HD Radio - sound quality? ('14 BRZ)
 

Has anyone else found that their head units are super bright / shrill on HD radio (but fine on other sources)?

It was noticeable when I had all stock but then I put in an OEM Audio Plus system and HD Radio is downright painful unless I go in an change the EQ to be almost all the way down in the highest frequency. The stock tweeters are quite poor so it wasn't so noticeable before the upgrade but it was still too bright even 100% stock. And then with the high frequency EQ turned all the way down it sounds kind of tinny. Other sources (CD, FM, etc) do not exhibit this so I have to all the time switch the EQ when I change sources (which takes quite a few steps).


Anyone else? Is it a problem with the head unit or with HD Radio in general?

Yes, glad I'm not the only one, although I think some stations are worse than others (maybe?).

Contact OEM Audio themselves about this. Maybe they can develop a solution.

Yes some are much worse then others. Some I need to turn the highest part of the EQ down about half way - but others, one station in particular, I have to turn it all the way down and then it just sounds bad. Do you have the unit with aha or the normal '13 unit? Do you have stock speakers or have you upgraded?


Its easily heard on any HD radio station especially when you hear the analog shift into the HD. Yes the analog is a bit flat as it always has been but then the HD takes it way to the extreme.


I will contact them but first I need to narrow it down - is it just the '14 BRZ or do the pre-Aha '13 units have the same problem? Since CDs sound great with OEM Audio + its really not their problem - the head unit is just really cranking the high frequencies with HD radio. I can verify this by forcing all the sound to the rear speakers (which are still stock) and you can still hear the fact that the high frequencies overwhelm the rest when the HD kicks in.


Either that or maybe this is just a problem with HD radio overall and its purposely cranking the high freq to make it sound better on the average crappy head unit. I know some stations EQ their music to make it have more bass (which just makes it sound bad if you have a good system). There are just so many variables we are dealing with here.


Once we have a few more replies I will send an email to OEM Audio + about it asking them to specifically take a look at the BRZ H/U as they probably have the gear to really check the frequencies etc and see if there is anything they can do about it or at least give us some hard data to send to Subaru.

I'm not sure what all information the DSP unit gets from the HU via the sync cable, but if part of that info is what source the HU is processing audio from, then it is very possible that they could program the DSP to redo the processing in that case.

Don't forget that each audio source has independent volume control - if I remember right, FM/HD is higher volume by default compared to others.

That would be great (because then it would be fixable) but I doubt its so sophisticated. I don't think the head unit talks to the DSP at all, more likely the HU just sends the sound output to what it thinks is just an amp, but the OEM Audio + puts a DSP between the HU and their amp so they can fine tune the sound for the speakers in their kit and the car.

It WOULD be great if they at least had it so you could assign one of the saved EQs per source - seems like a simple thing since they already have 5 EQs and they have the per source volume setting already. This would make things much better overall to deal with inconsistencies per source (for example I set up a completely different EQ for XM to make it tolerable but every time I change sources I have to go through many steps to change EQ which is distracting, and therefore dangerous, while driving).



Actually all the volume settings are in relation to FM. I remember when I was setting it up I was so confused why I couldn't change the settings for FM so I got out the manual - it plainly says the volume settings are relative to the FM volume.


The issue is not the volume but rather the sound having a massive boost in high frequencies, but not the other frequencies, when on HD Radio. You don't have to be an audiophile to notice it - my wife, when I had it on flat and switched from CD to HD radio, said "owww turn it down that sounds horrible - way too much tsss tsss tsss cymbal sound!"

My HD radio just kicks in and out all the time. I would see the HD symbol and the sound would be great, 5 seconds later no more HD signal and sound quality lowers a bit. This wouldn't be too bad but it kicks in and out way to often.

I'm running stock 13' HU and stock speakers

HD radio isn't constant enough for me to use it. I haven't used the radio since I paired my phone via Bluetooth and started streaming Pandora/Spotify

HD Radio is clear and constant for me on the channels that broadcast it locally. It just seems like the Music is lacking any sort of depth when it comes to mids and lows, I think quality wise it's better, cause I can tell a big difference on talk radio, it's just that i makes music sound like it's tweaked too high. I wish there was a way to adjust the HD radio separately in EQ ;( or just a general fix cause this doesn't seem right.

Completely agree.


I did send an email to @oemaudioplus to see if they tested specifically with the BRZ head unit and maybe there is something they can do. The OEMAudioPlus is a little bright on all the sources but really exposes how bad the HD Radio is.


I have a feeling I would get nowhere complaining to Subaru about it. A friend of mine theorized that regular FM is always severly lacking in the highs so radio stations EQ a lot to try to overcome this and maybe they are using the same EQ on HD radio when they should not. But without some other HD radio to compare against the BRZ I don't know.


Its a shame that its so bad that I have to set my radio to use regular FM only and not HD. Satellite radio quality is crap but that is due to the horrible compression they do so they can have a lot of channels. So I have no good sound quality options for radio except for my own music or streaming radio on my phone (which after only a couple commutes I saw had eaten 500MB of my data plan!).

HD Radio has better clarity but it's also low rez. It's a compressed format and the degree of compression is up to the radio station. The original HD Radio demos I heard were fantastic but it seems the current implementation is a shell of what it once was capable of.

I just got my OEM + Reference series for my 2013 FRS. I'm no audiophile, but I do listen to local HD radio regularly. I'll give it a test after I install and see how it sounds.