DSD and I don't want to be bothered converting to pcm for the car.

I've got a couple hundred gigabytes of 5.1ch content in FLAC on a flashdrive.

So for me the TLX is my only hope or a Lexus ES. I also tossed around the idea of a Genesis G80 or Volvo V70.

Have you tried putting all of that music into an Android phone? I got a 512GB SD card in my Samsung Note 8. Loading it is trivial via an USB connection to my laptop... or by using Tidal's "download" option. See if you can play hi-rez via Android Auto?

Bluetooth?

(Pretty much I don't want to test surround myself, just good ol stereo and let the car's built in system synthesized the sound field. I find it is rather convincing.)

Yeah, dumping the CD was weird, mostly I liked the DVD-A myself but even when I down-rez'd down to a stereo CD-R, ELS did a fantastic job. DVD-A was really good, except I didn't care for many of the engineering "music in the round" decisions. Too gimmicky for me. Our TSX Tech wagons had the best sounding set up as the rear speakers were high up on the D pillars and shot forward unimpeded. The RDXs were fine, except we had a soft spot for the wagons.

LSD wise... I prefer the active systems like ATTS (Prelude SH) and later SH-AWD and iVTM4. I've had the LSD in the Civic Si's and I find them to be too much ON/OFF. The other systems are proactive and, so long as you do all your braking before the turn and then use power throughout the ENTIRE turn, are very invisible and just keep the car pointing where you want it. If you look at the info-display you can watch the torque being approportioned.

TLX with SH-AWD and ELS. That's a great idea... Love them red seats. If only they'd make a TLX Wagon!

But, how much are they nowadays? Remember the days when the RLX SH-AWD with Krell Audio went for $60K and the dealers were discounting them?

Have you experimented with the sun visors?

 

[HIBY]

Have you tried putting all of that music into an Android phone? I got a 512GB SD card in my Samsung Note 8. Loading it is trivial via an USB connection to my laptop... or by using Tidal's "download" option. See if you can play hi-rez via Android Auto?

(Pretty much I don't want to test surround myself, just good ol stereo and let the car's built in system synthesized the sound field. I find it is rather convincing.)

Yeah, dumping the CD was weird, mostly I liked the DVD-A myself but even when I down-rez'd down to a stereo CD-R, ELS did a fantastic job. DVD-A was really good, except I didn't care for many of the engineering "music in the round" decisions. Too gimmicky for me. Our TSX Tech wagons had the best sounding set up as the rear speakers were high up on the D pillars and shot forward unimpeded. The RDXs were fine, except we had a soft spot for the wagons.

LSD wise... I prefer the active systems like ATTS (Prelude SH) and later SH-AWD and iVTM4. I've had the LSD in the Civic Si's and I find them to be too much ON/OFF. The other systems are proactive and, so long as you do all your braking before the turn and then use power throughout the ENTIRE turn, are very invisible and just keep the car pointing where you want it. If you look at the info-display you can watch the torque being approportioned.

TLX with SH-AWD and ELS. That's a great idea... Love them red seats. If only they'd make a TLX Wagon!

But, how much are they nowadays? Remember the days when the RLX SH-AWD with Krell Audio went for $60K and the dealers were discounting them?

Have you experimented with the sun visors?

I've seen 2021 tlxs with sh AWD and low miles go for $40k. My issue is I'm not a fan of a 4 cylinder engine in a luxury or sports car due to the poor mileage and being unrefined. Which is why I'm looking at the Genesis G80 V6 twin turbo, Lexus ES, and TLX type S.

 

[tonyE]

I've seen 2021 tlxs with sh AWD and low miles go for $40k. My issue is I'm not a fan of a 4 cylinder engine in a luxury or sports car due to the poor mileage and being unrefined. Which is why I'm looking at the Genesis G80 V6 twin turbo, Lexus ES, and TLX type S.

Get the Type S.

OTOH, the 2.0T is very smooth. REALLY smooth. And is lighter than the J motor it replaced. And they got rid of that doggone AT9 with the dog gears between 4th and 5th.

Personally, though, I don't like the dash of the TLX. I much preferred the old two screen set up. I'd run the NAVI on top and my wife could mess around with other stuff in the lower screen without affecting the NAVI. In the single screen cars, she messes around with it and that really bugs me. I find the new dash in the Civic/Integra to be much, MUCH better than the TLX's.

And I run Android Auto letting the car set up the surround field. With the visors DOWN.

BTW... the remote starter option in the TLX-S is an "option"? That came standard in our '16 Civic Touring!

 

[HIBY]

Yes, here's my results:

Stereo FLAC played fine. I tried 16 & 24 bit, 48 & 96 kHz, 0 & 8 compression level, and every combination of those (so that's 8 different files total) and they all played correctly, no issues.

5.1 Wav files will play. I tried 16 bit and 24 bit at 48 kHz and they played, as did a 7.1 wav file (24 bit, 48 kHz). But, they seem to be playing in stereo. I am not 100% sure and have been meaning to test again to make sure but haven't had the time.

I have also been trying to test with .dts 5.1 files but haven't been able to get the system to recognize them.


Hope this helps.

Hopefully you got to retest this? I've got my surround flacs converted to wav to try tomorrow.

 

[Larry Geller]

Tried the sun visor thing. No difference.

 

[Larry Geller]

I'm 6'3". Maybe height makes a difference.

 

[Sashaaa]

Yes, here's my results:

Stereo FLAC played fine. I tried 16 & 24 bit, 48 & 96 kHz, 0 & 8 compression level, and every combination of those (so that's 8 different files total) and they all played correctly, no issues.

5.1 Wav files will play. I tried 16 bit and 24 bit at 48 kHz and they played, as did a 7.1 wav file (24 bit, 48 kHz). But, they seem to be playing in stereo. I am not 100% sure and have been meaning to test again to make sure but haven't had the time.

I have also been trying to test with .dts 5.1 files but haven't been able to get the system to recognize them.


Hope this helps.

Have you done any further testing with the car? I'm interested in purchasing one and am planning in taking one for a test drive soon. Would be really sad if the 5.1 functionality is completely gone.

 

[mojorisin]

Have you done any further testing with the car? I'm interested in purchasing one and am planning in taking one for a test drive soon. Would be really sad if the 5.1 functionality is completely gone.

I tried messing around with .dts files but was never able to get them to work. And the WAV/FLAC 5.1 files were definitely playing in stereo. Basically, I concluded that the car's internal DAC/Amp just can't (or won't) do 5.1, so I gave up. For what it's worth, I've been enjoying the hell out of the sound system regardless. It sounds really nice and the convenience of wireless CarPlay + Apple Music automatically playing everything in lossless quality (if you tell it to) makes the whole experience very enjoyable.