Standard audio vs Audi sound system

jonneymendoza

jonneymendoza

jonneymendoza

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Hi, has anyone used either systems ? i am wondering if its worth the extra 250 to go with the audi audio system?

Does the Audi sound system come with a subwoofer? if so, how much boot space does it take up?
 
Short answer, yes it is worth it. The upgraded Audi Sound System Option is far better than standard/stock one.

Which model is it for?

The subwoofer will vary from car to car but on the Audi A1, with ASS you get a AMP in the boot and more/better quality speakers.
 
I have the B&O in my 2012 A4, lovely sounding system,and it was a bargainous ~600 option. The sub is a little compact unit in the spare wheel well.

I find all standard systems in the likes of Audi,BMW & Merc to be a bit poor. Even the meridian system i tried in the Jag XF was nothing to write home about. If you do like music in your car then its well worth searching for a car with the uprated audio.
 
Ive got the B&O system in my current 2016 A3 Saloon. Good little package would highly recommend.

On a slightly different note is my annoyance with Audi still insisting on including their stupid Audi only phone/iPod connection in the car, which you have to buy an over priced Audi cable for. Both the 15 plate Skoda octavia VRS and 65 plate VW Tiguan I had simply had a standard USB port in them which you could plug your normal charging/data cable into with no special leads required. Why Audi still insist on installing their own connector I don't know.

Other than to sell over priced cables for obviously
 
I had the Bose system in my 2012 A3, it was brilliant in comparison to the standard Ford system I have on my 2016 car.

However I was only able to connect my iPhone through an auxiliary cable but hey ho, you can't have it all.
 
I've had all four now.

  • Standard sound system
  • Audi Sound System
  • Bose
  • Bang & Olufsen

By far the Bang & Olufsen is the better system. It's actually noticeably more rich / better quality. You really have to experience to understand the differences.

The Bose in my old TT was good and had a lot bass but I felt it lost a bit of quality the higher the volume. (not that I listen to music that loud really).

I feel that you should just get the best you can afford. IMO the B&O system is worth the money 10x over. It's excellent.
 
The Bose system in the 8J TT is poor imho, the soundstage is all wrong and certain frequency ranges appear to be poorly represented.

The above reinforces my long held opinion that Bose sells overpriced junk, the Dynaudio system in my CC is light years ahead.
 
Firestar_3x said:
The Bose system in the 8J TT is poor imho, the soundstage is all wrong and certain frequency ranges appear to be poorly represented.

The above reinforces my long held opinion that Bose sells overpriced junk, the Dynaudio system in my CC is light years ahead.
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The mk2 TT is an old car now. Came out in 2006/2007 I think so 10 years old and I think the Bose option was fairly inexpensive (around £600 I think?).
 
Apparently the B&O suffers from crackling issues when stream or playing mp3 songs due to Audi expecting 48kHz frequency and when trying to convert frequencies lower, You get the crackling issue.

see below

Recode all your music to 48kHz on media storage (yeah, I've seen you don't use it!)
but
Bluetooth is most susceptible to crackle, as it has to go through numerous re-coding steps in Audi with B&O.


The cure:
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/b-o-crackling-noises.210006/page-6#post-2532883


More on B&O Crackle:
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/b-o-crackling-how-common.222664/
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/b-o-crackling-noises.210006/
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?7060640-B-amp-O-Crackling-Issues
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/633066-B-amp-O-Crackling
http://forums.audipassion.com/topic/153130-gresillement-tweeters-bo/
Click to expand...

Since I am now for some weeks in contact with the technical department in Ingolstadt, I wanted to let you know what they told me.

The crackle when playing via Bluetooth, internal hard disk and SD card is known at Audi. It is because the MMI only transcodes the outputs from CD and AMI to 48kHz before it passes the audio stream to the amplifier. And because the amplifier only handles 48kHz properly....
-> Crackle

They also confirmed to me that every Audi A3 regardless of the model year, MMI, or sound system has this problem and only with model year 2017 (when Carplay / Android car is introduced) the problem is resolved. With B&O the crackle is just easier to hear. Audi will not remedy the deficiency in older vehicles, because too few clients complain about the issue, either because their ear does not notice or the service provider also likes to ignore the problem.
Click to expand...
 
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Firestar_3x said:
The above reinforces my long held opinion that Bose sells overpriced junk, the Dynaudio system in my CC is light years ahead.
Click to expand...

I agree, but also I'd be surprised if Bose are selling anything other than their name to the car audio manufacturers in many cases. I believe Ford's older Sony audio units are just re-branded Visteon units, and also I think with the 'upgraded Bose' option on the old Honda Accord, the only Bose component was the subwoofer driver in the rear shelf.

By contrast, my car's unbranded but "premium" audio system sounds absolutely superb - nice and rich, no real harshness throughout the frequency range, decent bass extension, and a good soundstage.
 
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jonneymendoza said:
Apparently the B&O suffers from crackling issues when stream or playing mp3 songs due to Audi expecting 48kHz frequency and when trying to convert frequencies lower, You get the crackling issue.

see below
Click to expand...

I have no such issues, with bluetooth streaming via my iPhone or USB cable.

I suggest you give it a try yourself to check? I'm sure there will be a car at the dealer which has B&O so you can test.
 
reincarnating an old post - I have just placed an order for a S5 Sportback and have a bit of time to decide on the optional extras. It comes with the Audi sound system as standard, the b&O is an additional £750. Has anyone tried both? Is it worth the extra? Note that this is a lease car which I will only keep for 2 - 3 years and will have to cough up the full amount upfront.

I have the Harman Kardon system on my current BMW 4 GC so used to decent quality audio.

Cheers
 
jonneymendoza said:
The B&o is well worth it!
Click to expand...
Yes and no. The standard system to the "mid" system (Audi Sound System) is a huge step up. The jump from ASS to B&O is noticeable to an audiophile, but far less pronounced a jump to a layman. I didn't bother going for B&O because for the most part, listening to radio rather than local media, I didn't see the benefit.

Don't get me wrong, the B&O is great, but you need the right media source to get the most from it.
 
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