Bang & Olufsen vs stock Bose.
06-03-2015, 09:30 AM
#101
AudiWorld Newcomer
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My dealer only had Bose in their 8 series cars which I really didn't like. I took a gamble on the B&O as part of a special order car and I've spent two months tweaking it with no good results.
While I have the Alcantara headliner and dual pane glass and while the Alcantara may have different absorption characteristics it's not guaranteed to improve things when listening in a parked car with the engine off. The problems are significant and not washed out at high RPM on bad pavement (the automatic transmission with the 4.0T occasionally holds an absurdly low gear even in comfort mode when completely off throttle. Save the manuals and fire the software engineers.)
All comments are based on a parked car with the motor off and auditioned from the driver's seat using CDs with mostly acoustic music with instruments with which I am very familiar and some choral vocal work where I'm looking more for timbral and spacial differentiation than the tone of the actual voices as I haven't heard those voices unamplified in person. Electronic instruments are only used to test the bottom octave. All the performances are by groups small enough to distinctly hear what every musician is doing on a good system.
The first step was trying to get some kind of balance in the car because the tweeters are way up front and the bass speakers are in the back with mids spread between them (when the system is in "ALL" mode a bass driver in the front makes itself known.) As delivered the car was configured for "FRONT" mode and everything sounded thin and tinny. The same goes for "REAR" mode, and switching between the two doesn't seem to result in much difference in the sound (basically the fader has to be in the most "rear" position to have any rear bias at which point it's extremely rear biased.) "ALL" mode is significantly more bass heavy although the sound is somewhat more coherent in that it doesn't sound as much like two separate systems front and back. Indeed when listening to solo instruments walking scales you can actually hear the instrument move around the car as different speakers pick up the load which is both unnatural and to me quite unpleasant.
On the topic of scales, there is a significant resonance in the lower midrange which is particularly noticeable with cellos and guitars cross in and out of this resonance region. I'm not sure if it's this fatness creating the illusion of a weak upper midrange or if there is a notch there, but female a capella voices singing the same line which are clearly separate voices when played on even modest home speakers blur into a single voice with the B&O. As with voices, acoustic bass and left hand piano playing the same line together blur into a single unnatural sound. Acoustic bass alone has almost none of the timbre of actual instruments. Multiple high frequency instruments likewise blur together (violins with mandolins, etc...) Bass drum strikes and guitar body strikes sound more like swells than clean attacks. Brushes on certain snare drums can sound like brushes on cardboard. Notches in the lower treble can severely affect certain cymbals making them sound far more thin and tinny than they should sound. Trying to dial the treble up to bring out those cymbals just creates sizzle as it only affects upper treble and trying to lower the bass in "ALL" mode when the sound isn't all coming from those little tweeters just makes everything sound thin rather than balanced.
On the low bass side of things, the bottom rolls off between a pair of notes which is about the same point as small floor standers which roll off by 40Hz. This system isn't making much of a reported 1400 watts either in general volume or in low bass.
I've heard better (still not great) white label Alpine systems in 18 year old cars. That this $6,300 upgrade to the base system provides sound similar to $150 near field computer speakers is truly a shame.
While I have the Alcantara headliner and dual pane glass and while the Alcantara may have different absorption characteristics it's not guaranteed to improve things when listening in a parked car with the engine off. The problems are significant and not washed out at high RPM on bad pavement (the automatic transmission with the 4.0T occasionally holds an absurdly low gear even in comfort mode when completely off throttle. Save the manuals and fire the software engineers.)
All comments are based on a parked car with the motor off and auditioned from the driver's seat using CDs with mostly acoustic music with instruments with which I am very familiar and some choral vocal work where I'm looking more for timbral and spacial differentiation than the tone of the actual voices as I haven't heard those voices unamplified in person. Electronic instruments are only used to test the bottom octave. All the performances are by groups small enough to distinctly hear what every musician is doing on a good system.
The first step was trying to get some kind of balance in the car because the tweeters are way up front and the bass speakers are in the back with mids spread between them (when the system is in "ALL" mode a bass driver in the front makes itself known.) As delivered the car was configured for "FRONT" mode and everything sounded thin and tinny. The same goes for "REAR" mode, and switching between the two doesn't seem to result in much difference in the sound (basically the fader has to be in the most "rear" position to have any rear bias at which point it's extremely rear biased.) "ALL" mode is significantly more bass heavy although the sound is somewhat more coherent in that it doesn't sound as much like two separate systems front and back. Indeed when listening to solo instruments walking scales you can actually hear the instrument move around the car as different speakers pick up the load which is both unnatural and to me quite unpleasant.
