B&O crackling noises

The 5F is the main MMI control unit - mine had that replaced a while back and yes, it's between £2000 and £3000!

As for crackling, the only issue I've had was one blown speaker in the driver's door which was fixed early on under warranty - been fine since then.

As for settings, I have the sub on about +2. Anyone who has their sub right up to max or thereabouts obviously spends their evenings in a Maccy D's carpark :p ;)
 
Slightly worrying how many of these appear to be getting replaced.... Hate to think of having to do that outside of warranty :s

Vertigo, is your B&O sounding like it should yet? You mentioned it was lacking punch since they updated some firmware?
 
Yes it's fine now. After the original software update there was definitely something wrong with it and it didn't sound anywhere near as good as it used to. They've since had the car for nearly a week and, whilst there are still a lot of issues with the MMI, the B&O is at least sounding like it used to so that's a relief. See my "saga continues" thread for other details, including the arrival of text messaging and Wifi connectivity! :)
 
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Vertigo1 said:
The 5F is the main MMI control unit - mine had that replaced a while back and yes, it's between £2000 and £3000!

As for crackling, the only issue I've had was one blown speaker in the driver's door which was fixed early on under warranty - been fine since then.

As for settings, I have the sub on about +2. Anyone who has their sub right up to max or thereabouts obviously spends their evenings in a Maccy D's carpark :p ;)
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How would you know the speaker was blown? I say this because I heard a popping sound from the dash area a while ago but everything seems to be working fine but I still wonder if it's the speakers maybe?
 
Vertigo1 said:
Yes it's fine now. After the original software update there was definitely something wrong with it and it didn't sound anywhere near as good as it used to. They've since had the car for nearly a week and, whilst there are still a lot of issues with the MMI, the B&O is at least sounding like it used to so that's a relief. See my "saga continues" thread for other details, including the arrival of text messaging and Wifi connectivity! :)
Click to expand...

I missed that thread. Great to know B&O is fully functional :)
 
RVP20 said:
How would you know the speaker was blown? I say this because I heard a popping sound from the dash area a while ago but everything seems to be working fine but I still wonder if it's the speakers maybe?
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It was distorting badly at certain frequencies at high volume. Piano was the worst culprit.
 
So that's 3 people who've had the module replaced? Interesting!! Just spoke to my dealer but they want me to book the car in. I don't want to leave the car indefinitely until they know what they're going to do. So frustrating! I mean, if I leave the car with them, I won't be able to sit in McD's car parks for a week or so as they'll give me a sh1tty courtesy car no doubt!
 
Just collected mine. It was indeed the MMI unit that was replaced, its on the invoice as aporox £2,600 + VAT ... x2 as the first replacement was also faulty.

Anyway.... The problem of the crackling is much better, BUT, its still there.

Make of that what you will. I will be listening carefully throughout the next couple of months to see if it deteriorates to the same level prior to repair.
 
Vertigo1 said:
It was distorting badly at certain frequencies at high volume. Piano was the worst culprit.
Click to expand...

Is it noticeable to anyone or just yourself as you are used to the system? After I heard the 'popping' sound from the dash area mine seems to not sound as loud and as deep as it did when the volume is say at 20. Maybe I'm being paranoid or is mine faulty but it's difficult to tell??
 
Oh good god yes - when the speaker went the distortion from it was horrid. Only certain frequencies would trigger it, such as piano as I mentioned, but when it did, anyone could tell it was broken.
 
Vertigo1 said:
Oh good god yes - when the speaker went the distortion from it was horrid. Only certain frequencies would trigger it, such as piano as I mentioned, but when it did, anyone could tell it was broken.
Click to expand...

Oh right that's not good at all! I hope it's sounding as sweet as it should do ASAP!
I take it mine should be ok then?
 
I took my car into a local Audi dealership earlier in the week and explained the details. The tech had a listen and confirmed that he could hear the crackling, and I mentioned that it was the MMI units (5F) that were being replaced and improving/resolving the issues for some people. He asked for any references/TPI etc anything that might be of use to him, so I said I'd try to find out and let him know. This would save having to leave the car with them for an undetermined amount of time while they perform diagnostics and wait for Audi UK/Germany to get back to them. I would really appreciate it if anyone who's had this done would either speak to their dealership and ask for any references that other dealerships could use and/or that Audi UK/Germany would understand, or provide the name of the dealership and possibly the name of the person who they dealt with in service, and I will speak to them/let my dealers know. I don't want to leave my car there for a week pointlessly! Cheers!
 
