Bestcar17

+1 Definitely sounds wrong

BRUCEVMAX

B&O a4 b9

NJRoadFan

First thing I did was turn off the 3D sound and surround sound functions. It vastly improved the sound quality of the system, particularly the bass output from the front speakers. I remember turning off the surround sound on my B8.5 A4 for the same reasons. The focus is set to center and the balance and fader are all centered as well.

SkiingInABlueDream

I've had similar observations. My theory is that the 3D & Surround functions end up boosting midrange and treble output in their quest to produce their 3D & Surround effects, but the system doesn't boost bass output correspondingly, and so the bass becomes even weaker with the 3D & Surround functions on. I'm not suggesting those functions just boost mid & treble, Im sure they do more, but one effect is the mid & treble becomes more prominent and drowns out the bass even more. Unfortunately for me, I really like the soundstage with 3D on Low.

SkiingInABlueDream

I noticed something else yesterday. The system chops off the very beginning of songs when playing music files directly on a thumb drive or SD card. It's really subtle, only like the first 1 or 2 tenths of a second. Most songs are padded with a long enough silence before the actual music starts so you don't notice this. But if you do the following you'll hear it: Find a music file that starts with a very clear transient sound (like a drum hit), where that transient is literally right at the start of the file (I mean like inside the first one hundredth of a second of the file). (It's easy if you're familiar with opening music files in audio editors.) Anyway, start playing the song before the test song and then pause playback. Then skip Fwd to the next song, which will be the test song. It *should* start playing from the very beginning, but you'll probably notice part of that transient sound gets chopped off. Ive reproduced this with mp3 and flac files.

I suspect the root cause is the same reason why the system doesnt do gapless playback.

You know, I think I'm beginning to agree with the thread's original premise - this system sucks. Between weak overall bass, rattling in the doors and rear shelf (which I suspect is part of why the bass is tuned so low - if it was tuned properly the vibration noises would be 10x more objectionable), incompatibility with ipods classic, and poor playback of music files, I'm seeing a lot of unforgiveable failure points.

Versprechen

I have been listening to this system for the last 18 months using nothing but SD cards playing very familiar tunes and it never once cut a song off. That would simply bug the scheisse out of me.

IMO my system doesn't suck at all. Just the opposite. I swear my car must be a unicorn based on the griping that goes on in this thread and in several others.

FYI If you move the fader too far back you will lose some bass. Much of it comes from the front door speakers. Two notches sounds about right to me.

But I do agree with you that 3D on low sounds best, I think due to the fact that it uses all 18 speakers.

SkiingInABlueDream

Im curious how do you feel about the lack of gapless playback?

If you (or anyone else) want to PM me your email address I can send an mp3 file that demonstrates the issue. My guess is all the songs you're playing have enough silence at the start, or a fade in, which masks the issue. I'm not bored enough to test *exactly* how much time gets cut off at the start of songs but Im guessing it's at most 1/4 second.
And FWIW I first spotted this while just playing an album for the sake of music (what a concept! ), and not yet another critical evaluation of the system. I noticed immediately something sounded wrong at the start of one specific song. I'll admit I'm nitpicky but I swear I'm not looking for things to be annoyed about!

Versprechen

I've just never noticed any gapless playback. It seems everything I listen to has a two second gap built in. Maybe that happens during the ripping process but I also have Amazon MP3s and songs from the Napster era so just not sure. But cutoffs would definitely bother me, no question.

Stzomah

I have had my 2017 A4 almost 2 years now (Dec 2016). My hearing was recently tested and although being in my late 50's, I still have good hearing frequency response but a bit of Tinnitus (low level hiss). I am an electrical engineer and I've been in classic rock and blues bands for many years. I play electric/acoustic guitar and do side work as a sound man. I do a fair amount of recording work with my band and others. I like to listen to my recording mastering in the A4 on the way to/from work from an SD card.

I like the acoustic environment in the A4 so that shows you how different everyone is! Hearing is such a subjective and complex human experience that it's interesting to read all 8 pages of this thread but I try to keep in mind that everyone is different. What are not subjective are mechanical noises.... there are no excuses for them in our expensive German cars.

My Subjectivity: I had the fabulous but dreaded Jetta Diesel and had to turn it in through the buyback program! I bought the 2017 A4 Premium with the B&O stereo. The "Fender Premium" sound in the Jetta was very good. Going from the Jetta to the A4, I noticed a few sonic differences. The Jetta had a more "boomy" sub. I would use the term "loose" and a bit "flabby". The db level (at bass frequencies) was also strong and it tended to dominate the music. If you are into hip/hop or electronica music, that would probably be preferred. My preference for Blues, CR, and Country are for a solid kick drum and bass but it should not dominate the sound. The A4 B&O system lacked the loudness of the sub in the Fender system but it was more defined and open in the other frequency areas... i'd say the bass was "more dampened", with less boomy/flabby bass domination. As a result, I could hear more detail in the upper bass and mid range. It has more detailed and flattened db frequency response (as opposed to a Loudness type contour). Again... this is my subjective explanation!

I had a later build A4 for a loaner and noticed that the newer software has a separate sub-woofer gain adjustment. That would be great to get but i'm doing OK without it.

Now the bad part... I have had an intermittent rattle in the passenger door for over a year now. It does drive me nuts. I had it in the shop for other maintenance and asked the dealer to check it out for me. Of course I could not get it to make the noise in the lot with the technician in the car. It is not a bad speaker because the sound happens from road vibrations too. At times, I can mute the stereo and still hear it. Sounds almost like wax paper over a comb (Kazoo)! When I am listening to mostly uncompressed live music, it really makes the Kazoo sound go nuts! I have the tools and plan to pull the door panel off soon since it will never make the sound when the dealer tech is present...

The system functionality is pretty darn good, much better than the Fender. To me that is also part of the package. It syncs well with my Iphone (BT and corded), 2 SD cards, CD, MP3 disc, and even my ancient 160G Ipod Classic. The old Ipod has some strange quirks when shuffling a large playlist (I have one playlist with about 3,000 songs). It will flicker the cover art on the screen. I learned that all you do is rotate the dial ahead about 200 songs and it will stop flickering. I think it's trying to cache all the album art for 3,000 songs and skipping ahead a bunch will let it load without flickering. I posted this solution in a different thread awhile ago. People also said they could not get the Ipod Classic to work at all.... It works for me...

I have never rethought the extra cost of the Premium package getting the B&O system. I had a loaner with the standard radio for about 3 days. It really SUCKED.

NJRoadFan

Thats a surprise considering the system only officially supports devices working with the iAP2 protocol (iPhone 5 and iPod Touch 5th gen or newer). The system won't work at all with my iPod nano 7th gen with lightning port.