I fear it might be a problem that will be difficult for a dealership to reproduce and to do anything about. B & O will have to analyse their sound system.
B&O Crackling - How common?
- Thread starter a3_phil
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I get crackling on my B&O on the first 20 or so secs of the lasted coldplay song - need to test other songs
Pickle1970
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That's just how good the system is, Coldplay?? it's trying to tell you something ;-)
My dealership can replicate it exactly on my car and on 2 others they've tested. Unfortunately, Audi UK/AG aren't forthcoming with a fix and claim they've never heard of the problem before.
and they initially claimed it was my phone, but we have now replicated it using an iPhone with music downloaded from iTunes, a GS5 with music downloaded from Spotify and USB with music downloaded from.................... now that'd be telling
I haven't experienced any issues with my B&O and Its amazing.
Would 100% recommend it! its a shame so many people are having problems with crackling.
I am due to order an S3 Saloon and will be ordering B&O again, hopefully I hit lucky again and dont have any problems!
Would 100% recommend it! its a shame so many people are having problems with crackling.
I am due to order an S3 Saloon and will be ordering B&O again, hopefully I hit lucky again and dont have any problems!
I was told that the standard A3 and the S3 & saloon have different convenience modules. The A3's don't have this issue, but we can definitely replicate this on two out of two S3's and an A3 saloon.
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May be because you have a A3 and not a S3 based on this thread. Very nervous times....
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Cannot understand why it would be different when it's the same chassis but different engine and the fact the s3 has Quattro.
Obviously there must be a difference!
Standard A3 Sportback with the issue. Considering they've changed the convenience module twice and the problem has remained I am almost certain the fault lies elsewhere, or is actually just a bad design in the amp circuit somewhere.
UK A3 Saloon here. Had it just under 1wk and have no crackling to my knowledge. The B&O is awesome. My fave option by far.....
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Nice! It's **** how they don't fix the issue asap , kind of makes you worry about ur brand new car before you even have it!
All luck I suppose.
I"ll not be ordering my S3 saloon till December time so I'll keep my eye out for updates on it!
All luck I suppose.
I"ll not be ordering my S3 saloon till December time so I'll keep my eye out for updates on it!
Checked mine out this evening with a track on my SD card that I know causing crackling (Mad Rush by Philip Glass if you must know, very high brow) from the high range speakers (A pillar). I got no crackling when playing back the same track from CD. Looking like a codec issue?...
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Yer possibly, so it does it on SD and not Cd then? You tested the same song on any other source?
Correct. I will do some more exhaustive troubleshooting in the next couple of days. Different sources, coding etc and see what happens. I think the file was coded as a 192kbps MP3 (Amazon download). Happens with other tracks on my SD but need to make a note of them. I will report back when I've got more info.
Your testing gave me another idea (continued from what I have tried here: http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/new-a3-s3-8v-chassis/210006-b-o-crackling-noises-3.html#post2215101 )
Considering CDR is "lossless" I attempted a FLAC rip of a song that is a known crackle for me at 320K (variable and fixed bitrates). The FLAC also crackled, although it seems a bit less noticeable.
I have also observed that radio (FM and Satellite) do no crackle. Neither does spoken nav commands no matter how loud I turn it up.
It's definitely some sort of digital clipping IMO.
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Carried out some more testing last night on a friends (Scott) S3 with B and O, tech pack high.
Same song ( format, file size, bit rate ). USB, iPhone 5S, GS5 SD card, Bluetooth, wifi ( via connect app )
Bluetooth from iPhone and GS5 - very noticeable cracking on some songs. Sub standard not acceptable listening experience.
USB, SD, WiFi, Cars own internal jukebox - using the exact same tracks as above at the point that it crackles the most it's still noticeable but barely just and in our opinions it's liveable whereas the bluetooth is not.
It's mainly there at the opening of a track and if it's very bass heavy or instrumental the crackling is masked so you won't hear it although it's there.
From a listening prospective usb, wifi, SD, etc whereas not perfect it's more then acceptable and thus the crackling is never present throughout a whole song it ok to live with, it is however "not right".
Now the severe problem lies with bluetooth, I suspect it's the encode / re-encode / compression at play here causing the fault, I've got a £40 belkin air connect bluetooth streaming device in my S3 8P and it works faultlessly. If you want to use YouTube, vevo, spotify then you need to use bluetooth. Some songs crackled that bad that you simply would not be able to use bluetooth without getting seriously annoyed or halving to skip through chunks of the track or turn the volume down.