On the topic of scales, there is a significant resonance in the lower midrange which is particularly noticeable with cellos and guitars cross in and out of this resonance region. I'm not sure if it's this fatness creating the illusion of a weak upper midrange or if there is a notch there, but female a capella voices singing the same line which are clearly separate voices when played on even modest home speakers blur into a single voice with the B&O. As with voices, acoustic bass and left hand piano playing the same line together blur into a single unnatural sound. Acoustic bass alone has almost none of the timbre of actual instruments. Multiple high frequency instruments likewise blur together (violins with mandolins, etc...) Bass drum strikes and guitar body strikes sound more like swells than clean attacks. Brushes on certain snare drums can sound like brushes on cardboard. Notches in the lower treble can severely affect certain cymbals making them sound far more thin and tinny than they should sound. Trying to dial the treble up to bring out those cymbals just creates sizzle as it only affects upper treble and trying to lower the bass in "ALL" mode when the sound isn't all coming from those little tweeters just makes everything sound thin rather than balanced.
On the low bass side of things, the bottom rolls off between a pair of notes which is about the same point as small floor standers which roll off by 40Hz. This system isn't making much of a reported 1400 watts either in general volume or in low bass.
I've heard better (still not great) white label Alpine systems in 18 year old cars. That this $6,300 upgrade to the base system provides sound similar to $150 near field computer speakers is truly a shame.
06-08-2015, 03:57 AM
#102
AudiWorld Senior Member
My dealer only had Bose in their 8 series cars which I really didn't like. I took a gamble on the B&O as part of a special order car and I've spent two months tweaking it with no good results.
While I have the Alcantara headliner and dual pane glass and while the Alcantara may have different absorption characteristics it's not guaranteed to improve things when listening in a parked car with the engine off. The problems are significant and not washed out at high RPM on bad pavement (the automatic transmission with the 4.0T occasionally holds an absurdly low gear even in comfort mode when completely off throttle. Save the manuals and fire the software engineers.)
All comments are based on a parked car with the motor off and auditioned from the driver's seat using CDs with mostly acoustic music with instruments with which I am very familiar and some choral vocal work where I'm looking more for timbral and spacial differentiation than the tone of the actual voices as I haven't heard those voices unamplified in person. Electronic instruments are only used to test the bottom octave. All the performances are by groups small enough to distinctly hear what every musician is doing on a good system.
The first step was trying to get some kind of balance in the car because the tweeters are way up front and the bass speakers are in the back with mids spread between them (when the system is in "ALL" mode a bass driver in the front makes itself known.) As delivered the car was configured for "FRONT" mode and everything sounded thin and tinny. The same goes for "REAR" mode, and switching between the two doesn't seem to result in much difference in the sound (basically the fader has to be in the most "rear" position to have any rear bias at which point it's extremely rear biased.) "ALL" mode is significantly more bass heavy although the sound is somewhat more coherent in that it doesn't sound as much like two separate systems front and back. Indeed when listening to solo instruments walking scales you can actually hear the instrument move around the car as different speakers pick up the load which is both unnatural and to me quite unpleasant.
On the topic of scales, there is a significant resonance in the lower midrange which is particularly noticeable with cellos and guitars cross in and out of this resonance region. I'm not sure if it's this fatness creating the illusion of a weak upper midrange or if there is a notch there, but female a capella voices singing the same line which are clearly separate voices when played on even modest home speakers blur into a single voice with the B&O. As with voices, acoustic bass and left hand piano playing the same line together blur into a single unnatural sound. Acoustic bass alone has almost none of the timbre of actual instruments. Multiple high frequency instruments likewise blur together (violins with mandolins, etc...) Bass drum strikes and guitar body strikes sound more like swells than clean attacks. Brushes on certain snare drums can sound like brushes on cardboard. Notches in the lower treble can severely affect certain cymbals making them sound far more thin and tinny than they should sound. Trying to dial the treble up to bring out those cymbals just creates sizzle as it only affects upper treble and trying to lower the bass in "ALL" mode when the sound isn't all coming from those little tweeters just makes everything sound thin rather than balanced.
On the low bass side of things, the bottom rolls off between a pair of notes which is about the same point as small floor standers which roll off by 40Hz. This system isn't making much of a reported 1400 watts either in general volume or in low bass.
