With the quality of sound systems in modern vehicles, it’s hard for some brands to stand out. Nissan and INFINITI decided to try something new with their Personalized Sound app. It adjusts the audio based on your hearing patterns to give you the ideal equalizer for how you listen to your music. The Detroit Free Press was able to test the app in a Nissan Armada Platinum Reserve to get a better understanding of the feature.
How does it work?
To get started, you have to download the Personalized Sound app from the Google Play Store on the car. Once it’s installed, start up the app and start the tests on the screen. Once the tests are finished, the equalizer will be adjusted based on your results.
If you don’t like the way it sounds, you can retake the test or change it back to the original equalizer settings. You can also make profiles for another driver or passenger but be aware that you can only use one profile at a time.
How did the app perform?
I took the test and noticed the audio afterward sounded a bit different than before. After driving the car throughout the week I forgot what the original equalizer sounded like and felt the Personalized Sound was the standard setting. It made what was already a good quality sound system noticeably better.
While I enjoyed my time with the feature, there is still one major challenge the app faces. It is only compatible with audio that is native to the vehicle or played via Bluetooth from a smartphone. That means Android Auto and Apple CarPlay won’t work with personalized sound.
But if you don’t mind driving without those services, then Personalized Sound is pretty useful.
Which Nissan and INFINITI models have Personalized Sound?
Personalized Sound is free to download and is available only on Nissan and INFINITI vehicles that have Google built in, including those that are already on the road. The vehicles currently available with the feature are listed below.
INFINITI
Nissan
Keenan Thompson is a car culture reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Keenan at kthompson@freepress.com. Follow him on Instagram at @keenanautos. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trying out the new Nissan Personalized Sound feature
Reporting by Keenan Thompson, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Keenan Thompson, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
