soundguy

I just got out of my 2002 A4 3.0 and now have a new 2012 A4 Premium Plus with Nav. I'm extremely disappointed in the quality of sound the stereo puts out. Does anyone know if it's possible to upgrade to the B&O option?

The car otherwise is amazing. Audi has put a lot of thought into the electronics including the stereo system, but it seems they completely left out how it would actually sound. I make my living in audio, so I know I'm sensitive to such things, but this is beyond reproach and worse than my 2002 and worse than a lot of other cheaper, less refined cars I've been in. Since I can talk about this in quantifiable terms, I'll go into a bit of detail for those with a bit of audio knowledge

:::The system is extremely aggressive in the high-mid area (2k-5kHz). Adjusting the "Treble" control a little adds some nice "sparkle" up top but also adds more of this already terrible high-midrange.

:::The bass response below 60Hz sucks, even with a "Subwoofer." There's entirely too much 80-160Hz too. Adjusting the "Bass" response helps down below, but like above, exacerbates this trouble region.

:::The midrange response of the system is COMPLETELY different when the DSP is in "All" vs "Driver" modes. When in All mode, that golfball-in-the-throat 630-1kHz range is a bit much, but when you put it in Driver mode, it's almost too little. In my opinion, the tonality of the system should not change when you change this focus option.

:::The AM radio sounds as it should. AM HD actually sounds ok. FM sounds OK. But FM HD and Sirius XM both sound terrible. And I'm talking about tonality issues with these, not the usual sound of bitrate compression that we encounter with Sirius streams. It's almost as if there's processing going on that further brings out the annoying high-mids of this system and adds even more high frequencies above this area (but this may be the processing that Sirius is putting on stations at the broadcast end).

Since I have the tools to do so, I plan on taking acoustical measurements of the stereo's frequency response. Regardless it won't help how much this system sucks. Again, if it were possible, I'd gladly pay for the B&O upgrade. From what I can see, it looks like the B&O system has different speakers in the same pockets and the electronics are the same. I would imagine that processing differences between the two systems happen in the DSP that's already installed in the car.

UmIsThisThingOn

I'm not a huge Audiophile, however there are some guys over @ AZ that have upgraded their B&O. Here's some info:

Upgrading the Speakers:
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...mp-O-Speakers?

Main Audio Upgrade Thread:
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...oofer-install?

Edit: Just re-read your post. I'm pretty sure you can upgrade, but it might be expensive, since you'd have to upgrade to the optical audio path between head unit & amp.

deepfried

Take it to a professional stereo upgrade place (places that do competition systems). I heard the b and o on an A4 and was not impressed. If you get a Sales Rep that is a true audiophile he may be able to point you in the right direction with high end speakers/amp from high end manufacturers.

Zapper247

I totally agree with you. The audio quality just plain sucks. My previous car - a 2009 A4 p+ had a fantastic sound system. I leased my 2012 sight unseen, {and unheard} assuming it would be the same. Not even close.
My dealer told me an upgrade to the B&O was not an option. If I owned, instead of leased, I would have it all ripped out and upgraded in a heartbeat. Unfortunately I am stuck for the next three years.
I have found my ipod sounds a bit better than Sirius/XM. Probably because it just uses the analog out, and bypasses the horrible Digital to Analog converters that they are using. But, it is only a slight improvement.

soundguy

Thanks for all the replies. So is it confirmed that the audio path between the head unit and the amp is different for the two systems then? I'd be surprised by this simply because it means making two different nearly identical systems.

I think that the stock upgrade is probably out of the question and since it's a leased car, doing anything else is out. It's disappointing that the stereo is such a POS, thankfully the car is nice enough to make up for it.

UmIsThisThingOn

There is a difference between the 'Concert' radio (base) and B&O. The base unit uses regular wiring. The B&O uses optical communication between the amp & head unit.

There's some in depth info below, it's a little out dated in regards to the newest MMI (hard Drive based and the newest - MMI w/ Google) but it's still a great read to understand what's really going on under the hood.
http://a6retrofit.tripod.com/articles/a4a5realmmi.html

Barrels41

I agree my 2009 P+ had a fine system. I had P loaners with bad systems. Maybe there were 3 ranges of sound systems in 2009. Wife's 2007 P 3.2 has a fine system too. My 2012 has B&O. I just got it. I have to try a CD. Only a single CD slot. My Ipod sounds good but Sirius not so. Seems some times Sirius sounds better. Like Saturday nights. No kidding and it isn't the booze.

zznalg

I'm going to try to resurrect this thread.

I just purchased a 2013 A4 with the base sound and MMI/Nav Plus. I agree that the audio quality is terrible. Have people worked out straightforward upgrade solutions? Maybe just better speakers; or speakers plus a better amp? Any current thoughts or links would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

DennisMitchell

My 2011 A4 with B&O option sounds fantastic with CD, SD card or smartphone audio playback.

Don't get me started regarding satellite radio or AM/FM playback. B&O doesn't do anything for poor input.

I also like audio playback with GALA on and surround sound on max. Like a concert hall.

FWIW.

Nostromo

I'm not unhappy with my base system in my 2011. It's 1000% better than the BMW and my wife's Mercedes. Not to mention my old Tacoma. I'd still much prefer the B&O.

I've been in a 2012 Q5 and it sounded pretty bad. Very boomy. But I chalked it up to different acoustic space plus the wheel-well subwoofer.

Hike over to Audizine for some better tech discussions. Seems most audiophiles go for replacing the speakers and the amp. They claim much better sound than the B&O at less cost.