My personal opinion is that there will NEVER be a benefit, quality-wise, to using Bluetooth over aux cables. Good quality auxiliary cables do nothing to the signal. No losses, no compression, no change to the frequency response, no added distortion. Bluetooth does all of that to the signal. If you can't hear the difference, that's simply either from your ears or the listening environment.
And for those who believe aux cables degrade over time, I dunno where that malarkey came from but they don't degrade over time. Milk degrades over time but not good quality copper aux cables. Some may not want aux cables if they show but I've yet to see an automotive audio system where the aux cables between the head unit and aux amp couldn't be easily and completely hidden.
Sound-wise, it's my opinion that when two name-brand head units set up the same with the same output power and tone control settings, no one here will be able to hear the difference. There's not a human alive who can discern differences in distortion between, say, an Alpine, Sony, or Pioneer head unit so long as you're driving the speakers with levels appropriate to their output. And with most head units having between 18 and 22 RMS watts per channel, I dare say if you picked out three with 18 RMS watts available and set them up to provide the same flat frequency responses (i.e. tone controls set to their "flat" non-boosted or non-cut), that no one here would be able to discern the difference between the head units.
Having done audio systems for large venue settings where amps easily generate four digits of RMS watts, the key to good sound once we had enough power was the speakers. We'd rather have superb speakers with a lower quality amp than a superb amp and lower quality speakers. The sound difference between so-so and superb speakers is dramatic and very noticeable. With amps that produced the same RMS wattages, the differences are usually not discernable. There are other reasons to buy good amps but it's not like you could hear the difference at the same wattage levels when the amps could produce the same power levels before noticeably clipping or distorting the signal. Even the worlds best quality amp will distort and sound crappy when you push it beyond its capability.
I actually built my own high power stereo amplifiers many years ago, both solid state and vacuum tube. Wired them from scratch. Built acoustic suspension speakers as well. Built test equipment including oscilloscopes, signal generators, used distortion analyzers, etc. So I have a pretty fair background in all of this.
And for those who believe aux cables degrade over time, I dunno where that malarkey came from but they don't degrade over time. Milk degrades over time but not good quality copper aux cables. Some may not want aux cables if they show but I've yet to see an automotive audio system where the aux cables between the head unit and aux amp couldn't be easily and completely hidden.
Sound-wise, it's my opinion that when two name-brand head units set up the same with the same output power and tone control settings, no one here will be able to hear the difference. There's not a human alive who can discern differences in distortion between, say, an Alpine, Sony, or Pioneer head unit so long as you're driving the speakers with levels appropriate to their output. And with most head units having between 18 and 22 RMS watts per channel, I dare say if you picked out three with 18 RMS watts available and set them up to provide the same flat frequency responses (i.e. tone controls set to their "flat" non-boosted or non-cut), that no one here would be able to discern the difference between the head units.
Having done audio systems for large venue settings where amps easily generate four digits of RMS watts, the key to good sound once we had enough power was the speakers. We'd rather have superb speakers with a lower quality amp than a superb amp and lower quality speakers. The sound difference between so-so and superb speakers is dramatic and very noticeable. With amps that produced the same RMS wattages, the differences are usually not discernable. There are other reasons to buy good amps but it's not like you could hear the difference at the same wattage levels when the amps could produce the same power levels before noticeably clipping or distorting the signal. Even the worlds best quality amp will distort and sound crappy when you push it beyond its capability.
I actually built my own high power stereo amplifiers many years ago, both solid state and vacuum tube. Wired them from scratch. Built acoustic suspension speakers as well. Built test equipment including oscilloscopes, signal generators, used distortion analyzers, etc. So I have a pretty fair background in all of this.
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