Eddie Ved

2018 Prestige. The 19 speaker bose sounds kinda flat (even with higher bass and subwoofer setting) compared to even my Nissan. THe sound just isn't as big, punchy or inspiring. Is there something I need to adjust? The sound focus in kinda right behind the driver/passenger armrest in the middle.

ConservativeConsumer

There are quite a few adjustments including sound focus area available in the MMI. Read the Manual - it has a nice description how to.
Here is what YouTube has on the subject:

billsfan

The sub is a joke, but overall the sound is good to my non audiophile ears. But yeah, change the settings.

mhoran89

The 3D effect was terrible. I shut that off and turned the surround level to around middle and it sounds pretty good. Sub is not that strong, but most of these cars are lacking in sub punch unless they are American made...

RyanCC

I found it acceptable. But the setting seems confusing. What's the difference between Surround Level and 3D Effect setting?

mhoran89

My understanding is 3D is pumping sound to strategic corners to try and help with special effects, like in a movie. Trying to recreate a sound stage.
Surround seems to just even out the channels... when I turn up the surround setting it seems to blend the channels together more than not. Versus having the vocals come from front / center, and other stuff coming from the rear.

I think of surround sound as difference between having two stereo (bookshelf) speakers and having 5.1 surround sound. Center channel does vocals and front corners do music, rears do effects.... except in the Audi settings the more you turn up "surround" the less defined the sound is from each channel... kind of opposite if you ask me.

mhoran89

My prior A8L has B&O which was phenomenal, but did not have the "3D setting". In my 2017 Q7 I turned the 3D setting to off and it sounded much better to me. Better than my prior 2016 A6 w/ Bose and much better than the Q7 w/ the 3D enabled... but each to their own.

CountLaszlo

It’s all about your source of music as well. I loaded up the sd card with FLAC files (5000 +) CD quality songs and my system sounds amazing. Best automobile system I’ve had and couldn’t praise it enough. It also sounds better than the B&O IMHO.

If you have semi-crappy source files like iTunes or you’re streaming, or BT, you’re going to get poor audio.

Also toy with settings. When I get my Q7 back I’ll take a pic of my settings.

mhoran89

I think BT streaming through Spotify is very good. Just make sure you turn up the quality in the app. It helps if you download to device versus "streaming" as you go from the cell towers...
Don't bother with an aux cord. I would agree, best way is with a USB drive or a SD card.
The most frustrating thing is the garbage quality of Sirius XM satellite radio, but that's another story...

jhumph88

I’ve noticed that the 3D sound takes some getting used to. It’s a cool effect, but I’d suggest playing around with the surround focus, 3D effect level, etc. I have mine set to focus on the front and find the sound very good. Keep in mind that the Bose system also has the Audiopilot feature to adjust the sound to compensate for ambient noise. Maybe fiddle with that as well?
I’m satisfied with the Bose, but I think the 580-watt B&O in my ‘14 Q5 sounds better, honestly