joseaudi

I agree with him. The bass leaves stuff to be desired. My old q7 was more boomy but the highs on this car are a LOT better than the Bose. B&o has much more clarity and dimension than the Bose. The bass is only missed rarely when you turn it up to show you basehead friends the system

The G Man

Most luxury brand's oem optional audio systems are not design to play rap and hip hop or anything that has a lot of bass. I have a Lexus Mark Levison system and that system doesnt handle loud bass too well neither. Fortunately, I do not listen to rap music and hip hop. Maybe the designer of the B&O and Mark Levison system are thinking that most owners of high end luxury car do not listen to rap and hip hop. To me, a high end system is all about clarity and tone seperation. A $500 optional JBL system in a Toyota can play loud rap and hip hop pretty nicely, but its will never have the clarity and sound seperation of the B&O or the Mark Levison system. Having said that, I think the B&O system in the A6 is over price at $6000. There are oem optional audio systems out there that sound just as good and cost much less.

Gear Junky

Everyone I have talked to who haven't been impressed with the B&O system have criticised the lack of bass but the reality is that the bass is still there in it's entirety, only that the system and it's speakers have exceptional control on it. Previously owning a car audio shop this was a common complaint when we did an expensive top end system, never once was the issue with mids or highs always with the bass and it was simply a case of the amp and speaker having a vice like grip over the lows. Stick with it and over time you will appreciate just how good the system is.

My sole complaint has always been the price, at £6K in the UK it is simply too expensive compared to equivalent systems from rivals, in my mind the B&W system in either the XF or XJ is as good and it is a fraction of the price.

jperryrocks

I was a bit underwhelmed about the Bang in the Avant I got last year.

I thought the old Bose was better at first on my last 4.2 A6. But now after 10k miles, I've grown to really love the B&0. People say there is no break in time with speakers and a system, but I honestly beg to differ. My system and speakers seemed to have "settled in" and it sounds great.

As others have said, you can't expect the car to handle ridiculous Bass of some genre's of music. I have a wide variance of tastes and I listen to everything up and down Sirius and on my itunes.

You need to back off the BASS on B&0. I never ride it past mid level and keep it on -2 most of the time.

joseaudi

I can only compare it to my dad's 2010 S550 and his stereo doesn't sound as good as this B&O. He thinks so too. It is a really good stereo. That's why I opted for it, in a lease though. IF I purchased the car and had to pay the full $6000 I would probably have passed, but I never buy anyway.
It is overpriced, but people are buying it anyway.

Nutdotnet

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but, did anyone compare the *stock* (on the Premium and Premium+) system to the Bose that is on the Prestige?

I haven't heard the Bose system, but I've never been impressed by their home offerings. However, the base system is more impressive to me than the B&O system that I had in my B8 S4.

Just curious if anyone ever made any direct comparions.

Gear Junky

I use to be in the car audio game years and years ago so I reckon I have a good ear. In my opinion the B&O system is way over priced for what you get, it is brilliant but due to the tightness of its bass it doesn't suit Rap type music. The Bose is even lighter in bass so I went for to standard system which has some bass, had decent highs and great placement of instruments and voices.

I actually rate it better than the B&O system in the A4 so Audi shoot themselves in the foot this time by offering the better system than the Bose for £1000 less.

Nutdotnet

Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this. I never had an opportunity to listen to the Bose system in the Prestige line (went Premium+ as I typically do with my Audis) - so I've always had that feeling of "should I have checked out a Prestige before purchasing?"

I've been pretty impressed with the stock system...ok bass (better than the B&O in the S4), decent highs, not muddy, and surprisingly has some separation. I can really hear the shimmer of a crash cymbal, or the snap of a snare a lot more than in my past OEM systems.

I'm not saying it's great or anything....certainly not going to be better than going aftermarket....but it's acceptable.

joseaudi

Put the rear seat back or center ski opening down. It will "port" your free air subwoofer and give you very impressive bass. Also put the dsp settings to front. You will not be disappointed with the b&o anymore. I'm actually working on cutting an opening in the read deck under the passenger grill to get this same effect with my seat backs up. I asked the dealer to remove my rear deck grill at my last service last week. Just waiting for my stereo shop and time to do the modification.

Nutdotnet

I know if I dropped 6k on a stereo....having to "modify" the system for it to sound good would be rather frustrating.