Car stereos are the newest addition in the world of stereos. Previously there were only home stereos. Home stereos first emerged in 1930s. But it was only by the 1950s that home stereos started becoming affordable to the people. But the last decades of the 21st century saw the emergence of car stereos. With the help of new technologies, the 21st century has witnessed car stereo system supporting new audio formats.
Previously cars used to have just one radio in its dashboard and two speakers on the front doors. But now the times have changed. Today the technology has become so much upgraded that there are car stereos which are as good as home stereos. There are various new formats available for car stereos now. In this article, we will discuss all those new audio formats.
Dolby sound
Dolby sound is a brilliant audio format used in car stereos. Dolby sound has its effect on the audio signal and helps to get the most out of the sound effect.
Surround sound
Surround sound is actually an effect that makes the listener feel that the sound is coming from almost every direction. Gone are those days when sound used to come from only the left and right speaker. Now, sounds come from left, right, center, up, down, and almost from everywhere.
DSP
The full form of DSP is Digital Signal Processing. DSP creates a special kind of effect, which is called psycho acoustic effect. Delaying and influencing the audio signals create this special effect. This effect actually creates an extra sound that does not exist originally. Actually the delays give birth to a series of echoes. All of them are preprogrammed. And these echoes create the special effect. Many models have different settings like, jazz club, stadium, concert hall, etc.
MP3
MP3 is one of the most acclaimed audio formats nowadays. Previously MP3 was made only for home stereos. But now car stereos also have this format. MP3 is a special format that is capable of holding a wide range of folders. If you have got this in your car, then you can compress plenty of music or any other data in one CD and will be able to play them in your car stereo.
Sometimes MP3 format harms the quality of sound due to the compression. But if this small defect can be excused, then MP3 can help you in many ways. The best thing about it is that it saves a lot of space. Previously you had to store a plenty of CDs in your car. But now, you can listen to all of the songs and that too by playing just one CD.
There have been some modifications of MP3 recently. Now car stereos consist of a small computer which is capable of reading MP3 format. And this computer does not need any MP3 CD. The data can be stored in this computer from the home pc. It contains a portable hard drive, through which this job can be done. The hard drive has to be attached with the USB port.
RDS
RDS or Radio Data System is a highly equipped car radio set up. It enables you to listen to all the radio stations in your city. It offers some special features. If you want to listen to any special kind of song, say country song, then you choose the category and the radio will find the particular station that plays that kind of song. You can even choose traffic updates. If you save TA or TRAF, then the radio will automatically shift to the channel at the time of traffic updates.