I've heard better (still not great) white label Alpine systems in 18 year old cars. That this $6,300 upgrade to the base system provides sound similar to $150 near field computer speakers is truly a shame.
While I have the Alcantara headliner and dual pane glass and while the Alcantara may have different absorption characteristics it's not guaranteed to improve things when listening in a parked car with the engine off. The problems are significant and not washed out at high RPM on bad pavement (the automatic transmission with the 4.0T occasionally holds an absurdly low gear even in comfort mode when completely off throttle. Save the manuals and fire the software engineers.)
All comments are based on a parked car with the motor off and auditioned from the driver's seat using CDs with mostly acoustic music with instruments with which I am very familiar and some choral vocal work where I'm looking more for timbral and spacial differentiation than the tone of the actual voices as I haven't heard those voices unamplified in person. Electronic instruments are only used to test the bottom octave. All the performances are by groups small enough to distinctly hear what every musician is doing on a good system.
The first step was trying to get some kind of balance in the car because the tweeters are way up front and the bass speakers are in the back with mids spread between them (when the system is in "ALL" mode a bass driver in the front makes itself known.) As delivered the car was configured for "FRONT" mode and everything sounded thin and tinny. The same goes for "REAR" mode, and switching between the two doesn't seem to result in much difference in the sound (basically the fader has to be in the most "rear" position to have any rear bias at which point it's extremely rear biased.) "ALL" mode is significantly more bass heavy although the sound is somewhat more coherent in that it doesn't sound as much like two separate systems front and back. Indeed when listening to solo instruments walking scales you can actually hear the instrument move around the car as different speakers pick up the load which is both unnatural and to me quite unpleasant.
On the topic of scales, there is a significant resonance in the lower midrange which is particularly noticeable with cellos and guitars cross in and out of this resonance region. I'm not sure if it's this fatness creating the illusion of a weak upper midrange or if there is a notch there, but female a capella voices singing the same line which are clearly separate voices when played on even modest home speakers blur into a single voice with the B&O. As with voices, acoustic bass and left hand piano playing the same line together blur into a single unnatural sound. Acoustic bass alone has almost none of the timbre of actual instruments. Multiple high frequency instruments likewise blur together (violins with mandolins, etc...) Bass drum strikes and guitar body strikes sound more like swells than clean attacks. Brushes on certain snare drums can sound like brushes on cardboard. Notches in the lower treble can severely affect certain cymbals making them sound far more thin and tinny than they should sound. Trying to dial the treble up to bring out those cymbals just creates sizzle as it only affects upper treble and trying to lower the bass in "ALL" mode when the sound isn't all coming from those little tweeters just makes everything sound thin rather than balanced.
On the low bass side of things, the bottom rolls off between a pair of notes which is about the same point as small floor standers which roll off by 40Hz. This system isn't making much of a reported 1400 watts either in general volume or in low bass.
I've heard better (still not great) white label Alpine systems in 18 year old cars. That this $6,300 upgrade to the base system provides sound similar to $150 near field computer speakers is truly a shame.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again:
For the price of the B&O upgrade the entire Bose system can be replaced with high-end aftermarket gear and yield results that are tremendously better.
There is no such thing as a good factory stereo. They simply don't exist. Not at any price point.
Your description of the qualities of the B&O system clearly illustrates that you have extensive knowledge and understanding of high-end audio. You would be a perfect candidate for having an aftermarket, sound-quality oriented system.
The things you are craving like dynamics, imaging, staging, proper tonality will never be had in a factory stereo system. You need quality components, proper installation and sound dampening to get good results.
You also made excellent points about the speaker positions and sound localization. Many car companies market their stereo systems by the number of speakers installed. Having more speakers often makes for inferior imaging and staging, especially when the speaker locations are not laid out correctly and there is not proper processing/equalization.
Having a tweeter on the dash inside of a motorized pod, and the matching midrange in the door is a recipe for disaster. A tweeter and midrange should be installed as closely together as possible. Preferably, they should be point source where the tweeter and mid are centered with their voice coils perfectly aligned so they are phase coherent through the full crossover range. If not point source, they must be installed no more than about 7" apart. Time alignment will be required to get the drivers in phase, and that time alignment will only work for a single listening position (i.e. the driver seat). Other listening positions will be adversely affected by the time alignment.
