it could depend on what system you get which will vary with the model. Sound is subjective, so what might sound great to one person could be not as good to someone else. If its important just listen to the various systems before purchase.

I have the UVO infotainment system which comes with the Infinity sound system with 8 speakers including a sub-woofer. To me its a fantastic sound and couldn't be happier, but to some people its still not enough.

The whole new 2014 Forte will be hitting dealerships in a few months and the overhauled 2014 Soul will probably be out in the fall.

 

I have a 2011 soul with the premium sound (not infiniti) with the center dashmount speaker and sub and for a factory system, its awesome. Easily one of the better factory systems that I have heard.

 

Did you adjust the bass and treble? Did you adjust the power bass?

What kind of audio source are you using? The XM satellite can sound crappy depending on weather and streaming bitrate (definitely less than 128 kbps.. would never buy XM until they improve that). If you're blasting 128 kbps songs from your MP3 player, it will sound like garbage too.

The sound can't compare to the nice JBL system my parents' 08 Camry LE has, but that isn't quite a fair comparison. Sound is definitely better than an '09 Rav4, though that could just be because the Soul has a lot less road noise/better sound insulation

 

13 with UVO and Infinity system. I really like how I can choose where the sound is focused at. I normally set it between the front seats since I rarely have people in the back seat. Adjust the bass and treb a lil and the sound is awesome. With the volume only at 7/30 I can barely hear anything outside of the car unless it's a siren.

 

Coming from a Subaru you're going to love the sound system. It's nothing fancy, so to speak, but it sounds very good, even on the base models. The tone is balanced, the speakers make reasonable bass, and the head unit is powerful enough to drive them (unless you're a teenager! ) . I like it for a factory sound system, and I used to work in car audio. The head unit is a very nice unit.

Subaru's radio systems suck, they have always sucked. The top of the line Subaru Impreza - another car I was considering - has a sound system that is befitting a Yugo. As you say, it sounds like you're listening to music in a tin can.

 

I love the sound in my Soul. I listen to heavy metal and "related" genres of music and it does great, but I do find the sub a tiny bit underwhelming so I am in the process of ordering up a 250 Watt Bazooka 10 inch base tube to help out and take some of the bass off the other speakers.

As is from the factory though, it's adequate. You can tweak the sound pretty decent with it's 3 band EQ

 

We have a 2012 Soul+ with the basic sound system. It's much better than the Typhoon system my wife had in her 2006 VW Jetta wagon, and that was a $350 upgrade. I've found the AM to be so-so (but better than in current competition), the FM is quite sensitive and selective, Sirius is okay (but upgrading to the Infinity system wouldn't improve it because of the low bit-rate), and CDs are nice. MP3 files played from a thumb drive via the USB port suck, but that's just my appraisal of MP3 files in general. The three-band equalizer can let you futz the sound to your liking.

 

MP3 files played from a thumb drive via the USB port suck, but that's just my appraisal of MP3 files in general.

You can encode them in any way you like. I have a majority of my music in Windows Media Pro 10 190kbps, but I should have heeded the advice I got regarding WMA compatibility with other devices. So now I am re-ripping my collection into FLAC (lossless) using dbpoweramp and then from there, taking that FLAC lossless format and converting them to 190kbps LAME Mp3. The new MP3's sound remarkably similar to the CD's and are impossible to pick out when doing a blind listening test, even on my home theater system.

I really like this dBpoweramp software. It come's bundled with all the codecs. It supports Secure Ripping so you can rip, and know it was a perfect rip without spending the time verifying the rip by listening to the tracks to make sure there wasn't any problems with skipping and such (great for old discs that have a little wear and tear).

If you have a large collection, dBpoweramp can rip from multiple CD drives at once. To speed up my project, I am purchasing 4ea slim slot loading DVD drives from Amazon with the appropriate 5.25 bay brackets. The software is all automated, as fast as you can insert dics, it can rip it them, all secure by comparing the checksum with a online database of other people's rips.
Amazon.com: TS-T632 TOSHIBA TS-T632 TOSHIBA TS-T632: Computers & Accessories
Amazon.com: 5.25" Metal Tray for 2.5", 3.5" HDD/Slim DVD: Electronics


dBpoweramp: CD Ripper & Audio Converter. Secure ripping to mp3, FLAC, m4a, Apple Lossless & WMA

FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec

LAME MP3 Encoder

 

I have most of my MP3's at 320 kbps. Why? Because flash drives are cheap now. You can get a 16 gig drive for under $12. At 320 kbps, you can put thousands of songs on there.

