Listening options are just one of the things you need to consider when shopping for a car stereo. The other pieces of the stereo are the internal power and preamp sound processing.

• Sound controls: Controls beyond basic bass and treble adjustments let you tailor the music to your car’s acoustics. Even if you are the “set it and forget it” type, look for a stereo with treble, bass, and midrange controls — the ability to adjust the midrange will improve the sound of your music. On the other hand, if you’re a “tweaker” who likes to experiment with the sound adjustments, look for a model with a more sophisticated equalizer (such as a parametric EQ), with digital signal processing (DSP), or with digital time correction — these types of sound controls give you total control over the effect of the acoustics in your vehicle.