The case is with Audi in Germany at the moment so be interesting to what their feedback is. I've ordered B and O on my new S3, the issues have not made me cancel it but again I won't be using bluetooth to stream music.
Same song ( format, file size, bit rate ). USB, iPhone 5S, GS5 SD card, Bluetooth, wifi ( via connect app )
Bluetooth from iPhone and GS5 - very noticeable cracking on some songs. Sub standard not acceptable listening experience.
USB, SD, WiFi, Cars own internal jukebox - using the exact same tracks as above at the point that it crackles the most it's still noticeable but barely just and in our opinions it's liveable whereas the bluetooth is not.
It's mainly there at the opening of a track and if it's very bass heavy or instrumental the crackling is masked so you won't hear it although it's there.
From a listening prospective usb, wifi, SD, etc whereas not perfect it's more then acceptable and thus the crackling is never present throughout a whole song it ok to live with, it is however "not right".
Now the severe problem lies with bluetooth, I suspect it's the encode / re-encode / compression at play here causing the fault, I've got a £40 belkin air connect bluetooth streaming device in my S3 8P and it works faultlessly. If you want to use YouTube, vevo, spotify then you need to use bluetooth. Some songs crackled that bad that you simply would not be able to use bluetooth without getting seriously annoyed or halving to skip through chunks of the track or turn the volume down.
The case is with Audi in Germany at the moment so be interesting to what their feedback is. I've ordered B and O on my new S3, the issues have not made me cancel it but again I won't be using bluetooth to stream music.
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Good work Challinor.
Whilst I obviously hope to get one of those with no issues at all, I'll be playing everything either from SD card or listening to DAB so hopefully it won't be much of an issue either way.
Is there any pattern people are noticing in terms of the age of the car, i.e. is it just older 8Vs with this problem or does it also affect the newly deliver A/S3s?
Whilst I obviously hope to get one of those with no issues at all, I'll be playing everything either from SD card or listening to DAB so hopefully it won't be much of an issue either way.
Is there any pattern people are noticing in terms of the age of the car, i.e. is it just older 8Vs with this problem or does it also affect the newly deliver A/S3s?
snakehips
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Did you also try from the iPhone through the MMI cable and also off the tech pack's own HDD? They are the only 2 sources I ever use and never had crackling.
I don't have a lightning cable or adapter as I don't have an iPhone, so no, we didn't try that.
We did try the songs on the internal hard drive and they're the same as SD/USB/WiFi. Noticeable to us (when we're listening for it, and we know what to listen for and when to listen) but potentially not noticeable for someone who's never heard it. I've heard it in three out of three cars I've listened to, so I do suspect it affects all, or a very high majority. A good track to test with is "Ella Eyre - Deeper" at vol 25+ - this is especially noticeable via Bluetooth and it's what Audi have been using to test/demo it.
snakehips
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OK, I have that song on my iPhone. Will try via MMI and Bluetooth later and let you know.
Pickle1970
Registered User
Having never heard of that song i hope i'll be okay ;-)
I will only be listening through DAB and ipod/SD card so fingers crossed.
I will only be listening through DAB and ipod/SD card so fingers crossed.
snakehips
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I just tested with the Ella Eyre song from my iPhone at 320kbps. It was perfect through the MMI cable and, though I think the overall quality was slightly reduced, no crackling through Bluetooth either.
Not sure what this proves though. Either that some systems don't have the issue or my version of the track is encoded differently?
Scott - if you really want to be thorough PM me and we'll email each other our versions.
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Thanks mate, i'd be using it in a similar way to yourself, mainly over WiFi and USB HDD. Its a real shame though for anyone wanting to use Bluetooth.
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Yes we did off the jukebox and branded the same results as SD, UBS, WiFi, etc. Just updated original post as missed it off in my haste this morning.
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Hmm that is interesting, Scott's version was off spotify but highest setting "ultra" I think @ 320kbps. Also tried the track off youtube official vevo and vevo app and still got very bad crackling.
Could be interesting as master tech told Scott that S3 has different MMI so that could be the cause.
Reading this thread makes me feel that again Audi don't basically care, and are in no hurry to find a solution (Bose in TTs all over again). You guys have paid big bucks to get the top sound system and here you are having to think of workarounds so as not to suffer too much with the crackling. I'm afraid to say that you shouldn't hold your breath waiting for Audi to fix it - I doubt they will whilst more people continue to tick the B&O box. Only if the sales of this option dried up might they do something, and then I'm not sure.
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