Plus at loud volumes, the 320 kbps sounds a lot better. You can hear the hissing of a 128 or 192 kbps MP3 when you're blasting it in the car.

Here's a test to see if you can tell the difference. I got it right. But I had to turn up the volume on my computer to know which was which.

Do 320kbps mp3 files really sound better? Take the test!

 

It's all about the encoder and the settings used. LAME is pretty amazing, but you need to be a command line jockey to run it effectively or you need to have some pretty good software for a front end.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using AutoGuide.Com Free App

 

I have a 2012 with the UVO system. I don't know much about stereos, but this is better that the last 3 cars I had (Volvo, Saturn & Ford Ranger PU). While I like to listen to all kinds of music, this UVO thingie plays a nice set of bluegrass. Bad stereo makes banjo sound tinny.


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

I had a 2011 soul + with the upgrade sound system but not UVO I thought was OK not the best but OK till my wife the the 2012 with the uvo and then I did not like mine so much lol . The must have on my 2013 soul +Shadow was a UVO system almost as good as the Bose in the Oldsmobile Bravada we had . I am a serious devotee of music and the UVO does a fairly good job even maxed out

 

I guess that proves why sound can be subjective, I can't really tell the difference on that test (but did get the answer right), but I certainly can tell the difference between 64 and 128. Besides I've got thousand of converted LP's, cassettes, CD's etc that have taken years to do and doing it over again of which I no longer have the original material is not possible
Technology when I started converting to mp3 changes so fast, that 128 was top end at one time and memory was expensive, maybe if I did some conversions now I might use 320.

The original recording quality can make all the difference too, when its been converted from vinyl to cassette (and what equipment was available to do it) then to mp3 conversion, it can loose things in the process, but when you go from a CD direct to mp3 then you can notice the difference. So in many cases its not the fault of the sound equipment you have, you have to be aware of how it was originally created. Even on CD, if the originally sound was created from recordings from the 40's and '50's you can tell the vast difference vs a current recording.

 

I have the 2013 Base model, with NO frills, NO sub-woofer, NO lighted speakers or any of that stuff.

Just like when setting the Equalizer on my computer (Windows Media Player) I find that most of the real POWER of music is in the mid-range.

So I got into the sound system adjustments on my Soul and was both surprised and pleased at how flexible it is.
I cranked the Bass to almost full, the midrange to full and the treble to about 70%. Then I pushed most of the music, maybe 75% to the rear speakers.

Now it's not a BOOM CAR, but it definitely SHAKES.

I don't do the Heavy Metal music, but I do like tunes with a decent Bass note.

So I suggest that anyone, do some serious Tuning on their Music system before trying to add to it or modify it.

Just a thought!

 

It's usually never a good idea to max out your settings on an equalizer. The sound becomes distorted most of the time and you lose the ability to hear background stuff in many tracks. If you want loud, just turn the volume up.

Different genres is where different settings on the equalizer shine.

 

Exactly. I run sound as well for musical events (mostly my band, but other stuff too) and equalizers are for compensating, not maxing. EQ settings should always start at zero and work from there. It's fairly common to see a "U" shaped eq level setting, where a bit has been added to the bottom and top and the middle is flattened out or even cut slightly, as the ends tend to be where speakers & space sounds suffer. I cringe when I get into a rental car and turn on the radio; I can tell instantly when someone's got the eq maxed, or one end of it maxed (usually the bass). You can't make a bass-deficient speaker bassy by opening up the eq, you can only make it muddy.

 

Yes that is true . I was just talking about the volume when I said maxed out .

 

Infinity system in my 2013 sounds better than the standard system my 2012 had.

 

I tried adjusting everything. I think I should make a YouTube video. It sounds like a sound system from the early 90's, no joke. It reminds me of the sound that came out of my parents Toyota Cressida.

Thanks for all the replies everyone Really, REALLY looking forward to a Soul now.

 

I think the stock system in my '12 Plus with the upgraded audio package (UVO/Infinity) is probably the second best sounding stock system in any car I've ever owned, especially one that cost less than $20K new. Number one would be a previous Maxima with a factory Bose system. I generally listen to MP3s from a connected USB drive and if they are encoded at a decent bit rate, they sound great. I buy MP3s from Amazon or rip them myself.