This is why I am using horns in my car instead of midrange and tweeters. Horns are point source drivers, so I don't need to worry about a crossover or phase issues in the upper midrange caused by separate midrange & tweeter combos. The compression driver in the horn plays from 800Hz all the way up to 20,000Hz. Then I have 8" midbass drivers in the front doors that play from 75Hz to 800Hz, and the subs take over below 75Hz.
Horns also have incredible dynamics that no direct radiating speaker can easily duplicate.
Tweeters must be very accurately level matched and equalized for proper imaging. At the higher range frequencies, the human ear uses intensity of sounds to locate them. Phase and timing are less important. A basic treble/mid/bass adjustment is completely inadequate for this type of equalization. It requires independent, 30-band EQ to achieve the best results. Again, no factory system will ever offer this kind of adjustment. You need an aftermarket DSP for that.
Midbass speakers can be placed with slightly less strict rules because as we progress down the hearing range the localization of sound becomes more difficult. The most important factors for midbass localization are timing and phase. It is actually possible to place midbass speakers behind the listener, or directly to the side of the listener and still create a solid frontal image. But the midrange and tweeters must be in front and very well matched to pull off this illusion. The midbass must also be crossed over low enough to prevent higher frequency sounds from pulling the focus to the speaker.
My midbass are doing well installed in the factory location where the Bose midbass was located. We did remove the Bose ported enclosure and fabricated our own baffle for my 8" drivers. The doors have also been extensively dampened. There is CLD on both sides of the inner door skin, and on the outer door skin. We also used BlackHole tiles on the outer door skin behind the speaker, and then used a layer of closed-cell foam + mass-loaded vinyl for additional sound dampening of road noise.
The entire interior of my car was removed including seats, carpet, HVAC ducts and wiring. CLD was layered on every metal surface, and then 2 layers of CCF + MLV. The factory wires and HVAC ducts were then laid back down on top of the dampening so that future servicing would be easy.
I measured a nearly 20 dB reduction in overall road noise while driving at 70+ mph on smooth highway after the sound dampening was completed.
Lastly, subwoofers are always lacking in OEM stereos. It's very tough to get good bass reproduction without large speakers. Also, the car companies tend to cross-over their subs very high to compensate for a lack of midbass. This causes more sound localization problems. When I tested my Bose midbass signals from the OEM amplifier, they were playing absolutely nothing with a 40Hz test signal. That means they had to be crossed over way above that with a very steep slope, and the subwoofer was doing extra duty.
My two 12" subs are really a bare minimum for me. I've been putting serious thought into upgrading them for a pair of 15" subs. Need more displacement!
06-12-2015, 10:53 AM
#103
I have said it before, and I'll say it again:
For the price of the B&O upgrade the entire Bose system can be replaced with high-end aftermarket gear and yield results that are tremendously better.
There is no such thing as a good factory stereo. They simply don't exist. Not at any price point.
Your description of the qualities of the B&O system clearly illustrates that you have extensive knowledge and understanding of high-end audio. You would be a perfect candidate for having an aftermarket, sound-quality oriented system.
The things you are craving like dynamics, imaging, staging, proper tonality will never be had in a factory stereo system. You need quality components, proper installation and sound dampening to get good results.
You also made excellent points about the speaker positions and sound localization. Many car companies market their stereo systems by the number of speakers installed. Having more speakers often makes for inferior imaging and staging, especially when the speaker locations are not laid out correctly and there is not proper processing/equalization.
Having a tweeter on the dash inside of a motorized pod, and the matching midrange in the door is a recipe for disaster. A tweeter and midrange should be installed as closely together as possible. Preferably, they should be point source where the tweeter and mid are centered with their voice coils perfectly aligned so they are phase coherent through the full crossover range. If not point source, they must be installed no more than about 7" apart. Time alignment will be required to get the drivers in phase, and that time alignment will only work for a single listening position (i.e. the driver seat). Other listening positions will be adversely affected by the time alignment.
This is why I am using horns in my car instead of midrange and tweeters. Horns are point source drivers, so I don't need to worry about a crossover or phase issues in the upper midrange caused by separate midrange & tweeter combos. The compression driver in the horn plays from 800Hz all the way up to 20,000Hz. Then I have 8" midbass drivers in the front doors that play from 75Hz to 800Hz, and the subs take over below 75Hz.
Horns also have incredible dynamics that no direct radiating speaker can easily duplicate.
