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As some readers may suspect, more music is heard in the automobile than in the home. Taking a clue from this trend, many high-end audio companies are finding their way into your car, and factory installed systems are getting better and better. Examples include the Mark Levinson audio system found in cars from Lexus, the debut of Lexicon's L7 surround system in a BMW at the 2002 CES, Linn's partnership with Aston Martin, Harman's partnership with Mercedes Benz, and the Dynaudio/Dolby Surround systems found in several of Volvo's cars.

Clearly, moving in stereo no longer cuts it, and we can now add DVD-Audio and 5.1 Dolby Digital to the list of standard mobile audio features. In Japan, Toyota has announced that its new Brevis model is the world's first car to feature a factory-installed 5.1-channel entertainment system with multichannel DVD-Audio/Video capability.

The car company explains that given the stature of the Brevis—a luxury sedan introduced to compete with the models from Mercedes-Benz and BMW in Japan—it was a no-brainer to include both DVD formats: "DVD-Video, with Dolby Digital, and DVD-Audio, with MLP Lossless [Packing] licensed by Dolby, each represent the pinnacle of high-resolution, 5.1-channel audio performance for movies and music programs."

Toyota's Brevis announcement follows an announcement earlier this year from Dolby that Volvo's new XC90 SUV would feature a premium audio system with Dolby Pro Logic II technology. Dolby recently stated, "Together, these vehicle offerings indicate that the future of mobile entertainment includes multichannel audio."

Surround-sound options in after-market consumer products have also appeared from several manufacturers, including Alpine and Clarion. Alpine recently announced its PXA-H700 integrated surround processor, scheduled to begin shipping later this year, which can be combined with an in-dash receiver head unit or a DVD changer to add Dolby Digital and Pro Logic II surround decoding capabilities.

Clarion says it is now shipping its DXZ925 CD/receiver head unit with Sirius satellite radio capability, which includes surround decoding for audio-only applications. "This product signals the evolution from conventional two-channel stereo systems to 5.1-channel mobile surround," says Clarion. "We remain the only car audio company to have a head unit with a Dolby Pro Logic II built-in decoder to generate multichannel audio playback from any two-channel recording."