LouisM27

I have couple of weeks to make any changes to my order S8. One of them was the Bang & Olufsen over the Bose.

Is it worth the $6,300 for the upgrade or the stock radio good enough?

I can also get a nice focal sound system, but that would mean having an third party messing with the car.

PS the Focal system runs around $5,000 with installation

Thank you,

jakematic

In my opinion unless you are an audiophile and have very "young" ears the stock Bose is more than adequate.

LouisM27

I thank you for your opinion.

xradman

I second this, although the pop up twitters and stainless speaker grills look pretty cool. Whether that is worth $6K is up to you.

GR8-LIFE

I have always been a huge audiophile. I have also played some piano a bit. There is nothing like pure clean stage-presence sound. Honestly, Bose is ok but no comparison to the A8 B&O. My only gripe is the B&O price is an A8. My S4 for example, I paid $850 for the B&O and whereas the A8 is an entirely different system, the S4, at only $850, has the best audio system value in the industry. Still, I forked up the coin to get the B&O because music is a function of my driving

Anyway, You really need to listen to the B&O in the A8. If after you listen to both, BOSE and B&O using using variety of music genre (and please use DVD's, dont even think about judging by FM radio) and you still have to ask, then the B&O is not for you and I would honestly settle for the Bose. But It certainly doesnt make sense to pay $5K, bypassing audi electronics, and cutting up gorgeous car in order to install an aftermarket system when you can have a state of the art system with ICE technology built from the factory

Also, from what I hear, the A8 CABIN was acoustically designed for that B&O system. Take a good look in the back and observe where all the speakers and tweeters are, including the ones in the doors. A well thought out plan went into that design and it sounds wonderfull. But you have to really enjoy music or it probably is wasting money.

steinway

If you consider yourself an audiophile, you should definitely get it. If you do get it , make sure you order the dual pane glass for better isolation. I have it in my 2013 A8L and am loving it. The only thing is that I spend a lot of time compiling 320k mp3 files in order to appreciate it more. If you are only going to use it for radio, low quality mp3 or satellite radio, then don't get it.

GermanGarage

Totally disagree.

The B&O sound system is prince of a sound system -- and for a car of this caliber, you should find a way to get it. The Bose system pops/hisses with any volume. Classical music sounds terrible on it.

Speednet

Um, I have no idea how you come by your information, but you are clearly a troll.

The Bose system does not pop or hiss, and classical music sounds fantastic on it.

L0U

From one Louis to another, both ordering D4 S8's.

I went B&O for the looks, and the sound. A quiet car can really make use of the fidelity. Alcantara headliner will reduce the noise further too.

GermanGarage

Clearly a troll eh? Come on...

There are dozens of threads on the Bose audio system and these issues -- do a search.