Why spending the extra $1300 on the Dynaudio upgrade is a waste of money...

[triode12]

You did read where I said that I agree with you that analog is superior to digital right? And no, it was one of several systems. But none of that is relevant to cars.

But back to the quote above... the reason is that even deaf freddy can hear the difference between the standard system and the Dynaudio. It isn't subtle. Just because you like listening to LPs and can't do that in a car, doesn't mean that CD's/FLAC/MP3s don't have high enough quality to clearly demonstrate the difference in quality between the stock and Dynaudio systems, even in a the bad car environment. It is not at all like the minute difference between properly encoded MP3s vs FLAC.



I still disagree with your first post. It's pointless as anyone who actually cares about music already knows this, and anyone who doesn't care, well, don't care. Which is why I think this thread is pointless, because it's effectively no different from any of the other existing Dynaudio vs Stock system threads.

There are a lot of people who would be of the opinion that spending money on performance mods is also a waste of money because the speed limit on most roads is 60km/h and on the fastest roads are 110km/h (or 130km/h in NT) and all modern standard cars can reach those speeds. So therefore, performance mods are a waste of money.

Spend your money where you like

Apparently they do care as seen by some of the posts here. They do care if the $1300 is justified or if the standard system is sufficient - the evidence I posted in my first post lends creedence to that. i.e. that no amount of money will correct the inherent sonic problems in the interior of cars. So spending the extra money would be pointless - law of diminishing returns -more so if one doesn't spend lots of time in their car. If the difference isn't shown to deaf freddy, I'd bet you that he would just as happy with the standard system - because he wouldn't know any better.

[Corey_R]

Dude... it comes down to this:
1) It's my car
2) It's my money
3) I think that the standard stereo is crap, and I could not listen to music on it. I owned a MKV Golf GTI, as you know, and no, I refused to listen to music on it either.
4) I love music enough that I'm not willing to sit in my car and not listen to it, so I used my IEM's and amp/dac and iRiver at the time
5) The Dynaudio is sufficiently better than the standard stereo that I can listen to music on it and be content
6) Since it is less than 1/60th of the cost of my car, this was a pretty "WELL DUH" option for me considering the convenience.

And that's all that matters.
I mean, I could go and post articles which say how you spending money on non-isolated earphones and sony MP3 players is a waste of money because you're using them on the train, but what's the point? You did your research, you made an educated decision, you tried it out, and you decide to do it day in day out, so who cares if all the know-it-alls say that your earphones and mp3 player is crap and listening to it on a train is silly?

That's acceptable to you, and that's all that matters.

The Dynaudio is acceptible to me (and others, from the posts above) and that's all that matters to me (and them).

And if other's listen to the crap stock stereo and think it's good enough for them, then that's all that matters to them as well, and everyone's happy.

Do we need another several threads on it?

[triode12]

I've gotten some brand new records from Linn which came with snap crackle and pop from day one. Others in the shop suffered from same problems. I find that if you use a less detailed cart, you can minimize the problems somewhat. But despite the best attempts at cleaning, you can never get rid of noise completely. What you can do is tune it out sorta. Especially when you are swept by the music. And when it's not during a quiet passage.


Yes soundstage and imaging are gone but in a reasonably affordable setup you still get stereo steering and with the Dynaudios, surprisingly good levels of dynamics and details. Enjoying music is IMHO an emotional experience. And that's something even a good incar setup can do. If it's about traditional speaker soundstage, I guess even headfi is out.

New records need cleaning as they are still contaminated from the stamping process. You'd be surprised how dirty the grooves are with vinyl comtaminate from the manufacturing process. So I am not surprised by your findings. Do a RCM clean of a new record to see what I mean.

Yes, I agree about the emotional aspect of audio that is why once you listen to a good vinyl rig, the pops and clicks (if there are any) can be easily ignored. But like I said it has to be all or nothing for me, If it is just a few aspects of the listening experience, then I rather not listen or defer till I am in front of my home rig - for critical listening. Otherwise, it is just muzak like pop/fluff music which doesn't require good equipment.

