Help with mysterious sound issue with Lexus RX 350h 2024 Mark Levinson 21 speakers

Hi wonderful AV reader!

I would love your help to figure out what is happening with my brand new car's speakers.

I believe something is wrong with the fancy 21-speaker audio system in the 2024 (not previous years) Lexus RX 350h and TX (and other models) and I need YOUR help to prove it.

ASK: please look at the measurements and tell me what you think you see in the one WITH surround ON. High frequency sounds in music (around the frequence of cymbals or high pitch voice) it sounds really harsh to me, almost painful.

The first (LEFT) image is WITH surround ON - this is when I hear the offending frequencies as painful.
Second (RIGHT) image is with with surround OFF when I do not hear the high frequencies as painful. I used a UMIK-2 calibrated for 90 deg and of course pointed it up (placed it on the middle console between the front seats). Complete data attached in post. I had to run the sweep over Bluetooth because the car doesn't let me play sound over USB (no idea why).

Detailed explanation below images.



Background:
I thought I was crazy since other people didn't hear it but this video ( - relevant bit starts at 17:58) confirmed it to me:

The Mark Levinson system in the 2024 RX 350h (and the TX) hurts my ears in the mid-to-high frequencies.

I believe it's an actual defect in the speakers themselves (or their tuning), but one that is present across all/most 2024 models.
I listened to older models with the Mark Levinson 21 speakers as well and they did not have this issue.

Possible alternative causes:

1. My ears are bad
Unlikely because my old Subaru Crosstrek was not painful at louder volume.
Same songs, at home, on a KEF LS 50 Wireless also not at all painful at much louder volume (again tried same songs).
I also don't feel that almost painful sensation on other people's audio systems (car and home).

2. Defect in car's computers/software
We did the routine inspection and they checked the computers and they are fine.

3. Defect in speakers
It's brand new. Also this issue seems to exist on all 2024 models (with 21-speaker Mark Levinson system).

4. The song(s) are bad
I tried a lot of different songs, both via Spotify, radio, Sirius etc. They all have it.

Would love your thoughts. I'm on a mission to measure and somehow "prove" to Lexus that they need to fix it (I know, so optimistic).

Any and all opinions much appreciated!

I included my home setup in case it helps.

I tried to analyze it myself but struggled - super grateful for your help!

If anyone is interested I used ChatGPT:
The analysis reveals the following highest detectable and somewhat consistent peaks within the 10kHz to 18kHz range:

• Car System with Surround ON: The highest peak is approximately 85.96 dB.
• LS50W System: The highest peak is approximately 81.11 dB.

Difference Between Systems:​

• Peak Difference: The car system with surround ON has a peak that is 4.85 dB louder than the LS50W system in the high-frequency range (10kHz to 18kHz).

Perceptual Impact:​

• 4.85 dB Difference: This is a significant difference, and most listeners would likely perceive the high frequencies in the car system as noticeably louder, particularly at these frequencies. This could contribute to the perceived harshness or discomfort when listening to high-frequency sounds in the car with the surround mode enabled.

If the 4.85 dB increase in the car system's high frequencies is undesirable, you might consider reducing the high-frequency response through EQ adjustments to bring it closer to the LS50W standard.

# Let's calculate the highest detectable and somewhat consistent peaks within the range of up to 17-18kHz
# We'll focus on identifying peaks in this range for both the car system with surround ON and the LS50W system

# Define the frequency range of interest
frequency_range_min = 10000 # 10kHz
frequency_range_max = 18000 # 18kHz

# Extract the relevant frequency range for the car system with surround ON
high_freq_range_car = (high_freq_freqs >= frequency_range_min) & (high_freq_freqs <= frequency_range_max)
high_freq_spl_car_range = high_freq_spl[high_freq_range_car]

# Extract the relevant frequency range for the LS50W system
high_freq_range_ls50w = (high_freq_freqs_ls50w >= frequency_range_min) & (high_freq_freqs_ls50w <= frequency_range_max)
high_freq_spl_ls50w_range = high_freq_spl_ls50w[high_freq_range_ls50w]

# Identify the highest peaks in the SPL data within this range
max_spl_car = np.max(high_freq_spl_car_range)
max_spl_ls50w = np.max(high_freq_spl_ls50w_range)

max_spl_car, max_spl_ls50w

Sonnie said:

I would be shocked if you get Lexus to do anything at all, regardless of what you show them with measurements. Fighting with a car manufacturer is a seriously difficult and extremely tough challenge. You'd have to be able to connect with the sound team that developed the system, which is next to impossible. Everyone else is going to shrug you off or tell you they'll pass it on, and it will never be seen by anyone that will do anything.

My wife has a Mark Levinson system in her Lexus and we stripped it and installed a very nice high-end system that looks factory and sounds miles better. I've never heard any vehicle that has good factory surround sound. They all pretty much sound better with surround turned off.

Anything like SiriusXM is going to sound bad even if you get the problem fixed... it's so highly compressed. We use a USB thumb drive with FLAC files loaded on it. it sounds exceptionally better than streaming anything. At least as good as you'll get in a vehicle.

Click to expand...

Thank you Sonnie! I think you are right - I listen via Spotify (premium so I get high quality sound) and have low hopes of getting them to fix it (I'll fix my sound in the equalizer) but no harm in trying :-).
I'm (foolishly) hoping that Lexus' famous customer service will make up for their corporate .
I might try some FLACs or Tidal let's see.
Thank you so much and have a great rest of the week!

pklose said:

That is aliasing. It is usually kept away from us through oversampling and a reconstruction filter. Usually that is done in HW, sometimes it is done in software. Looks like its done in software in a rather poor and ´resource optimized´ way.

Click to expand...

@pklose could you please elaborate? I looked up audio aliasing and read up on it a bit, yet still have some questions:
1. Do you mean that the aliasing is in the song, the digital to analog processing, or in the measurements I took?
2. Are you saying that the way the car audio manufacturer reconstructs the sound might be limited by the processing power of the car's computer? (I would imagine sound has a dedicated processor?)
3. How might I fix this? Can I do it from the Spotify iPhone app? All I have there is a 6 band equalizer (oh and also play music at the highest quality setting from Spotify - can that make a difference?)
4. Could it be related: sometimes when I play music quite loud 85% of max volume) while driving the sound pauses for half a second to a second every now and then. Never happens when the car is at rest - sometimes I have to wait for someone so I have a fun listening session in the car).

Thank you and sorry if I misunderstood what you explained

I did a sweep (might have been linear) and attached the files in the original post. Is that helpful?

It's mdat files from REW. Not .wave.


The relevant file is with surround ON - that's when I hear the issue.