Onewolf42

I also think the Audi B&O system sounds great. I was this '' close to buying the new 2018 Honda Accord Touring but when I finally tested the stereo it was awful. So I test drove Accord Tourings at 2 other dealers to confirm the suckiness. That prompted me to consider other alternatives and so I test drove the Audi A4 and A5 Sportback and ended up buying a 2018 A4 Quattro CPO with 4300 miles for $14K under MSRP. I love the way the B&O stereo sounds.

Prof

I agree that the B&O system sounds very good. I had a B&O in my 2009 A4 B8 Prestige and I was very pleased with the sound. The 2018 A4 B9 Prestige is better. I usually listen to classical music (including contemporary classical music) and the clarity and depth of sound is very good for an in-car unit. Although I have not experienced any rattling from the doors, speaker enclosures, etc. I find that the soundproofing with both the acoustic windshield and side window glass substantially enhances the tonal quality of the music. Too be sure I use an SDHD chip using WAV formatting for ripped music, or rarely a CD, and the quality is satisfying. I have owned the car for one year.

Dirty_bourbon

I felt need to chime in my self. I don't think system is crap at all. After fine 'tuning' a bit in the sounds settings and turning on all the gadgets and gizmos the system comes with; i have found a healthy and quality balance of sound and performance from the system. Its crisp, bass bumps (reasonably not compared to my JL W10s i have in my previous trucks. But compared to others the system is good. Better then BMWs, better then Infiniti, and the C class system is very very good perhaps a bit crisper but only to the real audio nut. No rattling yet but my car is very new. I would also say have to judge on quality music. Similar to above post, music source matters.

ScoobaBlue

Agree, the doors can't handle the speakers. Audi did not test properly as mine has endless rattles in the door trim speaker area

ErikM

Mine sounds great. WAY better than the Blows system I had in my Infiniti. It needs to be tweaked, spend time listening it also needs time from new to break in a bit, and use something better than Sirius. I have all my music saved as either Apple Lossless or AIFF files.. MP3's suck unless they are high bit rate.. 320k

Vandelay

The audio source is the most important variable of the B&O sound system quality. I thought it sucked too... but then i just played a CD for the first time in about three years. It sounds really, really good. Satellite sucks really bad, but i've determined that any music streaming from my phone through USB also sucks and even HD radio doesn't sound so good. I think i'll need to start investing in FLAC or other lossless files to play through USB.

bk6000

After living with this sound system for several more months, it has grown on me slightly, but the excessive rattles throughout the car still ruin the experience. I took it to the dealer and they said they fixed it but it made no difference. I have several door panel rattles and rattles/squeaks from the rear of the car. Cheap Kias don't even rattle like that.

ScoobaBlue

I have the same issue. Took to dealer 3 times and they obviously don't hear it or have any issues with it. I'm about to take about the door panels myself and stick some dynamat/hushmat. There's little insulation in there and I get tons of rattles from the doors.

ScoobaBlue

Lol In the same club

SkiingInABlueDream

I guess I'm in the minority because I think the B&O system sounds amazing. I love the soundstage this stereo produces. I hear details in music I never thought Id hear in a car *while driving*. I emphasize "while driving" because I think an important characteristic of a good car stereo is the ability to make musical detail hear-able over regular driving noises. This is not the same thing as just playing the music louder. (The overall quietness of the A4 undoubtedly helps here too.) My only complaint is that I wish the overall bass level were calibrated higher, or that the bass & sub controls could be turned up more. I have to pump the bass and sub levels to ~3:00 to get what I consider balanced sound on a lot of my music. (On some albums, e.g. 80's rock, I'll max the bass + sub. But those are very bass-weak exceptions.) The system has enough physical capability to produce good bass, I just which the bass ***** turned more.
As for the rattles and vibration, maybe may car doesnt have enough miles or age yet (Im at 1500 and 1.5 months) but it's still quiet, to my ears at least.
I guess one other thing I dislike about the system, perhaps more on principle than practice, is the subwoofer configuration. Woofers need rigid and vibration-damped mounting surfaces. This is why good speaker boxes are always heavy. I can't imagine the rear shelf of a car is a very good in this regard. That and it's a recipe for developing rattles. (Hmmm....) And front and rear passengers can never *both* have good tonal balance with the sub right behind the rear passenger(s) head(s). (But that's irrelevant to me since Im solo 99.999999% of the time.) Oh aaaand, when you flip the rear seats forward, you effectively mute the sub. This is one aspect where I think the Harman Kardon systems in the BMW 3's get it right - putting a sub under each front seat. Although they must be very small...