My Perfect EQ Settings (Dynaudio)

[sadsac]

Thanks for this thread it has helped me tweak my dynaudio. I had it on front focus which overwhelmed the front door speakers with bass and i've shifted the bass to the woofer which has really helped.

I get gaps between tracks when playing mp3s from my sd card (e.g. a dance music mix album) and can't see anyway to get gapless playback. Any ideas? I've searched and a similar issue has existed with previous marks of the golf but no discussion re the mark 7 with discover pro... cheers in advance and apologies if considered off topic

[GTI_Ant]

I had Harman Kardon in my F80 1 Series and it was soooo good so when I ordered my Golf I had to have up grade sound.

I'm so disappointed with the dynaudio as to how much setup etc it required!  I'm a sound engineer so know exactly how to tune eq's for best sound
I found they have relied on the door mids to produce much of the bass, big problem with that is the doors vibrate alot. Also to have a hard hitting mid speaker that produces lots of bass, you lose definition, and gain undefined midrange frequencies! Instead of putting in a capable sub to handle the bottom end they use that space saver thing! It augments the bass rather than being the bass, this makes for difficult bottom end tuning and a sub that bottoms out quickly

The BM also has auto EQ which worked very well on balancing different tracks as it's soo noticeable going from one track to another in the golf you want to reach for the EQ everytime! I really wonder if Dynaudio built this system for the golf or just supplied VW the parts as the difference to the HK is unreal (they built the system to suit the car)

Anyway, after hours of tinkering here are my settings

EQ:      Authentic
Bass:   -4 to -6 (so the door mids can handle high volumes)
Mid:     -7 to -8 (midrange frequencies are soo harsh and overpowering & make everything sound muddy! Really poor)
Treble: 0 to +3  (mostly 0 but some content needs a little lift, anything higher is just causing fatigue)
Sub:    +3 to +6 (get the sub to do the work but it has its limitations!)
Focus: Standard front + rear (haven't played about with this much, it's just balance & fader really)

The mid range is soo bad at 0 it really makes me wonder, as I said earlier did Dynaudio set the system up for the car?? Any audiophile would cut their ears off before listening to such an inbalance, It's soo bad!
The second biggest fail was using that space saving sub then trying to make up for the bass with the speakers in the doors!

VW prob insisted that the car kept its space saver or I'm sure Dynaudio would have used all this space and put in proper, capable sub, then they could have fitted a much more refined door speaker which would have sorted out the horrible mids and improved the system to no end.

Nite nite

Many thanks mate - I've tried your settings and they are much better.

[vw spur]

How do I change the sub settings plz??

I've managed to change the bass, mid & treble but can't find the sub

Edit: all sorted

[clubsport]

I had Harman Kardon in my F80 1 Series and it was soooo good so when I ordered my Golf I had to have up grade sound.

I'm so disappointed with the dynaudio as to how much setup etc it required!  I'm a sound engineer so know exactly how to tune eq's for best sound
I found they have relied on the door mids to produce much of the bass, big problem with that is the doors vibrate alot. Also to have a hard hitting mid speaker that produces lots of bass, you lose definition, and gain undefined midrange frequencies! Instead of putting in a capable sub to handle the bottom end they use that space saver thing! It augments the bass rather than being the bass, this makes for difficult bottom end tuning and a sub that bottoms out quickly

The BM also has auto EQ which worked very well on balancing different tracks as it's soo noticeable going from one track to another in the golf you want to reach for the EQ everytime! I really wonder if Dynaudio built this system for the golf or just supplied VW the parts as the difference to the HK is unreal (they built the system to suit the car)

Anyway, after hours of tinkering here are my settings

EQ:      Authentic
Bass:   -4 to -6 (so the door mids can handle high volumes)
Mid:     -7 to -8 (midrange frequencies are soo harsh and overpowering & make everything sound muddy! Really poor)
Treble: 0 to +3  (mostly 0 but some content needs a little lift, anything higher is just causing fatigue)
Sub:    +3 to +6 (get the sub to do the work but it has its limitations!)
Focus: Standard front + rear (haven't played about with this much, it's just balance & fader really)

The mid range is soo bad at 0 it really makes me wonder, as I said earlier did Dynaudio set the system up for the car?? Any audiophile would cut their ears off before listening to such an inbalance, It's soo bad!
The second biggest fail was using that space saving sub then trying to make up for the bass with the speakers in the doors!

VW prob insisted that the car kept its space saver or I'm sure Dynaudio would have used all this space and put in proper, capable sub, then they could have fitted a much more refined door speaker which would have sorted out the horrible mids and improved the system to no end.

Nite nite

Many thanks mate - I've tried your settings and they are much better.

I had my system set to generic middle of the spectrum settings, I changed to the suggested settings.

Is this how it should sound?

Maybe the standard system or Dynaudio in this application is fine for people like me, it sounds different to before, but I am not sure how much better?!

[vw spur]

I had Harman Kardon in my F80 1 Series and it was soooo good so when I ordered my Golf I had to have up grade sound.

