C300 Base Audio is horrible

Is it just me or is the 2018 C300 base audio just horrendous? I did see a lot of post from other forums mentioning it but I was like “how bad could it be?”

it sounds like an early 2000s radio with the bass slightly bumped up LOLLL

Most base audio systems are mediocre IMO. Honestly, if you’re an audiophile, most car audio will fall short of expectations. Audi’s B&O systems, for example, are really overrated IMO. Haven’t heard MB’s but I understand that it’s developed by harmon kardon (could be wrong). HK does a nice job with BMW/Mini setups. Maybe you should try to toggle your equalizer settings to taste if you haven’t already tried that? Also, keep in mind that some audio sources play better than others. For example, Satellite radio has notoriously poor audio quality and sometimes “premium” sound systems can amplify the poor aspects of the source.

I just found it extremely surprising since toyotas, mazdas in my experience has much better base audio and I’m definitely not an audiophile haha the CLAs have better audio also :frowning:

I only listen to downloaded songs or stream through spotify and tried playing with the settings but oh well… I got it for such a good price so I’m not really complaining! haha

Agree. It has a “fake synthetic” feel to it. Get Harmon and Kardon or JBL aftermarket. I have major sensitive hearing so it’s a real big deal to me. Meridian is crap too if you ever go for Jaguar.

I was pleasantly surprised with audio quality of my Jeep GC base stereo system. Sound is clean and well balanced even using streaming. Bmw base systems are not as good, HK upgrade improves a bit but nothing extraordinary. The worst I had was base i3 with only two front speakers ( yes, only two ). I got the HK in my next one and that added couple more speakers . Sound quality got slightly better but I suspect the unconventional materials of i3 is probably a factor .