Tweeters must be very accurately level matched and equalized for proper imaging. At the higher range frequencies, the human ear uses intensity of sounds to locate them. Phase and timing are less important. A basic treble/mid/bass adjustment is completely inadequate for this type of equalization. It requires independent, 30-band EQ to achieve the best results. Again, no factory system will ever offer this kind of adjustment. You need an aftermarket DSP for that.
Midbass speakers can be placed with slightly less strict rules because as we progress down the hearing range the localization of sound becomes more difficult. The most important factors for midbass localization are timing and phase. It is actually possible to place midbass speakers behind the listener, or directly to the side of the listener and still create a solid frontal image. But the midrange and tweeters must be in front and very well matched to pull off this illusion. The midbass must also be crossed over low enough to prevent higher frequency sounds from pulling the focus to the speaker.
My midbass are doing well installed in the factory location where the Bose midbass was located. We did remove the Bose ported enclosure and fabricated our own baffle for my 8" drivers. The doors have also been extensively dampened. There is CLD on both sides of the inner door skin, and on the outer door skin. We also used BlackHole tiles on the outer door skin behind the speaker, and then used a layer of closed-cell foam + mass-loaded vinyl for additional sound dampening of road noise.
The entire interior of my car was removed including seats, carpet, HVAC ducts and wiring. CLD was layered on every metal surface, and then 2 layers of CCF + MLV. The factory wires and HVAC ducts were then laid back down on top of the dampening so that future servicing would be easy.
I measured a nearly 20 dB reduction in overall road noise while driving at 70+ mph on smooth highway after the sound dampening was completed.
Lastly, subwoofers are always lacking in OEM stereos. It's very tough to get good bass reproduction without large speakers. Also, the car companies tend to cross-over their subs very high to compensate for a lack of midbass. This causes more sound localization problems. When I tested my Bose midbass signals from the OEM amplifier, they were playing absolutely nothing with a 40Hz test signal. That means they had to be crossed over way above that with a very steep slope, and the subwoofer was doing extra duty.
My two 12" subs are really a bare minimum for me. I've been putting serious thought into upgrading them for a pair of 15" subs. Need more displacement!
For the price of the B&O upgrade the entire Bose system can be replaced with high-end aftermarket gear and yield results that are tremendously better.
There is no such thing as a good factory stereo. They simply don't exist. Not at any price point.
Your description of the qualities of the B&O system clearly illustrates that you have extensive knowledge and understanding of high-end audio. You would be a perfect candidate for having an aftermarket, sound-quality oriented system.
The things you are craving like dynamics, imaging, staging, proper tonality will never be had in a factory stereo system. You need quality components, proper installation and sound dampening to get good results.
You also made excellent points about the speaker positions and sound localization. Many car companies market their stereo systems by the number of speakers installed. Having more speakers often makes for inferior imaging and staging, especially when the speaker locations are not laid out correctly and there is not proper processing/equalization.
Having a tweeter on the dash inside of a motorized pod, and the matching midrange in the door is a recipe for disaster. A tweeter and midrange should be installed as closely together as possible. Preferably, they should be point source where the tweeter and mid are centered with their voice coils perfectly aligned so they are phase coherent through the full crossover range. If not point source, they must be installed no more than about 7" apart. Time alignment will be required to get the drivers in phase, and that time alignment will only work for a single listening position (i.e. the driver seat). Other listening positions will be adversely affected by the time alignment.
This is why I am using horns in my car instead of midrange and tweeters. Horns are point source drivers, so I don't need to worry about a crossover or phase issues in the upper midrange caused by separate midrange & tweeter combos. The compression driver in the horn plays from 800Hz all the way up to 20,000Hz. Then I have 8" midbass drivers in the front doors that play from 75Hz to 800Hz, and the subs take over below 75Hz.
Horns also have incredible dynamics that no direct radiating speaker can easily duplicate.
Tweeters must be very accurately level matched and equalized for proper imaging. At the higher range frequencies, the human ear uses intensity of sounds to locate them. Phase and timing are less important. A basic treble/mid/bass adjustment is completely inadequate for this type of equalization. It requires independent, 30-band EQ to achieve the best results. Again, no factory system will ever offer this kind of adjustment. You need an aftermarket DSP for that.
Midbass speakers can be placed with slightly less strict rules because as we progress down the hearing range the localization of sound becomes more difficult. The most important factors for midbass localization are timing and phase. It is actually possible to place midbass speakers behind the listener, or directly to the side of the listener and still create a solid frontal image. But the midrange and tweeters must be in front and very well matched to pull off this illusion. The midbass must also be crossed over low enough to prevent higher frequency sounds from pulling the focus to the speaker.