So with it being nearly 2 weeks without my A3, it's finally ready for pick up on Tuesday.
They've replaced the B&O amplifier and apparently this has cured it.
Weather it has or not will be remain to be seen on Tuesday, been loving the Q3 courtesy car although terribly thirsty on fuel!

Will keep you all updated, can't see my local dealer replacing the mmi unit? On what basis have they faulted the mmi units that have been replaced?
 
Just found this thread as I'm pretty much set on speccing B&O on a new Sportback and this is concerning me a little bit..... May I ask if there has been any progress with any of your systems?
 
I kept forgetting to post an update on mine - sorry.

The 5F unit was replaced under warranty. It was unclear whether this was an attempt to fix the crackling, or just because it threw up a different error message at the garage. The new 5F unit did seem to improve the crackling slightly, but it was still there and very noticeable. By this point i'd given up hoping to get it resolved as the two dealers I took it to admitted they couldn't really hear the problem....

Out of the blue I had a call from my local dealer to inform me there was an MMI update available for the car, which needed me to bring it in. The only release notes for the update stated it was just a generic software update on DVD. After they had done the update I noticed a few things:

1) A whole heap of Bluetooth fixes, I now had the 'Messages' option in the MMI. As well as full support for my Nexus 5 phonebook which previously hadn't worked.
2) Map updates
3) Sound system update
4) General bug fixes / MMI Menu updates

No. 3 provided the most interest. I noticed new options in the sound menu (I can now set focus to rear, instead of just front / all). I also noticed they appear to have changed the EQ settings, and miraculously improved the crackling! Now I can't be sure, but I think they have tweaked the trebble, or reduced the top end on the EQ in order to minimise the crackling. At the same time it feels like there is waaaaay more bass / punch to the system, to the point where I turned the bass down for the first time ever.

This is all very subjective due to the lack of any release notes, but I've had a good month to listen to it all carefully so i'm fairly confident with my analysis. Has it completley removed the crackling? No, but now I think you'd struggle to hear it unless you knew what to listen for, or had heard it before. I'm not sure whether the root cause of this crackle is faulty hardware (to which they've applied a software 'fix'), or a generic software issue. But either way, I suspect cars being produced now will have eiher corrected hardware (5F unit or Amp) or will have this software update applied from the factory.

All my opinion, happy to be proved wrong of course :)
 
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Thanks for that update! May just have to take a leap of faith as worst comes to the worst, at least warranty will have my back.....
I pray it'll be okay...
 
I picked up my brand new car yesterday, and whilst listening to some quiet parts of certain songs, I have discovered I have too been cursed with the dreaded crackling noise with my B&O. From what I gather, it seems to be out of the speaker in the dashboard, and happens regardless of volume, but particularly bad when it's turned up. I have fiddled with every single setting in the sound menu, nothing is resolving the issue. It's a MY15 car, so I presume all the software is upto date...? It's playback via bluetooth on my iphone. My previous car had upgraded sound system, played music the same way, with no issues. So I know it's not the tracks.

What would you guys advise? I will obviously take it in to the dealership, however if I can steer them in the right direction for a cure, it will probably mean they won't need my car as long!!

I really appreciate any advice.

Thanks
 
Out of interest, does the same thing happen if you play a CD? The fact that it's coming from the centre speaker and unrelated to volume rings alarm bells about the sorts of things that can happen when you matrix together heavily compressed stereo audio tracks - eg mp3.
 
The crackling issue reported in the thread relates to all speakers, and is a fault somewhere between the media source (5F unit) and the Amp.

If you've narrowed down the crackling to a single speaker then it suggests an issue either with that particular speaker, or perhaps a single channel in the amp.

As suggested above, try a different media source (SD or CD) with the same music and see if the problem persists. Bluetooth sound quality is not as good as a CD/SD so it's worth ruling it out early on.
 
