Took the Scion xB for a little spin with Opeth's STILL LIFE. Man, that is one killer album, I have to admit. To me, it's an excellent balance of the full-on throttle death style and the more quiet material they perfected on the next one, BLACKWATER PARK. Actually, it's more similar to DELIVERANCE. The fun thing about Opeth, at least for me, is that whatever album I'm listening to (with maybe the exception of ORCHID) becomes my favorite at the time.

The factory stereo on the xB is very good (really nice highs especially), though it does have a couple of pre-sets that are a little too boomy for my taste. However, I discovered a trick that I learned on a Scion website. The stereo is initially set for the kind of car it's in (tC, xA or xB). I switched it to the xA setting (the smaller hatchback car) and the sound improved greatly. Much tighter and not as boomy. I think for some reason whoever designed the pre-sets set the curves for the xB WAY too boomy. Maybe they thought xB buyers would be listening to a lot of rap and nu-metal? I dunno. From what others have said, the xA setting is superior in all 3 vehicles. Go figure.

-jar