My midbass are doing well installed in the factory location where the Bose midbass was located. We did remove the Bose ported enclosure and fabricated our own baffle for my 8" drivers. The doors have also been extensively dampened. There is CLD on both sides of the inner door skin, and on the outer door skin. We also used BlackHole tiles on the outer door skin behind the speaker, and then used a layer of closed-cell foam + mass-loaded vinyl for additional sound dampening of road noise.
The entire interior of my car was removed including seats, carpet, HVAC ducts and wiring. CLD was layered on every metal surface, and then 2 layers of CCF + MLV. The factory wires and HVAC ducts were then laid back down on top of the dampening so that future servicing would be easy.
I measured a nearly 20 dB reduction in overall road noise while driving at 70+ mph on smooth highway after the sound dampening was completed.
Lastly, subwoofers are always lacking in OEM stereos. It's very tough to get good bass reproduction without large speakers. Also, the car companies tend to cross-over their subs very high to compensate for a lack of midbass. This causes more sound localization problems. When I tested my Bose midbass signals from the OEM amplifier, they were playing absolutely nothing with a 40Hz test signal. That means they had to be crossed over way above that with a very steep slope, and the subwoofer was doing extra duty.
My two 12" subs are really a bare minimum for me. I've been putting serious thought into upgrading them for a pair of 15" subs. Need more displacement!
Well, anyway, whereas I agree with this in principle, its quite expensive to do this nowadays and in the end, its just not worth it
Yes there was a time when you could buy a nice alpine unit, a couple of high end high end Rock/Fosgate amps (or even higher end) throw in some crystal clear sounding MB Quartz speakers with a nice a pair of 12's (15's if you are base crazy, which I am not) and you have a crystal clear sounding system for about $7K+.
But 10-12 years ago one had to do this because the Factory sound systems were crap. The best Factory system at that time was a Mark Levinson upgrade in a Lexus and that still wasn't great compared to a high end install. But With todays cars, post market systems can be expensive and the car can create a problematic install driving up labor costs. In addition, you tear up a beautiful luxury car in doing it. Some wouldn't mind tearing up an A8/S8 or a 7 series or an S65 AMG to have a great sound system. I personally do mind, especially now that the B&O is available.
In fact, the A8 B&O was one of the main selling points for the A8. I remember an incredible sub-invoice price deal a dealer made me on a 2012 lot car. But it had no B&O so it had no chance. I ordered a 2013 instead and when the A8 arrived, I was more ecstatic about the B&O sound system than the car itself. I hear that MB is offering B&O nowadays. I think it's a great opportunity to have beautiful sound system without cutting the car up and I can tell you that my B&O has impressed every passenger. Some even love the way the tweeters rise which I personally don't GAF about those things. I only care about the sound. Yes, There is always better but the across-the-board costs in the end aren't worth it. Thank Goodness for B&O.
06-12-2015, 11:42 AM
#104
AudiWorld Senior Member
I concur on the B&O sound system being an excellent factory system. As a professional musician for the last 55 plus years and having experienced multiple sound systems in that time, the B&O reproduces music as well or better than the greater majority of systems experienced by the average listener. It has an excellent sound stage, separation, and tonal qualities for a wide array of music types. Plus, it is very attractive and I for one don't give a rip about specs, size, watts, number of speakers, etc. but I care a lot about the music and mood and after all, isn't that what really matters?
06-15-2015, 11:02 AM
#105
AudiWorld Super User
I concur on the B&O sound system being an excellent factory system. As a professional musician for the last 55 plus years and having experienced multiple sound systems in that time, the B&O reproduces music as well or better than the greater majority of systems experienced by the average listener. It has an excellent sound stage, separation, and tonal qualities for a wide array of music types. Plus, it is very attractive and I for one don't give a rip about specs, size, watts, number of speakers, etc. but I care a lot about the music and mood and after all, isn't that what really matters?
06-16-2015, 04:48 AM
#106
I set the system with surround. I have found that the digital processing is there at all times anyway, so use it. The system falls down when trying to eliminate all of the processing. It's futile.
I'm using MP3 at 320 on sd card, dialled full to halfway surround, set to movie or All mode,two clicks of bass, one click of treble. Listening between 10 and 20 volume.
