The large-and-in-charge QX80 flagship SUV is kind of a make-or-break product for Infiniti, and the good news is that it seems to be a step in the right direction for the ailing luxury automaker. With a starting MSRP of $82,450, the lux machine needs to deliver a premium driving experience, and at least some portion of that calculation comprises crisp and clear audio on a balanced soundstage. There are definitely ways to provide quality audio without bringing this much attention to the design, but Infiniti apparently decided to go bold with its new headrests.
Here’s what Infiniti had to say about it:
INFINITI and Klipsch engineers came together to seamlessly integrate QX80’s interior and its in-vehicle technologies, brought to life with Individual Audio. Leveraging metal-trimmed speakers mounted to the front seat headrests, Individual Audio allows for focusing only certain audio elements – such as navigation directions, music or phone calls – to the driver’s seat. For example, the driver can make a phone call while passengers continue listening to music, or the driver could listen to a favorite playlist and hear map guidance without disturbing those sleeping in the rear seats.
Some cars have had speakers in the headrests for decades, like the top-down Mazda Miata which introduced headrest speakers in the 1990s to combat wind noise. These days a lot of cars at least offer the option of headrest audio, including the Nissan Kicks, which sits at the other end of the Nissan/Infiniti price spectrum, starting at $21,830. I recently drove the Audi S5 which boasts the same audio features from Harman Kardon as this Infiniti/Klipsch system and it was quite nice. Having the map guidance play for only the driver instead of interrupting the audio experience for everyone is such a nice quality of life feature that you don’t think about until it’s not there.
I’ll need to get behind the wheel of the Infiniti to try out these speakers first hand, but for now I’ll say that I appreciate a bold design choice in a world that seems proud of continuity and sameness. I don’t know if I would have gone with a pharaoh nemes shape as my inspiration, and I remain skeptical of exposed metal near my brain dome while driving, but from where I’m sitting it looks like functional art. Whatever it is, it’s weird as all hell, and weird is good.