B9 Audi Sound System vs B&O

I own a B9 Premium that has the standard stereo system factory-installed. A few days after delivery, I had to take my B9 in for an issue, and I had a loaner for a few days that was a B9 Premium+ with the B&O stereo system factory-installed. So, I've had a chance to hear both systems for several days each.

I tend to agree with the theme in this thread that the bass is way better in the B&O system. If I push the bass too hard in my B9, it sounds quite distorted. I've had to turn the bass equalizer channel down to about half-way, and keep the volume no more than 2/3 of the way up to avoid hearing this awful racket. In contrast, I pushed the B&O as loud as I could tolerate, with the bass eq channel all the way up, and I never heard any distortion.

The stereo is my one regret with the B9 Premium. I couldn't stomach the extra $4,000 to get a B9 Premium+ with the Tech package to have like-for-like features with my B9 JUST to have the B&O stereo.

I'm in the process of getting quotes on an after-market upgrade for the woofer mounted in the rear window/deck area. Based on what I've seen so far, I should be able to upgrade to a much better speaker, plus a mono amplifier exclusively for the subwoofer, for under $1,000 (parts, labor, tax...out the door). I've gotten some outlying quotes between $2,000-$3,000, but those guys wanted to install a separate knob and switch in the dash to control the amplifier, and do a whole custom-enclosure build out. Replacing the speaker, adding the amp, and running a power line from the engine compartment is really all that's required. Twenty years ago, I was doing this myself for my car and my friends cars. I'd do it on my B9 if I had the time, but I'm too busy adulting now.
 
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Why not obtain the B&O speaker, from what I understand, as you have the *** anyway it could be just a straight swop. I understand this is the case with the A3 8V so it could be worth trying.
 
Why not obtain the B&O speaker, from what I understand, as you have the *** anyway it could be just a straight swop. I understand this is the case with the A3 8V so it could be worth trying.

Pretty sure the B&O woofer is more power-hungry. Would need to upgrade the amp as well. Don't want to blow the *** amp.
 
As I stated, on the a3 forum, as far as I remember, there was a successful swop. I will see if I can find the thread...
 
It would be a massive job as the *** is 10 speaker and the B&O is 19 speakers! You would have to get all the different trim for the B&O as well.
 
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Hey guys, new here but wanted to chip in on the discussion.
I have the audi sound system installed on my b9 A4 sedan, I have also listened to an audi sound system in an b9 a4 avant.

A few things I am extremely frustrated about in the sedan version:
  • No ability to tweak mid and subwoofer, the only option is low and high. I drove an A3 with the Audi sound system and had the ability to change subwoofer and mid frequencies. So this was very dissapointing. I heard even the B&O does not have any option to tweak mid and sub, which is awful considering the price.
  • My subwoofer hits the grill very hard, which causes a very annoying rattle. Even when playing fairly standard songs, it makes listening to some songs unbarable. I have to place weight on the grill itself in order to fix this, I think I'll have to line it with something but will probably go to the garage and see what they can do.
When I was driving the Avant, I noticed that the subwoofer was mounted in the trunk itself, where the replacement wheel is usually placed, which was not prone to rattling and sounded very good overall.

Other then that, when the subwoofer rattle is fixed, the system sounds great.

Furthermore, some things to consider when testing speakers, in a new car, usually the speakers are not broken in yet, and you miss a lot of the mid and lower frequencies as the membrane of the speaker has to become more 'supple' over time. This can be fixed by playing your stereo on a fairly loud volume for an extensive period of time, usually between 10-50 hours of loud music should improve the speakers significantly. Keep that in mind when you're taking a test drive.
 
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  • My subwoofer hits the grill very hard, which causes a very annoying rattle. Even when playing fairly standard songs, it makes listening to some songs unbarable. I have to place weight on the grill itself in order to fix this, I think I'll have to line it with something but will probably go to the garage and see what they can do.

I never thought to investigate whether the distortion that I was hearing was being caused by physical contact with another object. I just assumed it was the speaker itself. I'm going to pop the grill off and test that out. Maybe just adding a spacer to raise the grill up a bit is all that's needed to make it sound a little less crappy.
 
