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2009 Hyundai Genesis: Who Knew?
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For what seemed like the longest time, only BMW audio systems featured HD radio. The 2009 Hyundai Genesis does, too, but what I didn't realize was that it's not just an FM thing.
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It turns out there are AM stations that also broadcast a digital HD signal, and guess what? It makes AM sound like FM. In turn FM-HD sounds like a CD. But HD signals are less adept at bending around/under structures, so there are moments where the tuner oscilates between analogue and digital and it sounds a little like XM (which I cannot stand for its poor sound quality).
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There are plenty of FM stations in L.A. that broadcast in HD. In fact, every station I chose to put in the 16-slot preset list has an HD signal.
A few more observations...
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Each and every time you start the car, you must accept responsibility for your actions if you inted to look at the screen -- as if driving weren't already a responsibility. While the presets can be selected on the steering wheel without "accepting," there's no way to view the stations or nav screen without pressing the nifty knob.
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And the knob-button interface is pretty intuitive. One of the only hiccoughs is that the system itself is a little too screen/menu driven, though not quite so bad as iDrive. In other words, it'd be nice to have a bank of actual preset buttons so you don't need to go to the FM/AM menu, nudge the knob to the left, twist once to scroll down to presets, then spin the wheel to select a station.
Here's another annoyance...
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Too much information. All those "infogons" indicate various traffic conditions. As you can see in the screen below, most of them are worthless and only describe the conditions as "congested," which is what the yellow and red lines would do just as well, but without the added clutter.
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And do we really need (I think I counted 8 screens worth) to know that an on ramp is closed 173 miles away?
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All things considered, the system works well and I'd rather have it than not.
For what seemed like the longest time, only BMW audio systems featured HD radio. The 2009 Hyundai Genesis does, too, but what I didn't realize was that it's not just an FM thing.
It turns out there are AM stations that also broadcast a digital HD signal, and guess what? It makes AM sound like FM. In turn FM-HD sounds like a CD. But HD signals are less adept at bending around/under structures, so there are moments where the tuner oscilates between analogue and digital and it sounds a little like XM (which I cannot stand for its poor sound quality).
There are plenty of FM stations in L.A. that broadcast in HD. In fact, every station I chose to put in the 16-slot preset list has an HD signal.
A few more observations...
Each and every time you start the car, you must accept responsibility for your actions if you inted to look at the screen -- as if driving weren't already a responsibility. While the presets can be selected on the steering wheel without "accepting," there's no way to view the stations or nav screen without pressing the nifty knob.
And the knob-button interface is pretty intuitive. One of the only hiccoughs is that the system itself is a little too screen/menu driven, though not quite so bad as iDrive. In other words, it'd be nice to have a bank of actual preset buttons so you don't need to go to the FM/AM menu, nudge the knob to the left, twist once to scroll down to presets, then spin the wheel to select a station.
Here's another annoyance...
Too much information. All those "infogons" indicate various traffic conditions. As you can see in the screen below, most of them are worthless and only describe the conditions as "congested," which is what the yellow and red lines would do just as well, but without the added clutter.
And do we really need (I think I counted 8 screens worth) to know that an on ramp is closed 173 miles away?
All things considered, the system works well and I'd rather have it than not.
