Dave W

hipendicular

I have it and I wouldn't buy an A4 with out it. When I was looking, I sat in a base model and couldn't believe how weak the stock stereo is. I came from a fully loaded 2017 Golf Sportwagen and was really digging the Fender stereo in that car so I knew I had to have the B&O when I bought my A4.

A few notes: I think the stock highs are a bit too "tinny" and the mids could use a bump but I have found that setting the focus to the rear helped (I guess not everyone agrees with me on that one..). I also think the stock sub has quite a bit of punch. I can play my old "Bass" tracks and it can hit quite into the low <40 hz area quite well. I am still wishing for a sub control setting on my 2017 and I've tried 3 times to get the dealer to give it to me. Oh well. (the stock sub shakes my rear view mirror like my old college days of having two tens in the back!... .LOL)

All in all, its no audiophile grade system (and lets be honest, nothing is ever good enough for these types, I heard they need to "break in" speaker wire before a $20K speaker sounds good *no joke*) but its def one of the best I've ever owned or listened to. Its still 2nd to my old old 2002 Lexus SC430 ML stereo. Man did that thing have unbelievable clean, clear highs. Bass was weaker than my A4 but the high end cars do get better stereos...

Ken

silver03gt

I'm disappointed to be honest. It seems to come into its own a bit when the volume is turned up past the point you can have any type of conversation with a passenger. At lower volume levels it's completely gutless. I've spent time making adjustments with the help of some forum member suggestions. It's now acceptable, but far from what you would think it should be with as many speakers as it has. I was given a Q5 with the base stereo as a loaner not long ago, and I was shocked at how much better it sounded than the B&O system.

CDang

minmet

My best in car audio so far. I know there is better out there. My colleague has Bose in his A7 and feels the Bang & Olufsen system is way better than his.

Verybumpy

I agree with this. It only sounds stout at volumes greater than I normally like. I'd much prefer money spent having some sort of noise canceling system.

HyperS4

I believe you can make an actual poll as a thread for future reference. That being said, I really like the B&O systems on Audi's. Granded, the system I had on the S6 was beyond what you get in the A4, but I think it sounds great with the type of music I play.

The big thing people have to understand is that the quality of the music they are listening to will determine the quality of the sound through the speakers. If people are saying the quality of the B&O sucks, and all they listen to is the radio....well yeah, its going to suck. If they are listening to pandora or spotify where the quality is still neutered, its better than radio but not top quality. Put in an actual CD or play Lossless music from an SD card and you will hear a big difference in the quality.

Regarding dialing it in, I would say I think my B8S4 was better at being able to control all the B&O properties than current models.

Bestcar17

silver03gt

I have to agree with HyperS4. The quality of sound not only varies by the individual, but by the quality of the music as well. I have my SD card loaded with music from TIDAL which was streamed at either HIFI or Master quality. I've also listened to TIDAL through Apple Carplay & with my phone connected with an Audio Quest lightning cable. To me it's still only acceptable and not an option I would go out of my way to select.

Dan in St. Louis

1. Pleased,
2. yes,
3. yes,
4. yes.

Perhaps listeners who think it is thin at low volumes have forgotten that humans' perception of volume varies with frequencies. Remember the old "loudness control" on stereos? That boosted treble and bass at low volume levels to compensate. It still exists -- now called "dynamic equalization."

I attend enough live music performances to notice that many stereo users boost the bass way too high -- they seem to want to hear the woofer as a separate instrument instead of having a seamless transition between the different frequency ranges. And excessive "surround" simulation. Dial it down if you want to listen to music, dial it up if you want to listen to hardware.