GR8-LIFE

one thing worth mentioning, whereas I agree being an audiophile plays a big factor in a B&O purchase, genre diversity plays a role. I can listen to any genre and there are categories that sound truly amazing on a B&O. But lets say you are pretty much a metal head or listen to hard rock and only those 2 genres. Then you may wish to stick with Bose. Music genres that you would appreciate with B&O:

Any NewWave music, such as Tangerine Deam. Yanni also sounds amazing. Any classical or Instrumental music. Pop from the 80's and 90's sounds gresat. Electric dance (if you are into that sort of thing). I listen to all of the above and ofcousre i listen to rock as well (Mostly 80's and 90's rock). I even listen to some country once in a great while. Rap is only music I dont listen to.

Hey, I understand that noone wants to fork up $6K for a sound system. I dont blame you. I dont think there is a right or wrong, but rather how much you enjoy music and how important music is to you.

derfA8L

Uh...Not really on the D4 forum.

I've had the Audi Bose system on most of my 9 Audi vehicles (last 3 being A8s) and have NEVER had such an issue: no hissing or pops, ever. Though I'm not a real audiophile, I do enjoy listening to music in my car (mostly jazz, classical and some 60's/70's R&R) and the Bose set-up has been fine for my needs---spend the time to adjust the tone and surround characteristics, and the Bose system IMO sounds very good in the A8's cabin. The B&O is a nice upgrade, and for "younger" ears perhaps worth the extra cash.

LouisM27

Hi Mark,

I had a chance over the weekend to go to my local Audi dealer, they had two A8's short wheel base. One with the stock sound system (bose) and the other one with the Bang and Olufsen. Had couple of different CD's which by the way they were all XRCD 24, and came to the conclusion that it is worth the 6K for the Bang and Olufsen. Night and day differences between both sound systems.

Thank you for your help.

Louis

LouisM27

Hi Lou, love the quality and low distortion on the B&O, so I am getting the upgraded sound system..... What a difference.

Thank you..

steinway

Good move! The B&O with the right HD source is phenomenal. Now get the dual pane glass and alcantara headliner to complete your listening pleasure. Also, start loading up HD sources on your SD card or CDs as you would like to use the Digital to Analog Converter (DAC)of the car and not the iPod or iPhone. You can go to HDtracks.com for these files though, which you can use at home as well.

GR8-LIFE

Good Deal! I know the coin hurts a bit but everytime i listen to it, that clear crisp sound is my ROI. And its not to say that Bose is any slouch because by no means is it and in fact I would take the Bose over that BMW Logic 7 system anyday. Its just that the B&O delivers on a different level. Enjoy it

chicagoA6

I'll chime in on this. I have the Bose in my 2012 A7 and with the lease up in about 6 months the process has begun to order the next car. Currently debating an A8 or S7, but whichever it is I'll be sure to get the B&O this time. Not to say the Bose is that bad, but the B&O is that good. I have a Meridian system at home so know a thing or two about audio.

Last week had the opportunity to compare my A7's Bose with an A8's Bose and an A8's B&O. The B&O was from a A8 W12. First thing I noticed was the A8's Bose was clearly better than my A7's Bose. Not sure if its better gear or the car having better acoustics, but it surprised me.

When comparing the A8's Bose to the B&O the difference with FM (HD) and Sat radio was marginal. No doubt the B&O sounded better, but clearly not $6K better.

Moving to iPhone AMI and Bluetooth streaming the difference was more apparent, but with those sources being analog (not digital) it didn't have a wow factor. I still don't understand why Apple wont allow digital output

Next I pulled a CD from my car and my SD car where I have music ripped at 192K MP3. This being pure digital sources the B&O came alive. The spacial imaging was incredible and the music clear throughout the volume range. Total eargasm.

So you need to consider your musical sources to see if the B&O is worth it. The pop up tweeters are cool, but that fun factor will wear out over time.

Having said all that if anyones Bose is cracking or hissing that's not normal. That's a problem with the kit and should be corrected. I'll agree the Bose is not great (partially I think that's on purpose to drive sales of what is surely profitable B&O systems), but its not as bad as many say.

I also understand that Audi has a MMI update that improves the Bose sound, but not sure of the details on that

BigGrasshopper

I have the B&O on my 2011 A8. I cross shopped the Bose. Is it worth $6k more? After living with it for over a year, my answer is - depends on your audio source. The B&O is superior. However, if your audio is coming from an MP3 player like an iPod (even at higher bit rates), you are nowhere near utilizing the B&O to its full potential. Under that scenario, I'd say stick to Bose.

Also, the type of music makes a difference. Live versions of Rock and pop sound better on B&O, as does most jazz and classical. Modern rock and pop sounds almost identical on Bose due to over processing on the music production side. If rap or hiphop is the choice, an after market system might better fit the sound scape.

Aside from a fully custom system, I don't think there's a better audio system on the market than the B&O. One nitpick though - a system of this caliber should've had better equalizer options.

subterFUSE

For what it's worth, I am planning a new car purchase and have been considering the S8, S7 and S6. Since I already have a very nice aftermarket system in my current car, I will not be spending the additional $6000 on the B&O system. (I will transfer most of my existing gear) For $6000 you can purchase some absolutely exquisite aftermarket equipment. I believe the entirety of my current system was about $6000, and I have the following:

Audison BitOne processor
Hertz Mille System MLK2 speakers (front)
Hertz Hi-Energy component speakers (rear)
Audison LRx 4.1k amp
JL Audio 12W6v2 woofer, sealed enclosure
JL Audio HD750/1 amp


That said, my enthusiasm for high quality audio is probably higher than most people. If I was not going to get an aftermerket system, then I am confident the Bose system would not cut it for me.


As for my car choice, I really wanted to get an S8 but after seeing the small trunk space I having second thoughts. For one thing, there isn't even enough room for my golf clubs back there. And if I wanted to add audio equipment, that might reduce the available space even further. I do plan to have a discussion with my car audio installers about the best options for that car. With the trunk totally sealed from the passenger compartment and no passthrough, it might be tricky doing a good subwoofer enclosure there. Might need to consider 8 inch woofers in the cabin somehwere?

The S6 & S7 seem to be easier to deal with in that regard. Particularly the S7, being a hatchback.

aw9nineteen

I purchase my music from iTunes and play it through my B&O system and I've loved the quality so far. I also get a kick out of when people get in my car and ask what are those things (tweeters) on the dashboard that pop up.

I was unaware that the quality changes from using a CD or AMI. I thought that the lower qualities would be the radio and Bluetooth. So my question is, is it just the music from iTunes, or the iPhone that lowers the quality? If I burn the music I purchased onto a cd, would the quality be better, noticeably better than if I played it through the AMI?