I'm so disappointed with the dynaudio as to how much setup etc it required!  I'm a sound engineer so know exactly how to tune eq's for best sound
I found they have relied on the door mids to produce much of the bass, big problem with that is the doors vibrate alot. Also to have a hard hitting mid speaker that produces lots of bass, you lose definition, and gain undefined midrange frequencies! Instead of putting in a capable sub to handle the bottom end they use that space saver thing! It augments the bass rather than being the bass, this makes for difficult bottom end tuning and a sub that bottoms out quickly

The BM also has auto EQ which worked very well on balancing different tracks as it's soo noticeable going from one track to another in the golf you want to reach for the EQ everytime! I really wonder if Dynaudio built this system for the golf or just supplied VW the parts as the difference to the HK is unreal (they built the system to suit the car)

Anyway, after hours of tinkering here are my settings

EQ:      Authentic
Bass:   -4 to -6 (so the door mids can handle high volumes)
Mid:     -7 to -8 (midrange frequencies are soo harsh and overpowering & make everything sound muddy! Really poor)
Treble: 0 to +3  (mostly 0 but some content needs a little lift, anything higher is just causing fatigue)
Sub:    +3 to +6 (get the sub to do the work but it has its limitations!)
Focus: Standard front + rear (haven't played about with this much, it's just balance & fader really)

The mid range is soo bad at 0 it really makes me wonder, as I said earlier did Dynaudio set the system up for the car?? Any audiophile would cut their ears off before listening to such an inbalance, It's soo bad!
The second biggest fail was using that space saving sub then trying to make up for the bass with the speakers in the doors!

VW prob insisted that the car kept its space saver or I'm sure Dynaudio would have used all this space and put in proper, capable sub, then they could have fitted a much more refined door speaker which would have sorted out the horrible mids and improved the system to no end.

Nite nite

Many thanks mate - I've tried your settings and they are much better.

I had my system set to generic middle of the spectrum settings, I changed to the suggested settings.

Is this how it should sound?

Maybe the standard system or Dynaudio in this application is fine for people like me, it sounds different to before, but I am not sure how much better?!

I'm the same, I'm not convinced by those settings at all

[jez6363]

Short version

I don't believe it is the Dynaudio setup itself that is the problem, it is the pre-processing in some fashion.

In my experience, playing mp3 from an SD card is bad - boomy bass, muddy middle and treble is lost, and the equaliser is far too limited.

Playing via bluetooth is OK (and good if you use the phone equaliser to adjust a bit) and DAB is good.

There are plenty of other bugs in the system - ranging from volume management to crashing and not displaying lists of albums etc. from bluetooth devices.

It would be interesting to know which sound sources people are, and whether they think it is good or poor.

Long Version

I was bitterly disappointed with the Dynaudio setup in my MK7 Golf R, until I discovered what was wrong with it. I did the obvious, dumped my music to an SD card and tried it. But it sounded far worse than my 9 year old Mondeo Titanium X (with the same mp3 files). Yes, it pumped out more volume, but the mid range was just a mushy mess. The bass was far too overpowering and uncontrolled and as the equaliser is pretty much useless (only 3 sliders) you cannot adjust it without making a mess elsewhere in the spectrum.

I listen to a lot of rock music (Pink Floyd, Queen etc) and wondered if it was my oldish mp3s (though they sound fabulous normally). So I re-ripped, used Amazon mp3s, you name it - the Dynaudio setup was just poor no matter which mp3s.

In the end I gave up and switched to using music from my phone via Bluetooth, and using an equaliser in the phone, to get a half decent sound, while leaving the Dynaudio settings on Authentic, no adjustment, and the sub slightly turned down. However, I noticed that even without using the equaliser in the phone, the quality was much better. This is for the same mp3 files. So I wonder if there is a problem with how they have set up the mp3 decoder they use for playing from the SD card?

It appears that a mixture of poor mp3 decoding and a useless graphic equaliser mean you simply cannot use the SD card facility effectively. I tried the settings Taw1a suggested, and from the SD card, they were better than the standard, but it was still poor.

Other Issues

Changing focus of sound immediately halves the volume for some arbitrary reason. However if you turn the unit off and on again, it retains the new focus and comes back to the proper volume. If you don't do that, the progress bar for the volume is wrong, and when it gets to full volume, you are at about half volume - keep turning it up and it gets louder even though the bar says it is at max.

Another issue is the dreadful user interface. At least in my car, the SD card is not really usable because of sound quality, so I can either use my phone to control your music, which is clearly not practical while driving, or you are reliant on the bluetooth interface. Well, with android and Google Play Music you can get a sort of usable system - you get a list of albums, artists, songs and playlists. But it simply breaks all the time. At one point I had it listing all my albums, but then it lost most of them, and started instead showing tracks from the first album. Then it started simply not showing them at all. Remove the phone and re-add, and it breaks in another way (it showed Albums, Artists, Playlists, All Songs, album 1, album 2 etc - all in one long list). Maybe its a Google issue, maybe a VW issue - its unusable either way.

