BFN949

Congrats on the new ride. One can't be but impressed with the acceleration for such a large vehicle.

Am I the only one who does not understand people wishing for touch screen capability? I fear the day Audi move to touch screens - I find them difficult to operate while driving - far more difficult than the MMI **** with its clearly defined clicks. There is no way of selecting anything without looking at the screen, which is not the case with the MMI ****. And don't you hate the fingerprints on the touch screens of such equipped vehicles?

MP4.2+6.0

Had touch in the Toyota Sienna and in an aftermarket Fujitsu Ten. Agreed, not terribly useful--had to look at screen more, confusing if responsiveness isn't there after touching, constant cleaning, etc.

derfA8L

Also not a fan of touchscreens in cars, but I think there will be some of that in the new D5. The near-production ready Q8 concept shows some of that (at least in the rear seat HVAC controls). Porsche uses touchscreen tech in the Panny (more so in the new Panny), and I get the feeling that Audi may be "compelled" to adopt some of Porsche's platform tech moving forward.

plat27265

+1. I, too, am not a fan of touchscreen in cars. My S5 does not have a touchscreen. Just the MMI wheel and buttons. But that alone already makes my eyes move away from the road so I can see what I am doing on the MMI. I can imaging how one will be forced to lean a bit forward and touch icons on a touchscreen which demands even more attention from the user. Just my opinion on this matter.

MP4.2+6.0

Back to original theme/post now, for OP or others w/ S8 plus, do you have the sport exhaust option specifically? Have you compared it to the non sport version? Any observations?

I have yet to come across an S8 plus on the road w/ it, so just have my stock non sport S8 as a comparison point.

MP4.2+6.0

I looked in my saved materials and don't have much on the D4 design. See screen shot below for one page I found from 2012 PIB.

Also, see my post for modifying pre amp volume. Makes it more satisfying after the first time you go to "34" and don't think there is "enough there there." https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a8-...nputs-2899865/

Jimmy K

No, mine came with the Bose system. It'll suffice for an old fart like me. Haha.

Ngerstman

Did you ever consider putting different speaker grills on the front doors? As an audiophile it seems that the metal perforated grills are blocking a significant amount of the sound, pretty silly, looks cool, bad sound design. Even the Bose grills seem to be meaningfully more sound transparent. I personally don't listen to volumes much over 90db, don't need more volume out of the system, already lost too much hearing from too many loud rock concerts. The system is starting to open up a bit but only have maybe 10 hours on it. At this point I still think the new Bose surround system I heard in the 2017 a8 may better the B&O system, makes no sense to pay $6,000 for "upgrade". Thanks. Regards. Ned.

MP4.2+6.0

Nope. I don't try to outguess the sound engineers. Also remember the door speakers are midrange and woofers, not tweeters as far as the wavelengths. I actually did replace one of the Bose grills back on my C5 when someone put a ski boot into (only) the cover. Turned out there was a fair amount of occluding plastic in there that supports the fabric sorts of covering.

See the attached, which at first will seem like a long gen 2 Q7 document. But deep in you will find the references to the already existing D4 system. They mention the speaker trim BTW, though notice it is in a similar breath to the acoustic lens tweeters in the dash.

Having had the Bose in the D3 W12 for 9 years, it was plenty good. Crank both up though and the B&O is much clearer at similar volumes. On the other hand, for those who want strong and slightly muddier bass (but not a thumper) and general sound, Bose still stacks ups well, and way beyond a lot of other lesser Bose branded units out there. Yes, I would be hard pressed to sign up for $6K straight up, but I looked and pursued carefully against my spec for CPO--a lot of this, the interior choice and things like night vision. 30% for 3200 miles.

Make sure your source quality is top drawer. If bluetooth (A2DP) connected, it's ultimately junk if searching for top quality limits. Sat radio, meaningfully worse. Digital radio, not convinced and wouldn't think about it seriously (commercials aside) for any A:B tests. Throw an (original) CD in drive I suppose to go back to source. Otherwise hard cable to first generation high bit rate tracks, or better and where I haven't bothered to get to, the jukebox or SD cards. I found when I pulled some tracks that had both some bass but also some very clear higher frequencies, I could find differences that got me smiling. Strong solo acoustic guitars in instrumental only tracks were one of the types I found compelling, what ever the genre. Again though, there's "34" pre- pre amp tweak and then after... Break it in first, then dial it in/up. Then it will be more compelling relative to Bose in an already higher end configuration. It was more so to me, after the mod. Not at max'ed out thumping stuff that lots of box in the trunk stuff could easily muddle, but very clear solo or other difficult tracks with a lot of presence. And yes, it will indeed work with a strong bass line too, hopefully a quality one of some preferred sort.

Ngerstman

Interesting article, thanks. I know it can take a long time to brake in audio speakers and electronics so I will give the system some time. But it does seem to me that they went with aesthetics over sound with metal grills that block much of the sound. I may look into alternative grills at some point. Regards. Ned.