Here’s a bit of obscure inside baseball that I’ve never really talked about online because it’s a weird thing to complain about: Whenever I get into a press car, the audio settings are always incredibly out of whack. I’m not sure if it’s the press office that does it, or if it was the person who had the car before me, but without fail, the equalizer settings are all set in some insane way, making the audio sound terrible.
A result of this is that I’m weirdly skilled at being able to quickly find a car’s equalizer setting page within its infotainment screen and tune it to my liking. I suspect not many people even know settings like this in their car exist, but the people who do know are really specific about their audio preferences.
Audiophiles who own modern General Motors vehicles from Chevrolet and Cadillac are discovering there’s a better way to tune their sound systems than the stock equalizer settings. And it involves installing software from Nissan, of all places, directly into their cars.
What Does An Equalizer Do?
If the volume knob is the basic adjustment for audio settings, an equalizer tool is for the advanced adjustments. Simple equalizers will have different sliders for the three ranges of sound frequencies: Bass, midrange, and treble. Sophisticated equalizers will have more frequency “bands” to choose from, allowing drivers to fine-tune audio to their liking. Here’s a video showing what an equalizer looks like on a Chevrolet Equinox EV, which has a basic three-band setup:
If you’ve ever played with these sliders before, you’ll know that turning the bass up will unlock deeper, thumping beats and depth. Turning up the midrange will highlight stuff like vocals and guitars, while adjusting the treble will change higher tones like those from cymbals and flutes.
Sophisticated equalizers will have more frequency “bands” to choose from, allowing drivers to fine-tune audio to their liking. Some cars even have equalizers that can adjust sound depending on the seat you’re sitting in, playing different frequencies of the same song through the speakers, depending on how close you’re sitting to that speaker.
Nissan Has An App For That
Playing with equalizer settings isn’t for everyone. Even after years of adjusting press car audio, I’m still not really sure I get it right 100% of the time. Back in December, Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury subbrand, made an app to take the guesswork out of audio system optimization.
The app, called Infiniti Sound, is available to download for free through the Google Play store, designed for Nissans and Infinitis with Google Built-In software. Instead of making the user adjust sliders to figure out what sort of sound is best for them, it does all the hard work for you and asks only for simple inputs to set up. Here’s the full rundown on how it works, straight from Nissan:
Getting started is simple. After downloading the Personalized Sound app from the Google Play store, the program will guide drivers through a hearing test by playing tones of varying loudness and pitch. The driver responds with how well they can hear each sound by tapping on the infotainment screen, and the program creates a bespoke listening experience based on that individual’s hearing profile.
The entire set-up process takes about three minutes.
Going beyond traditional bass, treble, fade and balance adjustments, Personalized Sound uses the test results to precisely tweak a 10-band equalizer with frequencies from 50 hertz to 1,200 hertz.
Mitchell Pope, the product planner who led the app’s design, said the team wanted to “elevate every driver’s experience” with regard to audio quality. Nissan says this is the first such in-vehicle hearing test system offered by a manufacturer.
“After taking the test, most drivers will notice a clear difference with their new audio profile,” Pope said. “They’ll often pick up details they didn’t before, even in songs they’ve listened to countless times. But above all, they’ll know their audio was customized just for them.”
How GM Owners Are Using It To Their Advantage
The thing about Google Built-In is that it’s not just Nissans and Infinitis that have it. General Motors has famously moved most of its lineup to using Google Built-In for its infotainment system, which means modern Chevy, Cadillac, and GMC owners have access to all the same apps from the Google Play store in their cars.
Moreover, Nissan’s Infiniti Sound app is available to download to any car that has Google Built-In infotainment, not just Nissans. The result is a bunch of General Motors owners using the app to tune the audio in their cars in ways that weren’t previously possible, and without having to install any fancy aftermarket hardware.
In a thread on the Chevrolet Equinox EV forum, user Zoomie61 talks about how the app stepped up the stereo’s quality:
I didn’t find a post for this, but download from the INFINITI personalized sound app from the Google Play Store and run it. It will run a series of sounds test to setup the equalizer. Made a huge difference to the stock sound system performance for me.
