mp3s in the car sound bad

[standus]

The speakers rattle and grumble.
MP3s are 128k quality.
What program do I use to resample them and change the quality to make them sound good in the car?

[BertKoor]

The speakers rattle and grumble.
MP3s are 128k quality.
What program do I use to resample them and change the quality to make them sound good in the car?

While 128 kbps is not the best, I doubt the problem is in the mp3 files themselves but rather with the speakers in the car. Perhaps turn down the bass on the radio's EQ a bit. Low frequencies are always well preserved at lower bit rates, problems always manifest in artefacts in the 5kHz and upwards range.

[RunBeerRun]

Get Foobar with George Yohong's vst loader

load up JB Smash Pro multiband exciter and a limiter

sounds impressive on stock car speakers

that's what I do

[foosnark]

The speakers rattle and grumble.

Problem is with the speakers, probably being driven too hard (especially in the bass range) for their size/quality or the cones are worn or both, or else the way they're mounted or something rattling in the car body.

Low quality in an MP3 will sound generally like messed-up transients and lost highs instead.

MP3s are 128k quality.
What program do I use to resample them and change the quality to make them sound good in the car?

You can't do much for the quality of an MP3 once it's been encoded. Re-converting to a higher format will only ever make them (slightly) worse.

128k should be generally good enough for casual listening in a car.

I read one blind test where some (but not all) people could tell there was a difference between a 192k MP3 and the CD it was ripped from, but weren't consistently able to identify which was which.

And I've read another one where CD audio was converted either directly to lossless FLAC, or to 320K MP3 and then to FLAC. Half the people said it was obvious or only moderately difficult to identify which file had been converted to MP3 (because of "less presence" or "harsher highs"), but 3/4 of them were wrong about which it was

[CrystalWizard]

mp3 is a scourge in audio (imo)* but in this case i agree with the previous commenters, too much bass, get a subwoofer (often also a scourge, the "one note wonder" cheapies).

* yes, i'm aware that it's made music more accesible.