I just recently acquired a 2008 XC90 and I love the idea of the Aux input, and maybe this subject has been beaten to death, but why does it sound so bad? I purchased a monster cable and using my iPhone/iPod or Zune they all sound bad. Muffled. I have to turn the device volume all the way up and even then the XC90's volume up and it sounds very low and the quality is poor!
I don't mind using the device to manage the music, etc and the aux idea was great, but why is the implementation so poor?
Thanx!

 

So this is a headphone output that you are using? It seems odd that it sounds terrible. You could try a cheap FM modulator and see if that works any better.

 

Go figure, I looked in the manual and found the topic of Aux settings. You can adjust the volume of the aux input and control EQ of back and front of just the AUX input. Using that in conjunction with the devices settings for volume it started to sound much better!

 

Glad you found those settings!

I don't have any upgrades to my audio and I find the sound very acceptable. I'm an audiophile and musician, so I listen very intently... Also, I rarely listen to the radio - I plug my iPhone in through the aux in.

I'd recommend turning the device all the way up and then in the audio settings on the XC90, find the aux in volume control.. it's in one of the menus. Turn this up until your Aux In volume is on par with the volume of a radio station. You can switch between the two to check - that way, when you're switching from one source to another, you won't have any unsuspected loudness due to differences in the volumes.

Also, you will get low fidelity sound if you have your device turned down lower than necessary. A symptom of this is audible noise.

In terms of EQ, there are two places for EQ in the audio system. One is basic (bass/treble) the other has a 5 band EQ and you can use both simultaneously.

On the 5 band EQ within the menu, I set both the front and rear EQ's to the same settings. For the 50hz band, I left it at 0 (the middle), for the 200hz band I pushed it up 4 notches or so. For 1khz, I put it at 3 notches. 3khz at 2 notches, 12khz at 1 notch. I then went to the basic EQ through the dial and boosted the bass almost all the way up and left the treble in the middle.

I find this reproduces a wide range of music genres well. I'm usually not a "turn the bass all the way up" kind of guy, but in this case I let my ear trump my knowledge.

On my iPhone, I have EQ turned off and "sound check" turned on.

Hope this helps you!

 

hi guys, car is XC 90 Executive 2007. i have AUX IN in the cupholder but cannt find AUX IN !BUTTON! on front console so i cannt select AUX input.
Is it possible that there is AUX IN slot just like that, but not working? btw i am using just simple 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable to conect my mobile phone to AUX in.

This is how front console look like:
http://www.google.hr/imgres?q=xc+90+...0&tx=124&ty=56

 

SOLVED:

AUX input can be chosen by rotating sound selector button.

 

Spend your money! get a factory ipod interface, it is worth every cent over the aux in port (it is stupidly expensive though $500 give or take, installed)