It sound good, but different. My linn at home is the reference, but in a car the bang does a good job at sounding pleasant. I don't compare the car to home audio, only to other cars. I would get it again.
I believe the car was tuned for surround, and it falls down when off.
I'm using MP3 at 320 on sd card, dialled full to halfway surround, set to movie or All mode,two clicks of bass, one click of treble. Listening between 10 and 20 volume.
It sound good, but different. My linn at home is the reference, but in a car the bang does a good job at sounding pleasant. I don't compare the car to home audio, only to other cars. I would get it again.
I believe the car was tuned for surround, and it falls down when off.
Last edited by L0U; 06-19-2015 at 06:43 AM.
06-18-2015, 07:13 PM
#107
AudiWorld Member
Anyone have any settings they like for the standard Bose. The Bose sounded pretty good in my A7, but it's clearly lacking in the 8
Last edited by SWelsch; 06-18-2015 at 07:16 PM.
06-28-2015, 08:10 AM
#108
I have had the Bose in several loaner A8 loaner cars. All I know is I immediately want my car back for the stereo. It is night and day to me no matter how I adjust the Bose system. I use bluetooth a lot from my iPhone so I am listening to the exact same source. I can't tell a huge difference with Bluetooth vs other sources.
On the iPhone i really like the PlayMyQ HD App. You can load your regular play lists right into it and it will let you fade the previous song out as the new song starts. For some reason the music just sounds better to me with this app.
I live in the Bay Area and do Casual Coorpooling most mornings so I can use the Carpool lanes going into San Francisco. I would say that 75 percent of the time the people that end up carpooling with me say it is the best sound system they have ever heard as they are getting out of my car. These are all unsolicited comments on the sound system. Many of the people ask me if I have special recordings.
Some of that could be the music selection as some songs definitely sound better. Here are some of the songs that I have found sound great: Hotel California - Live Cut from Hell Freezes Over, Davis Bowie-Under Pressure and Purting Out Fire, Chris Isaak-Wicked Game, Knocking on Heavens Door-Guns n Roses.
I also had the B&O in my 2009 S8 and it was also great. The Bluetooth in the D4 system was more than enough to make me forget about the prior B&O although that is more MMI than Bose vs B&O. (I do still miss the 2009 S8 though.)
I am like most here in that I love music. I spend enough time in my car that the music will be the top priority when deciding what I am going to drive.
Audi really got the MMI system right with the integration of music, telephone, navigation, traffic, and voice commands. So much better than the D3 experience.
Kris
On the iPhone i really like the PlayMyQ HD App. You can load your regular play lists right into it and it will let you fade the previous song out as the new song starts. For some reason the music just sounds better to me with this app.
I live in the Bay Area and do Casual Coorpooling most mornings so I can use the Carpool lanes going into San Francisco. I would say that 75 percent of the time the people that end up carpooling with me say it is the best sound system they have ever heard as they are getting out of my car. These are all unsolicited comments on the sound system. Many of the people ask me if I have special recordings.
Some of that could be the music selection as some songs definitely sound better. Here are some of the songs that I have found sound great: Hotel California - Live Cut from Hell Freezes Over, Davis Bowie-Under Pressure and Purting Out Fire, Chris Isaak-Wicked Game, Knocking on Heavens Door-Guns n Roses.
I also had the B&O in my 2009 S8 and it was also great. The Bluetooth in the D4 system was more than enough to make me forget about the prior B&O although that is more MMI than Bose vs B&O. (I do still miss the 2009 S8 though.)
I am like most here in that I love music. I spend enough time in my car that the music will be the top priority when deciding what I am going to drive.
Audi really got the MMI system right with the integration of music, telephone, navigation, traffic, and voice commands. So much better than the D3 experience.
Kris
06-30-2015, 09:18 PM
#109
got the B&O w/ a cPO A8L, resisted and it was not the deciding factor but... once you load the music in the memory and/or slide the 32GB x2 micro SD (16000 cuts per) you will wish you had to drive to the other end of the US // terrific sound to watch the miles go by // music -not radio talk or sports- makes it worth It IMO
07-04-2015, 09:54 AM
#110
AudiWorld Newcomer
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
does anyone know what size the standard bose speakers are in the front ?
im seriously contemplating changing them for something a little better and doing a load of
work in the doors to get better acoustics
im seriously contemplating changing them for something a little better and doing a load of
work in the doors to get better acoustics