![]() One really nice feature in Slacker’s corner when it comes to Tesla: being able to use the car’s voice control system to start playing a station based on any artist or song that’s supported by Slacker. There is something fun about being surprised by the mystery of what song is going to come next. Slacker strikes me as a service appropriate for the casual listener that doesn’t care too much about the order of music and just wants a certain style or collection of music based on their preferences for background listening. It slowly learns from your thumb ratings, as well as skips, for what to play more of and less of over time. The service offers a large selection of music, but nowhere near as large as Spotify’s 20 million + songs, and the stations are algorithmically generated, which means you don’t have control over what songs come next. The audio sounded tiny and garbled at times, which immediately pushed me away from using Slacker at all. Trying to listen to some of my favorite music from Slacker was a complete disappointment. It was one of the first things I noticed when I got the car. Neither Tesla or Slacker provide documentation on this, but Tesla owners of Model S and X have commented that the free Slacker streaming is capped at a 64kbps MP3 stream, 3 which is passable for low volume listening, but at more critical listening levels you can hear the heavy compression. Here’s how I’d rank the quality and feature set of streaming options that come with the car. In other countries you might have Spotify instead of Slacker, which I’ll talk more about later. ![]() In the U.S., we get Slacker radio and TuneIn as our streaming audio options. So how do those options stack up? Streaming Services ![]() With both Tesla and Apple having declared an all out war on analog audio jacks, we’ll just have to come to terms with that and move on. We essentially have 3 ways: the built in streaming services, bluetooth from your phone, or a USB drive plugged into the car. It widens the sound stage and gives a surround sound effect, which I really like the sound of, but it’s easy to turn off or lower if you prefer the original audio mix.įor such a great sound system though, I’m surprised by the limited options we have for getting audio into the car. You can adjust the balance and tone settings easily, and customize Tesla’s “Immersive Audio” setting, which is their in-house version of Dolby Audio. 1 subwoofer in the right side of the trunk.2 high definition speakers above the A pillars.7 full range speakers on along the front dash, rear doors, and above the trunk area. ![]() The premium audio package includes 15 speakers throughout the cabin and trunk: 1 Will an aftermarket system sound better? Of course, if money was no object, you could absolutely outdo this system, but Tesla’s premium sound system is … to say it again … amazing. And would absolutely not come close to a really good home audio setup. In my other cars I’ve had that car maker’s “premium” sound system that all sounded above average at best, but none of them could hold a candle to a car decked out with an aftermarket stereo, amplifier, and speakers. I mentioned this in my Model 3 review video, but I’ve been absolutely blown away by the audio system in the Model 3. Aside from the HD FM tuner, which is better, the built in Slacker Radio streaming service, your phone over bluetooth, or plugging in a USB thumb drive full of MP3s? The answer … well, it depends … it’s complicated. The Tesla Model 3 audio system is … in a word … amazing, but it all comes down to sources you’re using. In the meantime, I’d recommend holding off on paying for Slacker Premium for higher bitrates. I’ve contacted Tesla for more information and will update as soon as I have it. There is a lot of debate on Tesla forums on the actual bitrates available. Important Update: According to the Tesla user manual, you can activate higher bitrate Slacker in the Model 3, but the instructions on how to do so are incorrect/outdated.
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