This led to owner users trying it for themselves, with most seeing success:
A Facebook user named Dakota Scott asked a GMC AT4-themed Facebook Group if anyone uses the app on their GMC Sierra 1500, and a bunch of people tuned in, saying it improved quality:
Then there’s this thread from the ChevyZR2.com forum, which reveals even more happy customers:
Those are just a few examples. There’s another thread on the Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 Facebook group talking about how the app makes a “day and night difference” in quality, and another in the Duramax 3.0 Owners group talking about how you should only run the test if your car isn’t running, as the diesel engine might make the test noises difficult to hear. One user even made a tutorial video showing how to install the Nissan app onto your General Motors product (it’s no different than installing any other app from the Google Play store):
I’ve reached out to both GM and Nissan about this phenomenon, but have yet to get a statement back from either brand. This is one of those weird cases where Nissan probably didn’t even consider that anyone who isn’t driving one of its products would even try to use this app, much less successfully. If anything, it feels like a PR win for the company, which can now say that even people who drive other cars turn to its software for superior audio quality. Conversely, it’s a signal to GM that it should probably consider stepping up its audio customization game.
It’s also worth noting that GM and Nissan aren’t the only cars with Google Built-In. Brands like Volvo, Honda, Ford, and Polestar all have Google-ified infotainment systems as well. If Infiniti Sound works on GM vehicles, there’s a chance it’ll work with those brands, too. If you have a car with Google Built-In, give it a try and let me know what happens in the comments.
Top graphic images: GM, Nissan
“Some Geniuses Figured Out How To Make Their Chevys Stop Sounding Like Crap Using Nissan Software”
So fart cans and subwoofers are considered software now?
Be cool, people. I just installed this on my neither Nissan nor GM car and it took maybe 5 minutes max to set up. Haven’t had extensive listening yet, but ATTENTION OLDS. They say we lose hearing in the high frequencies first, and as I was going thru the setup process, the high tones took the longest before I could hear them. I expect this to make a difference in the final “customized eq”. I’d say if you want to try this, do it NOW before it is locked out, or taken away.
Same here for the high tones taking the longest before I could hear them. I am old. That is why I own a Cadillac.
Update: I listened on the way home and it seems to work great. My car has a Bose system, and frankly I never noticed much coming out of the A-pillar tweeters. Now they sing.
WHAT? You just installed this on your nethersan norgem? Seriously, thanks for the tip.
At first when you said “ATTENTION OLDS,” I thought that you meant that you installed this on your Oldsmobile and was confused by the “nor GM” bit. And also everything else.
Maybe Nissan should buy the Infinity brand from Harman and start making sound systems instead. They couldn’t possibly sell any worse than their range of Infiniti cars.
Ok, I have an Equinox EV and just got done doing this on my lunch break.
WOW! What a difference! It sounds like good headphones now, it’s so funny that it’s literally a software issue and not a hardware limitation
How do you like the Equinox? Wife and I are considering it. Main drawback for me is lack of android auto, I use it in literally every vehicle we own and rent. We have a little one on the way in a couple months and it feels like a good appliance to cart around a baby, without too much concern about the inevitable crumbs and occasional projectile vomit.
If you have an android, you’re fine. You’ll just log into google and it will run better than your android auto lol.
I love it but I also got a great deal at the dealership I worked at. It was $40k new but I bought it used with only 19k miles on it for $22k. There’s nothing really to go wrong that isn’t covered under the 100k mile warranty so just get the best deal used and have a great, cheap daily.
I’m glad to see I had a direct impact on improving someone’s experience!
Absolutely! Thank you!
I would only add that I recommend adjusting spotify or whatever streaming service to full data or “lossless” before adjusting any sort of equalizer. Most music streaming services still default to minimum data
“ it’s so funny that it’s literally a software issue and not a hardware limitation”
Isn’t it really a setup issue?
There’s no GM software to allow you to even set up the audio system so I would call it a software issue lol
Whole lot of people talking about this, but I see no one actually trying it and reporting back.
I’m waiting for this afternoon to see if it works on my truck.
Also, I’ll point out that – once again – this website loves to take digs at GM. I’ve been in plenty of their newer vehicles, as well as watched quite a few reviews, and the sound systems in newer Chevys and especially Cadillacs are most definitely not “crappy”.
I just did it in my Equinox EV. It’s quite noticeable! The sound is definitely more full and rich
Maybe you refer to me. -gm- makes garbage cars. Most sites show their products to be 3rd 4th or 5th in every car category. This is objective. Not subjective. Add in total cost/ ownership, safety, features et al. Garbage confirmed. But I ll agree their stereos are vey good.
Thanks for letting your ignorance and biases be exposed.
I drive a Chevy (2024) and the sound system is horrendous. I’m not an audiophile by any means but even my ears can hear the difference.
Great article! Better than the similar one on GM Authority.