Yup - Headphones definately don't really do it for me. Made a big mistake there.

[triode12]

Dude... it comes down to this:
1) It's my car
2) It's my money
3) I think that the standard stereo is crap, and I could not listen to music on it. I owned a MKV Golf GTI, as you know, and no, I refused to listen to music on it either.
4) I love music enough that I'm not willing to sit in my car and not listen to it, so I used my IEM's and amp/dac and iRiver at the time
5) The Dynaudio is sufficiently better than the standard stereo that I can listen to music on it and be content
6) Since it is less than 1/60th of the cost of my car, this was a pretty "WELL DUH" option for me considering the convenience.

And that's all that matters.
I mean, I could go and post articles which say how you spending money on non-isolated earphones and sony MP3 players is a waste of money because you're using them on the train, but what's the point? You did your research, you made an educated decision, you tried it out, and you decide to do it day in day out, so who cares if all the know-it-alls say that your earphones and mp3 player is crap and listening to it on a train is silly?

That's acceptable to you, and that's all that matters.

The Dynaudio is acceptible to me (and others, from the posts above) and that's all that matters to me (and them).

And if other's listen to the crap stock stereo and think it's good enough for them, then that's all that matters to them as well, and everyone's happy.

Do we need another several threads on it?

Corey,
It seems to me that you think that this thread was posted as a veiled attack on you. I can assure you that it was not. So don't take it personally. I cannot fathom why you would.
I could care less that you got the dynaudio upgrade. If you enjoy the upgrade then good for you.
But it still doesn't take away from the points I have brought up in my first post. It may be helpful to people contemplating the upgrade. At least it gives them a few things to think about. After all the $1300 saved can be put to other things.

[Brendan_A]

Stupid thread. Use can argue all day long. If someone wants to spend $1300 on the audio upgrade they will. $1300 isn't much when it's a factroy fitted Dyn system that sounds heaps better than the stock system. Even my wife who isn't into sound systems can hear the differance between the Dyns in my Golf and the stock system in her Jetta.

[Transporter]

C'mon guys, a little chill maybe?
VW Pink Moon Commercial - YouTube

Instead of worrying about how bad your car stereo is, maybe just get a car in which the quality of the stereo becomes completely moot

I agree! If you're not happy with your car stereo do what I did;
I removed my stereo from my T5 and sold it on ebay, then sent money to

https://secure2.convio.net/wwf/site/SPageServer?pagename=drtv_polarbear_adopt&s_src=AWS1106AL001

Are you polar bear aware?

[triode12]

Stupid thread. Use can argue all day long. If someone wants to spend $1300 on the audio upgrade they will. $1300 isn't much when it's a factroy fitted Dyn system that sounds heaps better than the stock system. Even my wife who isn't into sound systems can hear the differance between the Dyns in my Golf and the stock system in her Jetta.

If she hadn't listened to your Dyn system in your Golf, would she have known what she lacked in her Jetta?
I dare say that if she hadn't, she would have been quite happy with the stock system in her Jetta.

[Brendan_A]

If she hadn't listened to your Dyn system in your Golf, would she have known what she lacked in her Jetta?
I dare say that if she hadn't, she would have been quite happy with the stock system in her Jetta.

Yes! Cause I would keep telling her how crap it sounded.

[Corey_R]

Corey,
It seems to me that you think that this thread was posted as a veiled attack on you. I can assure you that it was not. So don't take it personally. I cannot fathom why you would.
I could care less that you got the dynaudio upgrade. If you enjoy the upgrade then good for you.
But it still doesn't take away from the points I have brought up in my first post. It may be helpful to people contemplating the upgrade. At least it gives them a few things to think about. After all it is still $1300 that can be put to other things.

