The 2019 Acura RDX is the third generation of the luxury crossover SUV. That means Acura has perfected everything there is to perfect. You get a more-than-decent 2-liter Vtec Turbo engine that’s married to a 10-speed automatic transmission and delivers 272 horsepower. Throw in Acura’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive, which improves acceleration and cornering, and you’ve got yourself a pretty respectable SUV.

The extremely sophisticated AcuraWatch suite also comes standard, giving you a bunch of features related to driver assists and safety. And if you’re not satisfied with what you see, you can opt for bigger rims, metal paddle shifters, or even change the interior to a very dramatic red.

What we really want to talk about, however, is the car’s sound system. It just so happens to be the ELS Studio 3D. If you’ve never heard of it, don’t worry because you’re not alone. But trust us when we say that ELS is rising rapidly as one of the best audio systems you can put in a car.

Made and developed by Panasonic, ELS is currently exclusive to Acura and has been a mainstay of their luxury car line since 2004. So, what is it? To keep things simple, let’s just say ELS Studio 3D brings studio sound to the interior of a car, and it does this using a number of technologies, including 5.1 channel surround and Acoustic Motion Control. The audio system consists of 16 speakers and 710W of power.

The resulting sound is crisp, multilayered, and richly detailed. It’s so good you’ll want to pop in all your CDs to rediscover what you’ve been missing all these years.

LEARN MORE HERE

Photos courtesy of Acura