I actually haven't got any CDs !! I'm going to sort out some music on an SD card and test it out over the weekend. I'm going to still take it in on Monday, because even if I am streaming from my phone, it's not good enough from a £750 system... Will update on my situation next week!!
 
Ok so I had an audi tech look at the speakers today. Immediately said it was to do with the bluetooth and not the speakers. Played the same song off the same phone, once over bluetooth, and once connected with the iphone 5 ami lead. The ami lead gave no crackling whatsoever. My sales guy is getting me a lead for free, I'm certainly not paying £60 for the ami lead pack!

He said certain phones are worse than others. Anyone got a 5S? Is that any better? At least it's not an issue with the speakers!
 
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This is just a long shot but you never know! When Apple launched v7.1 and v7.1.1 of their iOS they inadvertently introduced some major problems with Bluetooth items working with iPhones - just do a Google search on "bt problems with iOS 7.1". There are countless examples of BT items not connecting correctly and Apple are to launch v7.1.2 this week or next to solve the problems.

You never know but this could be why some people are having problems and others not (those who sensibly remained at v7.0!).
 
Dazs87 said:
Ok so I had an audi tech look at the speakers today. Immediately said it was to do with the bluetooth and not the speakers. Played the same song off the same phone, once over bluetooth, and once connected with the iphone 5 ami lead. The ami lead gave no crackling whatsoever. My sales guy is getting me a lead for free, I'm certainly not paying £60 for the ami lead pack!

He said certain phones are worse than others. Anyone got a 5S? Is that any better? At least it's not an issue with the speakers!
Click to expand...

I know Scott had issues respective of whatever input he was using, so with you was it just via Bluetooth?
 
Yes definitely ... Just bluetooth. I hope glospete is right about the potential update and patch from apple... In the meantime, I'll ami it til then
 
Dazs87 said:
Yes definitely ... Just bluetooth. I hope glospete is right about the potential update and patch from apple... In the meantime, I'll ami it til then
Click to expand...

iOS v7.1.2 for iPhone is released today. Hope it works to solve your problem!
 
Hey glospete! Bad news !! The update had no effect on the bluetooth crackling... Hopefully the new iOS release in a couple of months can solve the issue. Until then, ami ...!
 
Dazs87 said:
Hey glospete! Bad news !! The update had no effect on the bluetooth crackling... Hopefully the new iOS release in a couple of months can solve the issue. Until then, ami ...!
Click to expand...

What a shame. As you say perhaps iOS 8 may make a difference although I'm tending towards thinking it is a different problem. Can't blame Apple for everything!
 
I think essentially the issue is that you're taking already compressed audio (mp3 etc), decompressing it in the phone and recompressing it again at a much lower bitrate for Bluetooth. You're getting compression concatenation, with compression artefacts from the mp3 process being recompressed to Bluetooth. Then you're matrixing together heavily compressed left and right channels to feed into a centre channel and you're suddenly hearing issues caused by all those compression artefacts overlapping.

It might be better with high-bitrate mp3s (320kb/s etc) in the iphone. Or just do what I do and copy your iTunes library onto an SD card and just leave it permanently in the car. :)
 
steverobertsbbc said:
I think essentially the issue is that you're taking already compressed audio (mp3 etc), decompressing it in the phone and recompressing it again at a much lower bitrate for Bluetooth. You're getting compression concatenation, with compression artefacts from the mp3 process being recompressed to Bluetooth. Then you're matrixing together heavily compressed left and right channels to feed into a centre channel and you're suddenly hearing issues caused by all those compression artefacts overlapping.

It might be better with high-bitrate mp3s (320kb/s etc) in the iphone. Or just do what I do and copy your iTunes library onto an SD card and just leave it permanently in the car. :)
Click to expand...