No, I realise it's not personally aimed at me. But as Brendan_A has just posted, in 3 lines what I've been saying for the past few pages (it's peoples money, it's not much money, it's their choice, and the difference in quality is obvious).

I was the first to respond, cause I was just online at the time. But one of the reasons I've posted aggressively as if we've been discussing for months, is because we have! And you've already used the exact same argument in the previous threads, and everyone has already agreed with you on the obvious... yes, cars are not ideal environments for listening to music.

[Transporter]

But it still doesn't take away from the points I have brought up in my first post. It may be helpful to people contemplating the upgrade. At least it gives them a few things to think about. After all the $1300 saved can be put to other things.

Hmm, well if someone has a spare extra $1300 for an upgrade or want to spend even more good for him/her and let them enjoy it. Obviously those of us who don't feel the need of upgrading the sound in the car have different priorities.

I like the polar bears.

[Corey_R]

It may be helpful to people contemplating the upgrade. At least it gives them a few things to think about. After all it is still $1300 that can be put to other things.

Your car is a mode of transportation. You're worried about other people spending $1300. You spent $45k+ on a GTI Pirelli.
Why didn't you save $30k+ and just buy a Toyota Echo/Yaris?
It's still an effective mode of transportation. The roads only have 60km/h speed limits anyway. So you can't appreciate it like buying a Formula Ford and racing it at Eastern Creek. I'm all or nothing After all, it is still $30k+ that can be put to other things... like the polar bears!

[triode12]

No, I realise it's not personally aimed at me. But as Brendan_A has just posted, in 3 lines what I've been saying for the past few pages (it's peoples money, it's not much money, it's their choice, and the difference in quality is obvious).

I was the first to respond, cause I was just online at the time. But one of the reasons I've posted aggressively as if we've been discussing for months, is because we have! And you've already used the exact same argument in the previous threads, and everyone has already agreed with you on the obvious... yes, cars are not ideal environments for listening to music.

It is not posted for those who have already purchased their cars. It is for those who haven't and are contemplating options. What is wrong with that? You have already made your choice, so be it.

You seem intent on quelling any opinion that is at odds with the choice you have made and have tried very hard to derail the intent of the thread by taking it off topic.

Good grief, it is like trying to deal with a bunch of school boys.

Why is it so hard to have discussion on aussie forums w/o someone getting their knickers in a twist?

The thread on the new Scirrocco is a good example. When pologti1.8 states that the price of the new rocco is not going to be near the $70K being bandied about by someone, he gets jumped upon.

[Brendan_A]

Your car is a mode of transportation. You're worried about other people spending $1300. You spent $45k+ on a GTI Pirelli.
Why didn't you save $30k+ and just buy a Toyota Echo/Yaris?
It's still an effective mode of transportation. The roads only have 60km/h speed limits anyway. So you can't appreciate it like buying a Formula Ford and racing it at Eastern Creek. I'm all or nothing After all, it is still $30k+ that can be put to other things... like the polar bears!

Exactly! well said.

[DoggieHowser]

You seem intent on quelling any opinion that is at odds with the choice you have made and have tried very hard to derail the intent of the thread by taking it off topic.

Funny you should say that....

Cos I'd have said the same about you.

[triode12]

Your car is a mode of transportation. You're worried about other people spending $1300. You spent $45k+ on a GTI Pirelli.
Why didn't you save $30k+ and just buy a Toyota Echo/Yaris?
It's still an effective mode of transportation. The roads only have 60km/h speed limits anyway. So you can't appreciate it like buying a Formula Ford and racing it at Eastern Creek. I'm all or nothing After all, it is still $30k+ that can be put to other things... like the polar bears!

Good grief Corey. I am not worried about what they spend their $1300 on, they can spend it on prostitutes for all I care. I was just putting one point across. WTH is wrong with that? Is the reason you are railing against it is because makes you look stupid for having paid for the upgrade?

Beside, I bought the Pirelli because I love driving it, not listening to the sound system, is what the main purpose of the car is for? Transportation not as a lounge?