MMI replacement -- now HD radio issues
 

I have a 2016 A3 e-tron with B&O Sound System.

After about a month, the SIM reader stopped working and the local Audi dealer service center replaced the MMI control unit, which fixed the SIM issue.

However, now, several radio stations that had HD Radio channels don't list the HD channels (some do, but some don't that used to before the MMI unit was replaced), where previously they did. HD Radio IS turned on.

The same stations work fine in HD Radio (and their HD Radio sub-channels show up) in my VW Jetta Sportwagen (TDI that is being sold back and for which the e-tron is the replacement).

This was an abrupt change in behavior that I noticed when I picked up the car last week after they did the MMI replacement work. I've been monitoring it since to make sure it was not a momentary issue with the station itself.

Additionally, the sound does not sound as "full" but that may be the lack of "HD Radio" for the station I am listening to. I am supposed to still be on my SiriusXM 3 month trial but of course the service department forgot to activate the new radio with SiriusXM. The trial runs out in a week and I am not that worried about the music part but need to do the Traffic part since that is a 4 year service.

Would the MMI unit be different in a B&O system or is the actual B&O part separate from the MMI control unit (radio)? (Is it possible that the wrong part was used -- a non-B&O unit in a B&O car?)

What should I do about the lack of HD Radio for a station that previously had no issues with HD Radio in the prior MMI unit and which works fine in my VW? Is this something that I have to take it back for?

Thanks

I'd complain for sure. Hopefully it's something as simple as an antenna connection of some sort. Still, I would miss HD radio, and would be pissed if I didn't have something I paid for.

Sorry you're having problems. Hopefully they sort it out for you. Tell them to give you an S4 as a loaner.

Actually I have to walk this back. I was in the JSW yesterday and it was having HD Radio problems on the same station. I was sure I had tried it since I had noticed it in the Audi and it was working in the VW but now I am not sure. I only drive the JSW once or twice a week.

I am still investigating.

*blush*

Keep in mind that HD radio is digital. You either have a signal or you do not. It is similar to digital broadcast TV in that respect. You might try a different station. The one that is an issue could be having an issue with their transmitter or there is something interfering with the signal if other channels can come be received.

While a digital signal is either received or not, you can still get errors in your signal which can show up as "static" or other unpleasantness. Digital TV is a perfect example of this. If you move your antenna around you can get distortion in your picture before it cuts out. I notice this with HD radio in a certain place when I go up a hill and then get behind the hill in its signal shadow. When I first get in it, the HD signal is there but it drops a little in volume and gets some distortion before it fails.

And the HD Radio will fall back to FM if it cannot get a good signal. In the hill example above, it will fail over but there is a period of wackiness in the HD signal before it fails over.

In my case it ended up that the station was having an HD problem that happened to start the very same day the MMI unit was replaced. All is good now that the MMI unit was replaced (with my SIM card problem) and the station has come back in HD after a week or two being out.

Got rear ended and pushed into another car last night but that is a different story.

Bummer on the accident. There goes trade in value that never gets compensated for by insurance companies.