My hearing has degraded to the point where I now use some of those enhancements, but, without them, there are parts of the music that I no longer hear. Luckily, my wife is not an audiophile and is pretty much tone deaf, so it works out.

 

Ya know the next time you get a hearing test have them tell you the results of what frequencies you have a slight sound loss. I may be able to help you get the right speakers and sound equipment capable of increasing those loss sounds in your music?

 

The primary problem is being an armor officer for my first couple of years in the Army, followed by a year in Viet Nam firing M16's with no hearing protection. I can't tell when the cicadas come out any more as I hear them all the time.

 

Good question!

In my 2023 Mazda CX-5 with the Bose Sound System, the centre dashboard speaker is active during music playback. Its contribution becomes significantly more noticeable when Centerpoint is enabled, as this engages Bose's surround algorithm to extract and route centre image content (typically vocals) to the centre channel.

In standard stereo mode (Centerpoint off or at zero), the dashboard speaker appears to be either inactive or minimally engaged, though I can't confirm that definitively. Perhaps someone else can clarify?

To test this yourself: enable Centerpoint (on or at it's maximum level), and play a stereo track where the lead vocal is strongly centred. You should hear a clear difference if you temporarily block the centre speaker (e.g. with a small cloth). The vocal will lose focus and presence, indicating that the centre channel is actively reinforcing the surround image.

 

Actually a great answer but ...... I know what you did
.. lol but never the less it is better than usual from you.