Albums that sound great at home but not in the car ... and vice versa

Posted by: Hot Rats on 17 March 2013

I am just in the process of transferring some new albums from my collection to my iPhone. These albums will form my in car listening for the next couple of months until I change them again. I never get this right though. Some albums that I love listening to in the comfort of my sofa at home sound pretty much unbearable in the car. It also works the other way round. Some albums that I rarely listen to at home feature on my in car playlist.

For example ... 'A Love Supreme'. One of the most, if not the most, important album ever released. Sounds awful in the car! With the exception of 'The Nightfly' I find Donald Fagen's albums rather lightweight but I seem to play 'Kamakiriad' and 'Morph The Cat' on a regular basis in the car (OK. 'Sunken Condos' isn't going to sound good even if you listened to it on the moon!)

Wondered if anyone else had car music and listening room music?

Posted on: 17 March 2013 by fatcat

I have quite a few Todd Rundgren albums that are poorly engineered, definitely low fi. They sound fine in the car stereo but not so good at home.

I don't like listening to classical music in the car, particularly if volume varies from very low to very loud. The road noise swamps the low volume parts.

Posted on: 18 March 2013 by Harry

My car music is compilations. I do mine on mp3 CDs, Helen just plugs in her iPod. Of the individual CDs I take out for a spin, Rush's last three albums (excluding the compilations) sound very good in Helen's car, somewhat overdone in my car which has a beefier system and bloody awful on the lounge system. As is commonly the way with brick walled rubbish, the worse the system the better it sounds.

Posted on: 18 March 2013 by Steve J

I can't play vinyl in the car. I mostly listen to the radio in the car.

Posted on: 19 March 2013 by Steve C

You could always retro fit one of these Steve