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I absolutely love that car. It looks stunning. Jaguars, in general, appeal to me more than the equivalent BMW or Mercedes. I can understand your decision.

And I'm super jealous of the stereo in particular. I'm very impressed with how good the system is in my Mondeo but the B&W stuff in that Jag must be another level entirely. If you love music and hifi like I do then it's understandable and I too would much rather suffer an inferior interface in return for superior audio quality.
 
Howard said:
I too would much rather suffer an inferior interface in return for superior audio quality.
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This was where I was. My reasoning was that even though the BMW interface is superior in absolutely every measurable respect, what's the point if the music being produced is of mediocre quality and control?
Music is a huge part of my driving pleasure and is actually one of the reasons I swapped my old 730d for an older 750i back in the day. The 730d only had the base hifi but the 750i had the optional Logic 7 system which was excellent.

I just went out for a drive after dropping the little one off at nursery. The car is so smooth and controlled but is still very communicative. So glad I went for the petrol as the engine sounds lovely and has a very wide spread of power.

Good and bad so far:

Good:
Handling
Performance
Looks
Comfort
Hifi

Bad:
Infotainment controls
LCD dash not as useful as it could be
Massive key
Some interior switches (window controls in particular) of suspect quality
 
How does the B&W hifi compare with the HK Logic 7 found in a Range Rover out of interest? (I know you've had one before, presumably with the logic 7 system).

Wondering also how it compares with the Bose system found in high end mercs of 2002-2008 vintage, but I'm not sure if you've had one....
 
What are your general musical tastes Rilot, out of interest?



Jez said:
Wondering also how it compares with the Bose system found in high end mercs of 2002-2008 vintage, but I'm not sure if you've had one....
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I hope this isn't as shockingly bad as every other Bose-equipped car audio system I've heard :D
 
It can't be that bad in the Mercs as it makes every other car (bar stuff like the HK Logic 7) sound pretty bad. :p BMW as much as I like the cars are a good example of having really terrible stock stereos.
 
I'm a big b&w fan. My house is kitted out with a couple b&w 5.1 systems, and have 2.0 b&w in both my garage and office, lol. I would also sacrifice infotainment interface for sound quality. So I am well jealous.

That said, the HK in my BMW is pretty decent, as was the B&O in my old A4, or the HK in both my Range Rovers considering they were both 16 years old now. Would love to hear the B&W though.
 
Jez. My Rangie has the HK system and my A8 had the Bose. Also had Mark Levinson in the Lexus.
The B&W system is significantly better than all of them to my ears but it might depend on what you listen to. The frequency response of the B&W system is very flat and accurate so if you listen to lots of dubstep it will probably feel a little light in the sub bass area. The Mark Levinson had awesome bass and the Bose was good there too. Sayin that though, I had Open Up by Leftfield on loud enough to not be able to have a conversation and the bass was always tight and controlled.
Where the B&W shines is in clarity and THD. You always know you are listening to a really good hifi when you can have it so loud that you can't hear your own voice but it doesn't 'feel' loud. People perceive distortion as volume. The B&W never feels loud even when it is.
Of the top end hifi I've had in cars I would rank them thus:

XJ B&W
A8 D3 Bose
Lexus GS Mark Levinson
Range Rover HK L7
BMW E65 HK L7

My music taste extends far and wide. Everything from Jazz to Dubstep, ambient to hard house, thrash metal to folk.
 
I'd love to listen to it if you were to bring it to a future southern meet :) (that shows the hifi geek in me - car doesn't need to be driven, I'll happily just sit in it for half an hour playing with the audio system :D )
 
All my cars have had crap audio quality (unsurprisingly) The Skoda is pretty terrible (worse even than the Polo). The Toyotas were worse still though! :(

Best car audio I've heard is the Bose system in the old mans A6, but even that is quite bad. So would also be up for listening to the Jags speakers at a meet... :D
 
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The Alpine stuff in the S-Type R was appalling. The parcel-shelf subs rattled and distorted and the rest of the speakers were muddy and confused.
The Bose in the RX8 was bad too. It epitomised 'no highs, no lows; must be Bose'.
The worst 'supposedly decent' hifi I've had in a car was the Hifi professional DSP I had in a 540i back in the late 90s.
 
Dynaudio in the CC is very good, great clarity for its price. Bose in the TT is shocking by comparison, but then again i've never been a big Bose fan i think they sell overpriced very average audio gear.

Would love to listen to the B&W in the Jag.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Dynaudio in the CC is very good, great clarity for its price. Bose in the TT is shocking by comparison, but then again i've never been a big Bose fan i think they sell overpriced very average audio gear.

Would love to listen to the B&W in the Jag.
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Yes Bose in the mk2 TT wasn't anything special though far better than standard. The Bang & Olufsen in the mk3 is outstanding...the best I've heard in a car.
 
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