I never thought to investigate whether the distortion that I was hearing was being caused by physical contact with another object. I just assumed it was the speaker itself. I'm going to pop the grill off and test that out. Maybe just adding a spacer to raise the grill up a bit is all that's needed to make it sound a little less crappy.
Let me know how it works out for you, and if you can remove the grill easily. I'm hesitant to try it myself as I think some cushion foam just might fix it.
 
Got my brand new 3.0tdi sline avant on the 1St March with the B&O sound system..... It's OK, nothing more. Tweeters crackle at high volume and whilst on the phone, so will be going straight back in to audi at 1 week old!
 
Something to keep in mind - if you listen to tunes over bluetooth, _YOU WILL_ lose audio quality as the bit rate is lower compared to e.g. listening over USB or listening to a CD. Also keep in mind if you are streaming, the bit-rate could well be even lower depending on network quality. Just make sure you are comparing apples to apples if you do a comparison.

I've got the B&O in my B9 and really like it. I listen to tunes over USB (Android Auto). Honestly though did not compare to normal sound system. For me audio is just not something I am prepared to compromise on as I love my tunes.
 
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The sound quality is certainly better through sd card, usb, apple car play etc than it is streamed or over bluetooth. Listening to a cd with the B&O set up properly is awesome. The demo disc the dealer put through the system at handover blew me away! Poor sound quality with the B&O is almost certain to be down to the source rather than the system.
 
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I went from a b8.5 with B&O to a B9 with the ***. It was a stock car and I didn't have the ability to spec the options. Getting out of the B&O into the *** car it was immediately apparent that some of the clarity was missing, the sounds just weren't as rich. Its maybe unfair to compare a brand new set of speakers to a system that had been 'bedded in'.

All that said, when I tweaked the bass and treble on the *** it is actually very very good (to my ears at least) and now I've lived with it I'm not sure I would have got a proportionally better sound for the extra money the B&O costs. Undoubtedly its better but maybe not £600 better if that makes sense.

I do think the bass is stronger than it was in the b8.5 B&O actually. You were never really aware that there was a sub in that but its very clear that there is in the ***.
 
The demo disc the dealer put through the system at handover blew me away! Poor sound quality with the B&O is almost certain to be down to the source rather than the system.

I wonder what the chances of getting a copy of the demo disc is, I'd expect it to be tailored to make the lost of the 3D sound and speaker setup, or was it just a standard track?
 
I wonder what the chances of getting a copy of the demo disc is, I'd expect it to be tailored to make the lost of the 3D sound and speaker setup, or was it just a standard track?
It was a proper Audi/B&O demo disc. It was obviously recorded to show the system at its best.....and how! The sound went round the cars interior using the speakers front to back, left to right and just about everywhere else. The sound was really full, with plenty of base and the voice and music aspects were very clear. It also had video to show the power of the nvidia platform and the screen. All very impressive. If the system can handle the challenging contents of the disc as impressively as it did it's got to be what's being put through it that's limiting its performance.
Compressed music files are bad enough, but streaming them and playing through Bluetooth will always have a detrimental affect on the quality. If you put rubbish in, you'll get rubbish out!
 
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i've got the B&O in my B9 S4 svant, its the first car sound system i have ever been impressed with
had B&O in my 2015 A7 but the 3d surround is really impressive technology, its a better system than i have in the house as i'm feeling bass and dynamics that i'm not used too. ace.
 
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I feel mine just getting worse and worse.

Front speakers replaced twice now. Have Rattles in the front door. Rear Parcel shelf vibrates and Rattles. Yes I listen to my music at 3/4 volume. But I never had this issue with the a3 or my astra prior.

I'm thinking of getting the front doors and parcel shelf sound deadened. I've been quoted 800 quid??? Does that sound right... and not sure who to go to, to get it done? As 800 seems overly priced imo.

I really really like the system. But all these things let it down big time imo.
 
Ignore the last post, error.
What i was gonna say was don't even get me started on the sound system! I have the 10 speaker version and I hate it! its gutless as most have said, no bass, the mids are horrible and it rattles like crazy when you give it some volume. In its defence it has gotten noticeably better during the time I've had the car, but nowhere near as good as any of my systems in my last car. if I had know this I would of ticked the B&O in the options list.


Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk
 
I've always plumt for the premium option, B&O in the last few cars and Bose prior to that. I'm not a great audiophile but have to say I'm not overly impressed with the B&O
In my B8.5, whilst the speakers seem ok, the door pockets just rattle at high volume.
It would be good to get hold of the B&O demo track to test the system, might have a google as I'm sure you could download the tracks.
 
I think the speakers need to settle in somewhat. Although to be honest when the A6's B&O system costs 5K ish, maybe too much is expected from the £800 version (If that's the right price).

Possibly not but thought I'd put it out there
 
Mine seriously blows my head off with no rattling at all. I've heard instruments that I hadn't heard before and have a bose system in the house, although I don't have it very loud in the house as it scares the dog.
 
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Incidentally, has anybody tested the 10 speaker standard speakers AND the B&O speakers and can compare both back to back?
Hi

I have just received my B9 and had the B+O in my B8 black edition. There really is no comparison the standard Audi is crap compared. I am gutted I am going to have 3 years without it
 
No highs, no lows, must be Bose. I have the BO system in my b9. I haven't listened critically to my car system, but I do know and like good sound.
I will take a couple CDs out to the car and try them out on the road. Perhaps King Crimson's Larks Tongues in Aspic would be a good test.
 
The b&o in my b9 S4 is the best sound system I've ever heard in a car.

This comes from experience of having:

Bose in TT mk2 (owned)
B&O in A5 09 (owned)
Harmon kardon in 06 SLK 55 AMG (lengthy listen)
Harmon kardon in e92 M3 convertible (lengthy listen)

This specific implementation of b&O just perfect.
 
Also need to consider the audio source. Someone on here mentioned with the radio, the B&O didn't sound much better... no surprises , DAB audio is fairly low resolution - UK transmitted DAB effective bandwidth is about 64kbps to 128kbps using MP2 coded - lower quality than MP3 ... it might sound better than FM in terms of much interference, a quantum leap over AM,... but compared to your low cost hifi you can get for living room, that will decode MP3 and push it out at 128-192kbps, it's low.
To test the quality, you really need a great audio source : encode something to at least at 192kbs (preferably 320 ) to reduce losses (didn't think the Audi system will support some of the more high end lossless encoding formats , but high bit MP3 should be fine)... put that onto SD card and then try that in both the different setups.
In the end, a good quality audio system will still sound poor if you feed it with poor audio source...
 
I've managed to listen to a settled in B&O system in an S5. There really is NO difference between it and the *** at normal listening levels until you crank the sound right up and the bass in the B&O is noticebly better.
 
Very happy with the system in my S4. The bass handling on some of the more bassy songs isn't great, but as long as it's on 0 and not too loud there isn't a huge amount of distortion.
 
For those interested I decided to have a go at fixing the B&o speaker rattle. You can do this yourself 10mins max.

Removed the grill and found these foamy bits. Looks like audi applied the tpi when they built mine?
IMG 5003


I bought a roll of this and covered the deck which has now fixed the rattle :D

IMG 5047
 
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For those interested I decided to have a go at fixing the B&o speaker rattle. You can do this yourself 10mins max.

Removed the grill and found these foamy bits. Looks like audi applied the tpi when they built mine?
View attachment 135662

I bought a roll of this and covered the deck which has now fixed the rattle :D

View attachment 135663
What was the issue - speaker rattling in its housing?
 
For those interested I decided to have a go at fixing the B&o speaker rattle. You can do this yourself 10mins max.

Removed the grill and found these foamy bits. Looks like audi applied the tpi when they built mine?
View attachment 135662

I bought a roll of this and covered the deck which has now fixed the rattle :D

View attachment 135663

How did you get the grill off and where did you get the tape from? The passenger side on mine is rattling quite a lot so might have a go at that.
 
That foam solution to me is nothing more than a bodge job and I feel quite unacceptable for Audi...
 
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How did you get the grill off and where did you get the tape from? The passenger side on mine is rattling quite a lot so might have a go at that.
Tape from eBay. Grill just pops out
 
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4 new speakers and 5 new grilles later..... no doubting it is betyer than the standard audi system but the build quality is s**te.