It would be nice to have a list of which GM vehicles use Google Built-In. We have a 2024 Chevy Trax LS, but I have no idea what that infotainment system uses. I would have no idea how to download an app into that system, either.
It would be nice to know if this would work on our Trax, and how to go about downloading stuff into the vehicle’s system.
We just use USB flash drives for our music since our iPods aren’t recognized by the Trax as a music source.
If your vehicle can download apps via Google Play Store then this should work. If not, then your infotainment is not Google based and this is not for you. I can confirm this works on 2025-26 Cadillac CT5.
I guess I’ll have to read the owners manual to find out. We don’t own smart-phones, so I don’t go into the screen menus very deep or often.
This kinda tracks. There’s only a handful of companies that actually have anything to do with car audio, and almost none of them are the ones whose names are on the speakers of your car. Nowadays whether you have 6 speakers or 16 speakers the bigger difference in your car audio vs another brand’s sound system (since the quality floor is so high compared to where it was even in the 2000s unless you’re buying something like a Mirage or a Versa) is probably the programming of the DSP in the amplifier; and the equalizer adjustments dovetail into that.
Three band equalizers are almost worse than nothing. I think 5 band is the best compromise for more fine-tuning without overwhelming us non-audiophiles.
“Whenever I get into a press car, the audio settings are always incredibly out of whack”
I find the same to be true whenever I’m in a rental car. The sound settings are invariably set quite oddly. Bass at 100% so it clips at normal volumes, all audio setting set to zero, sound fully panned to the front. I think most people just don’t know how to use these settings or don’t know how their music is supposed to sound because they normally listen over a craptastic Bluetooth speaker or ear buds.
I want to be upset, but if the user has a perceived improvement, whatever… go for it.
The amount of time and effort that goes into making even base model audio systems sound “good” is insane. Maybe leave the sliders at detent and just accept that your SiriusXM was never supposed to sound good.
Well, it’s nice to read of an app that actually enhances the driver’s experience—and doesn’t have a subscription cost
Shhhh. You are giving them an idea.
There’s the rub with any car audio tuning. If you set it in your silent garage without the engine running it’s going to be out of whack when you’re cruising on noisy pavement at 70 MPH. It’s almost like…
Ah, there it is. The app told you it’s better, therefore it is.
Edit: typo
My newest car is typically 10 years old, so I’m out of the loop on the Carplay/Android Auto stuff. Right now I have a 2019 that has wired Android Auto native to the infotainment – it just looks like a tablet running Auto. Does this app work on that setup, or is “Android Built-in” something more integrated into the OEM infotainment as the images above seem to show?
It sounds like you do have it. Go to the Google Play Store and search for it. 2019 what?
I’m gonna make a wild guess and say it is a 2019 Kia Stinger
Good guess, lol.
This is different. These cars run the infotainment on a version of Android, and typically don’t support Android Auto or Apple CarPlay.
That’s what I figured when I saw the Play Store app right within the Nissan UI. Thanks!
Is this better than just downloading an app on your phone that does the same thing? Pretty sure I know the answer is yes, but I’ve never done either.
90%+ of rental cars I pickup have the bass set to “11”, and anything else set to mid-level at best. THUMP THUMP THUMP seems to be all the average person wants to listen to these days. I don’t get it.
Yeah, I’ve noticed that often. Occasionally someone has cranked the treble way high and the audio sounds harsh, but its usually the bass.
One thing I don’t understand is how some cars have the audio setup so that it sounds like all of the sound is coming from a central speaker in the dash. If I’m listening to music, I prefer to be surrounded by the music. There’s been a couple where I have to set the fade all the way rearward to get some sense of balance.
It depends on the kind of music you listen to. I listen to a lot of dance/edm kind of stuff so I keep the treble high to catch the lush instrumentals and usually dial back the bass just a bit. Other music I have to tune the bass way back, and the same for spoken podcasts, NPR, & the like. Frankly I’d like some customizable eQ presents to allow quick changes depending on what i’m listening to.
IMHO, more adjustments just means more ways to make it worse. Any decently designed and implemented system should have properly flat response without changing anything much at all.
I’ve gotten to the point where I restore the infotainment system to defaults when I get the car *and* before I turn it back in.
Same, though I vanishingly rarely use anything but the defaults, as pretty much all I ever listen to in a rented car is the local NPR station.
Do you want to get the software banned from GM vehicles? Because this is how you get the software banned from GM vehicles. See “My Bad: While Reporting About How People Are Selling CarFax Reports On Etsy, I Got All Of The Listings Removed“
I was just thinking this lol, I know it’s journalist practice but also maybe no lol
Same happened with Apple Carplay company that was doing installations on the side. Voice got out and banned….