And there are other problems - poor interface, unusable touch screen while driving (why such tiny icons right at the edge of the screen, which does not respond correctly at the edges), why no next / previous album on the steering wheel (but two ways to go next and previous track ffs). Navigating a hierarchy of music is a simple issue - you need to go up down the hierarchy, and then up down a list of options. The interface, to my mind, is dangerous - the combination of fiddly interface and having to use a centre console display to change album is simply unusable in a safe fashion while driving, unlike e.g. the system in my old Mondeo which uses the centre display to let you change albums etc.

All in all, thoroughly frustrating audio, and spoiling a fabulous car.

[Brenbo]

I have been using the Dynaudio in my GTI PP for almost 3 years now.  I have to say I have had no problems with the system and sound quality is great.  I find it may be due to the original files themselves.  If you are using MP3's ensure they are at least 320kbps or FLAC (or 256kbps minimum).  Also I personally do not fiddle with the Equalizers as they can distort or degrade the sound if not setup properly.  As most audiophiles would contest the best sound will be with treble, mids and bass set to 0. 

I also listen to my music from an SD Card on the Nav Pro and have not experienced any of the problems others have been experiencing on this thread.  The sound on my Dynaudio system is clear and punchy.  My brother in law is a sound engineer and he was impressed with the sound the Dynaudio system produced in my car.  Until he heard my system he had written off the quality of sound systems in cars.   

[scanesare]

I have been using the Dynaudio in my GTI PP for almost 3 years now.  I have to say I have had no problems with the system and sound quality is great.  I find it may be due to the original files themselves.  If you are using MP3's ensure they are at least 320kbps or FLAC (or 256kbps minimum).  Also I personally do not fiddle with the Equalizers as they can distort or degrade the sound if not setup properly.  As most audiophiles would contest the best sound will be with treble, mids and bass set to 0. 

I also listen to my music from an SD Card on the Nav Pro and have not experienced any of the problems others have been experiencing on this thread.  The sound on my Dynaudio system is clear and punchy.  My brother in law is a sound engineer and he was impressed with the sound the Dynaudio system produced in my car.  Until he heard my system he had written off the quality of sound systems in cars.

That's good to hear. I read the post just before yours and the other one from Taw1a and I started wondering WTH did I hear during my test-drive that made me spec the Dynaudio and whether my ears were that off? Glad to see I was not alone. I listened to a couple of good quality reference files I have in my phone's memory and streamed via bluetooth with minimal messing on the EQ and immediately realized how much better they sounded compared to the standard system on another Golf in the showroom. Mids just immediately came to life. No issues with door rattling because of the bass even at higher volumes. In fact I got the impression the cabin aided a lot the overall sound quality, as opposed to other cars I've had over the years trying to improve the acoustics with better speakers, tweeters, sound insulation material and in the end still not getting where I wanted.

No idea about the glitches mentioned as I haven't yet lived with the car (awaiting delivery), but seemed to be working just fine during the test. Quick connection, info showing up properly and easy control. Is it possible that different SW versions affect the playback and overall smoothness of the unit? I guess I'll find out in the near future.

I will try Taw1a's suggestions as well, to see what differences I can hear.

[jez6363]

The mp3 decode, and indeed a lot of the whole system, is software dependent. It certainly will vary over time, as they change and update it, and a 3 year old system could easily be much better than a new one. I didn't go for the Nav Pro, just the Dynaudio upgrade and the standard Composition Media (as I use app-connect and my phone for navigation), in a Golf R Estate built in January 2016. In theory it should have the same software and hardware as far as the sound goes, as the Nav pro system but...

It would be fascinating to compare mine to a Dynaudio system that someone reckons is excellent, and see if there is a genuine difference or not.

Re my mp3s - of course they are high bit rate (256 - 320) and when I play them in other systems they sound great - it is playing them from an SD card in the Golf that they are poor. I should probably try some WMA instead, as that would at least eliminate the mp3 decode part of the system.

If anyone is in the Sheffield area and wants to meet up at a service station or something, we can compare them.

[Brenbo]

sound preference is like art, everyone has their own taste and idea of what looks or sounds good. Also you may find some of us have systems not installed or setup properly by the factory or sound files which are not of a good enough quality.

As mentioned I have no complaints with Dynaudio, infact I even went out and bought a set of Dynaudio Xeo3 book shelf speakers for my desk I liked the sound that much. 

You will find with the better speakers and sound systems you will hear all the flaws and loss of quality (compression) in a low quality music file. I have noticed this with music files myself. I now as a rule ensure I have music files which are at least 320kbps or FLAC (256kbps bare minimum).  I have listened to music files with lower bit rates which sound fine on some run of the mill sound systems but not so great on the Dynaudio system in the car or even my Pioneer reference headphones.  But when i sourced the same music with a higher bit rate of 320kbps and played it on the Dynaudio system in the car the difference was like night and day. 

The more you compress a file the worse it will be in quality. 

Hope this helps.