The average person listens to over 30 hours of music per week. While many of us do that listening through our phones while we’re out on walks, showering, or hanging out at home, millions relegate at least a portion of their music listening to their cars.
The bad news? Most car audio setups are horrendous.
If you exist in the bucket of people that have cars that don’t do music justice, don’t lose hope. There are several things you can do that can make your car’s listening experience every bit as good as the listening experience you enjoy through top-tier headphones.
Not sure where to start when it comes to maxing out your car’s audio? Keep reading to take in impactful tips!
- Lose Your Stock Speakers
Most car makers don’t put a ton of thought into audio quality during the manufacturing process. They’re more focused on essential things like making sure a car’s steering column works.
That hierarchy of priorities often results in car speakers that are average, at best. Correct your manufacturer’s mistake by tearing out your car’s stock speakers and installing higher quality ones.
You don’t have to spend much money to beat most car’s stock setups. Just Google the make/model of your car to find compatible 6×9 speakers and other speaker types.
- Manual Balance Your Sound
Does your car stereo have a faceplate or some sort of interface that lets you input commands? If it does, you likely have audio balancing options you can tweak.
Sure, the stock audio balance setup most cars have is acceptable. But only you know exactly how you like to hear your music.
To get the most out of the speakers you have installed, find your sound system’s balance or “levels” menu and tweak until you’re happy with what you’re hearing.
- Throw Deadening Material in Your Doors
The more insulated your car is, the better your music is going to sound. This concept is on perfect display when you hear music play in a sound studio. Materials in those spaces dampen sound when it bounces off of walls so well that it’s unlike anything you’ve ever heard.
You can bring some of that experience into a vehicle by buying deadening material (foam, for example). That material can then be used to line your doors.
Not only will deadening material help your car hold onto heat/cooling better, but it’ll also make your car audio sound worlds better.
- Boost Your Audio File Quality
Want a car audio boosting tip that requires you to do nothing to your car? Try boosting the sound quality of your audio files!
If you use streaming applications like Spotify, when you head to your account’s settings, you’ll see that your audio files have likely been set to low-quality. That’s to help your phone stream music without eating up too much of your monthly bandwidth.
By setting your audio files to high-quality, you will immediately notice the sound in your car gets a little bit better.
- Leverage an Equalizer
For those of you that don’t have a faceplate or interface in your car that allows you to balance your car stereo’s sound, you may want to invest in an equalizer. Equalizers are pieces of hardware you can add to your car stereo that give you a slew of options when it comes to balancing the various components of your speakers.
Most equalizers offer balancing options that go well beyond what car stereo interfaces typically do so even if you have a stereo interface, you may want to pick up an equalizer as well.
- Invest in High-Quality Cables
This is a car audio tip that most people miss the boat on. Cables may seem like an afterthought when you’re hooking up your stereo because a cable is a cable is a cable, right? Wrong!
The reason why people invest hundreds of dollars in high-quality HDMI cables for their home theaters is that better cables transmit video signals better and clearer. The same is true for audio cables.
By doing your research to find the best cables people are using for their speaker setups, you give your audio situation a low-hanging advantage over others that are trying to trick out their sound quality.
- Have an Audio Tech Work With You
It’s always fun to tackle DIY projects. At the end of the day though, if you want the absolute best out of your car’s audio, you’re going to want to work with a professional.
Not only can pros opine on what equipment you should buy but they’ll also help you balance your sound and of course, install anything you purchase.
The installation piece is particularly important. That’s because novice car electricians may hurt their car’s essential operations by messing with cables and hooking things up.
That makes working with a pro a matter of safety in addition to convenience.
Your Car Audio Is Worth Perfecting
While many people are working from home today, in the future, you’ll almost certainly be commuting again. When that happens, why waste what little time you have on this planet listening to poor sound? Instead of settling for mediocrity, revolutionize your listening experience by implementing the tips we’ve shared.
We guarantee you that armed with your new care audio listening techniques, you’ll wonder how you ever got by taking in your favorite bands, podcasts, etc. “the old way”.
Do you want additional tips on how to get more out of your ride? If so, check out the newest content we have available on our blog