It will definitely be worth trying this, recode your troublesome track to high bitrate AAC or 320 kbps mp3 as an experiment, and try again. When you stream using Bluetooth this converts the audio again using the aptX codec, so you are definitely doing multiple coding & compression as stated above.

in other news, iOS 7.1.2 screwed my phone the sh1tty piece of junk software crap.
 
veeeight said:
It will definitely be worth trying this, recode your troublesome track to high bitrate AAC or 320 kbps mp3 as an experiment, and try again. When you stream using Bluetooth this converts the audio again using the aptX codec, so you are definitely doing multiple coding & compression as stated above.

in other news, iOS 7.1.2 screwed my phone the sh1tty piece of junk software crap.
Click to expand...

All my devices were fine, now shhh or Scott will start trolling lol.
 
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Mine happens using bluetooth with a Galaxy S5 or when playing off USB. DAB is fine. I tried the same songs off the same phone in an A5 with B&O and they were ok. There's no way I'm accepting it's a bluetooth issue.
 
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benhock101 said:
All this is making me very nervous about speccing B&O.........
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It does smack of the BOSE problems which haunts many TT owners. Of course the cause will be completely different (the BOSE problems are caused by moisture inside the amplifier) but it isn't what you expect of the high-end system which people spec. I feel a little more comfortable about my Audi Sound System option - I don't think there have been any problems with that (yet!).
 
I wonder if any of these problems are related to the noise cancellation system that's in B&O? That's an added piece of complexity that Audi Sound System doesn't have, and if it goes wrong it could possibly be making sounds instead of cancelling them out.
 
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Stephen C said:
I wonder if any of these problems are related to the noise cancellation system that's in B&O? That's an added piece of complexity that Audi Sound System doesn't have, and if it goes wrong it could possibly be making sounds instead of cancelling them out.
Click to expand...

The only thing I can think of that you might be referring to is GALA but I'm not sure it's a noise cancelling system, I thought it only adjusted volume based on background noise rather than cancelling the noise out?

I think the fact that it's an active system does introduce all sorts of oppurtunites for interference, crackling and the like. However, for a £750 option, I'd expect it to work without issue. Order day tomorrow so I'm going to spec it in the knowledge that I'll have a warranty behind me! Plus, those speaker grilles must be had!
 
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I'm using Bluetooth on my Galaxy S4...no issues on B&O. Using also ami-usb kabel, no issues and with SD card no issues.
When using Bluetooth I usually use spotify... not playing any mp3s. But with HDD connected with usb(ami) and SD card, I have mixed quality (some old mp3 with 128 and newer with 320kb/s VBR and CBR, also using more and more flac). I haven't noticed any crackles or other weird noises.

This is the only fault I have had 2-3 times on my B&O. A really high sssshhh sound, it help when you change to radio and back. Shutting down car for a sec did not make any difference but it could be that the soundsystem is still on for a while. But as I said change of source fixes the issues.
20140517_160559.mp4 Video by MoFFe79 | Photobucket
 
moffe said:
I'm using Bluetooth on my Galaxy S4...no issues on B&O. Using also ami-usb kabel, no issues and with SD card no issues.
When using Bluetooth I usually use spotify... not playing any mp3s. But with HDD connected with usb(ami) and SD card, I have mixed quality (some old mp3 with 128 and newer with 320kb/s VBR and CBR, also using more and more flac). I haven't noticed any crackles or other weird noises.

This is the only fault I have had 2-3 times on my B&O. A really high sssshhh sound, it help when you change to radio and back. Shutting down car for a sec did not make any difference but it could be that the soundsystem is still on for a while. But as I said change of source fixes the issues.
20140517_160559.mp4 Video by MoFFe79 | Photobucket
Click to expand...

That's interesting, as surely that issue would point towards the actual MMI system being at fault rather than the speaker system??
 
benhock101 said:
The only thing I can think of that you might be referring to is GALA but I'm not sure it's a noise cancelling system, I thought it only adjusted volume based on background noise rather than cancelling the noise out?

I think the fact that it's an active system does introduce all sorts of oppurtunites for interference, crackling and the like. However, for a £750 option, I'd expect it to work without issue. Order day tomorrow so I'm going to spec it in the knowledge that I'll have a warranty behind me! Plus, those speaker grilles must be had!
Click to expand...

From the brochure description of the B&O system, not sure if this is different to GALA:

"The sound is permanently adapted to compensate for driving and background noises determined by a microphone."
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