Now if only we could use the same method to get rid of ants.
Stop leaving food on the floor. Because THAT is how you get ants!
I didn’t leave it on the floor… I only left it on the couch!
Is that why I have ants in my pants???
I mean, they’d hear about it eventually either way, is how I think about stuff like this
Yeah I was just thinking I need to go try this on my (redacted brand of car) with Google, like tonight. EDIT: I did it, and it works.
If the car was previously driven by me the equalizer is out of whack because someone tuned it for podcast listening.
GM Marketing is currently drafting a email to GM Infotainment as we read this to get installation of this app blocked on all GM vehicles for ‘Security Reasons’.
I’d wager the opposite. I can imagine Nissan is rewriting the app to give coded access to only Nissan/ Infiniti vehicles.
My money is on “both”. It’s a race to see who gets there first.
In case people are wondering, this doesn’t appear to run on phones. (I don’t have an Android tablet to test whether it installs there.)
Oh, so now we have to dismiss *two* ad banners, and the one on the bottom reappears as we scroll through the article?
Wtf. This is turning into the other site’s experience.
And yes, I know about ad bockers. It’s only an issue on mobile because Apple doesn’t allow third party ad blockers *sigh*
I am not on apple so wouldn’t know if it has it but brave browser has built in ad blockers I started using it for YouTube and such because the ads on there were getting ridiculous. There are other browsers out there that have built in ad blockers also.
Brave on iOS uses Apple’s webkit rendering engine, but it does provide its own ad-blocker in the app which works decently well. Brave is also a great choice for privacy-minded individuals.
Howdy! We’re actively tweaking ad units RN and testing stuff. Can you shoot me an email with your experience? I want to make sure we didn’t enable something that shouldn’t be enabled.
that’s not true at all.
I run ublock origin lite on iOS safari (and iMac, & MacBook) and it works great.
I missed an important caveat. It doesn’t allow third party blockers on third party browsers.
I use Firefox on iOS.
Edge on IOS now has ad blocking and it seems to work. Just pulled up this site on my phone and no ads. But I only browse the web on a phone under extreme duress – blech.
You couldn’t pay me to use Safari.
You’d think with all the advancements in car audio that we would get something more than 3 band adjustment. My daily has the “premium” Harman Kardon 900 watt audio system with 19 speakers and a 7 audio channel processor, but I can only adjust treble, mid, and bass. I’m never really that happy with how it sounds (it’s good, but not great). It’s ridiculous to have all that hardware and not be able to have at least a 7 band equalizer in a touchscreen.
You can in most “upgrade” premium auto sound systems. IIRC, my BMW has nine bands in it’s H/K system so you have that many more ways to get it wrong.
Any bets on how soon this will be disabled? either on Nissan’s or Chevy’s end?
I hate that this is now referred to Google Built-In. It’s just Android running on a head unit instead of a phone or tablet. It’s just such an awkward name.
Anyways it’s time to go yell at the clouds.
To me “Google Built-In” is preferable vs having both Android Automotive and Android Auto, which were two different things.
I don’t think it’s better, but yeah the naming overlap was difficult back when I was supporting telematics for these things when they first went into development. Just call it Android, people know it’s an automotive product because it’s in an automobile. 🙂
Maybe call it Cardroid
Don’t worry, they’ll change it back to Android Automotive in a year, then probably kill the entire project a few months later. Google’s gonna Google.
I wish this wasn’t plausible.
The cars actually come with a 3 band EQ and not just Treble and Bass? That alone should be celebrated
When you don’t have to add knobs to the hardware, limiting it to three bands is pretty criminal IMO. One of my favorite features of my 99 Dakota was the 6 band EQ that I could mess with while stuck in traffic.
Hey, that’s pretty cool; similar to the systems we’ve had in the pro-audio world that will “tone” a room and automatically calibrate their playback EQ based on the measured response.
Sometimes tech is good. Most people don’t want to take the time to learn about FIR or IIR eqs, Q values, Baxandall filters, etc. Press button, sound better.
A thing I really appreciated when I set up my AV receiver was that it came with a mike and a weird cardboard tripod so that it could automatically adjust everything. I made a couple extra tweaks to my liking, but it was so much smoother than manual setup.
Yeah, and you don’t need to try things like calculating the room modes…
mic*
Work is too hectic to be commenting today, but I couldn’t help it.