VipinLJ

I guess you didn't notice it because you heard it daily and it happens slowly over time. It is like a gradual thing. Every speaker has a break in period (car audio or not). They all sound better after a few hours (like around 40hrs or so) of music is played through it.

willardcw4

One thing I noticed is that the read of the vehicle has 2 bass grills yet there is only one sub in the trunk on the driver side. I'm assuming this is 'standard' for the B&O system?

plat27265

Yes, it is standard. My S5's B&O has the same set-up. Two large grilles on the rear parcel shelf. Each grille has a tweeter but only one grille has a subwoofer underneath.

willardcw4

Awesome - thanks for the confirmation. I'll give my sound impressions in another week or so.

chiphead

I drove an A3 loaner, and compared to my S3 w/B&O, the sound was tinny and lacked precision. Fine for radio or SiruisXM, but if you're going to spend time >30 minutes in the car, why assault your ears with sub-par audio?

tommoran2

In my opinion the base sound system is bad (I have it). Iam trying to fig out right now how I can upgrade it. Possibly with an LC-8 sound processor and replacing all the speakers and adding a sub.

I dont even know where the existing amp/preamp is in this car yet.

willardcw4

Alright. I've been driving the car for about 1700 miles now. Here are my impressions:

I currently have the treble, bass, and surround all at the 'middle' setting. I don't have it tuned toward, front, left it at 'All'.

Not running an EQ on my phone, streaming music via bluetooth.

Overall, I think the sound isn't as good as the B&O system in my S4. The sound seems a bit hollow... tinny is a decent word. There is exceptionally little distortion at high volume which is awesome. I'm sure that the S3 B&O system is substantially better than the stock S3 system. Since so many of you say you've had great experiences with it, can you share you car and EQ settings on your devices? I plan to adjust the EQ on my phone until I get the sound signature I'm looking for, but I'm curious what other people are running.

I'm not expert audiophile... but I've played music for 20+ years so I have a decent appreciation for sound. I generally prefer vocals and guitar to be forward, with a medium to large soundstage.

Thanks again for everyone's input prior the the purchase.

Timmay

Just want to chime in here albeit my time in my new '17 S3 with B&O has been limited. I recently owned a 2014 S4 that also came equipped with B&O. So far my impression is that the S4 had better sound quality. I'm trying to ascertain the reason for this as I would have thought the B&O in my S3 would at least be as good as the S4. Perhaps acoustically speaking the S4 with a larger space inside the car has something to do with it, I'm not sure. I generally play back high quality MP3s (320kbps) via SD card and the sound is fantastic. The music ranges from House, Electronica to classic rock and so on.

Don't get me wrong, I think the B&O sounds good in the S3 and certainly much better than the standard stock system. For whatever reason the best car audio system I had ever heard was actually in my last S4 and it always blew passengers away how good it sounded. I may need to play a bit with the settings but honestly I never really had to do that much before, perhaps adjust treble and bass just a tad bit and pepper in a bit of surround effects. That's it.

-hef-

if you want the sound stage up front, i would kill the surround volume. to me, when i turn that up, the mid range eq seems like it bumps up, but the sound stage becomes too diffuse. when i turn it off, i get a nice clear sound stage directly in front of me. not sure i can help with the tinny part. i don't hear that.

i listen to bluetooth audio with no eq, or mp3's via USB and my settings are:
surround: all the way down
treble: -3
bass: all the way up
focus setting: all

i also have an aftermarket sub that is blended in nicely.

tommoran2

What after market Sub do you have ? Did you install it ?