Bang & Olufsen v's Audi Sound System

dentsy said:
Hi all, someone said that the B&0 in the 2010 A4 special editions have speaker rings that light up on all speakers ?
Si
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Sorry to disappoint Si, but neither the B8 or B8.5 A4/S4/RS4 has speaker lights on the B&O system
 
SilureMark said:
B&O all the way. I made the mistake of getting *** on my S3, it's pretty awful. The sound that comes out of it is like someone's covered the speakers with a damp cloth. If it was a standard system, I could forgive it for being so bad, but as a cost extra, it's a joke. I keep the volume below 15 most of the time, as to avoid ruining my favourite music. It's barely passable for listening to radio, but again, turn the volume up and I start to cringe at the sound quality it produces. I'm defo going B&O on my new TTS or RS3, once I can make my mind up which to order. lol.
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I agree entirely the only tweek I could really do with is the front centre speaker it really could do with a fader..Id never go back to *** or standard it really does get better with time.
 
mikeyvee said:
I agree entirely the only tweek I could really do with is the front centre speaker it really could do with a fader..Id never go back to *** or standard it really does get better with time.
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I went for the *** on my new A4, thinking it would be comparible to the Harman Kardon system on my old E46 BMW. It is not.
As stated above, the *** is pretty terrible for an 'upgraded' soundsystem.
If you actually want to do your music any justice, opt for the B&O, every time.
 
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junglemusic said:
I went for the *** on my new A4, thinking it would be comparible to the Harman Kardon system on my old E46 BMW. It is not.
As stated above, the *** is pretty terrible for an 'upgraded' soundsystem.
If you actually want to do your music any justice, opt for the B&O, every time.
Click to expand...

I haven't heard the *** but I absolutely love the B&O and if I ordered another Audi would definitely have it again.

My mate picks up his 4 series Gran Coupe tomorrow with the HK sound system, will be interesting to hear how it compares to the B&O once he runs it in.
 
Well the wife got her B8 s line special edition now it's a really nice car but to be honest a little dissapointed with the B&O I thought it would have all the settings in the dsp like movie etc but it hasn't . It's got lots of nice speakers and it's far superior to her Audi system that she had in her SE B8 but even she says the sound is nothing like the Ausi system in my C6 allroad as that's amazing
 
I need bang and olufsen amplifier holder.
8b6424471e7544c6897e4840aca756e7.png


Do you know where can I get it?
Ebay not help at all.
 
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Standard 9VK, 80 Marketing Watts, 8 Speakers, 4-ch amp in 5F

*** 9VD, 180 Marketing Watts, 10 Speakers, 6-ch amp in 5F

B+O 9VS, 705 Marketing Watts, 14 Speakers, 15-ch amp external
 
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"Marketing Watts"? Is this a new addition to the SI system of units of measurement?

I've never heard any of the sound systems available, but opted for the B&O to play it safe. Pleased I did!
 
Marketing (peak) watts is what is printed in brochures, as opposed to real (RMS or Continuous) Watts.
 
I just came across this thread and in regards to the 'crackle' from the B&O sound system I find it's only with certain songs, some don't have any crackle and some have far too much which really frustrates me.

As someone else said here I honestly think alot of people don't even hear or notice it, my wife is a perfect example - once I pointed it out to her she was like 'wow yeah it does crackle alot'.

So I am curious is there a way to fix the crackle? Is it covered under warranty at all or is it simply how this speaker package operates? I truly do LOVE the B&O system but the crackle lets it down alot for me. I play everything via iPhone bluetooth generally from Spotify which is set to Extreme quality - I haven't actually used the CD player or SD card slot yet but I have certainly tweaked the system to my liking - as others have mentioned bringing the speaker balance to the front makes a world of difference!

Cheers.
 
 
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Can anyone tell me what DAC is used in the B&O S3, and can it play back hi-res music downloads without down sampling them?
Thank you in advance of any reply.
 
Specced B&O on my new A3 picked up on Saturday, and very happy so far. Started with EQ levels suggested on the Settings thread for B&O, and still tweaking, but overall it sounds great. One question - am I right in thinking that there isn't a Shuffle option for playing music from an iPod touch (playlists, tracks etc.)? If there is, I haven't found it yet.
 
testcard said:
Specced B&O on my new A3 picked up on Saturday, and very happy so far. Started with EQ levels suggested on the Settings thread for B&O, and still tweaking, but overall it sounds great. One question - am I right in thinking that there isn't a Shuffle option for playing music from an iPod touch (playlists, tracks etc.)? If there is, I haven't found it yet.
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I think if you go into Media, then Settings there is a shuffle option (might be called something else). That works when I bluetooth my phone to the car and play music from playlists on there.
 
Just been out to the car to take a look. In Media > Settings there are Repeat options for Playlist and Track and Off, but no Shuffle option in the menu.
 
If your music is on an SD card then if you play from it then go into settings you'll see an option for random play
 
So Random Play/Shuffle only works on an SD card and not on an Ipod touch? Strange!
 
yes, I just put my Ipod on shuffle and it works fine.
 
That's strange - thought the Shuffle option would be available regardless of the input.
 
I turned on Shuffle on my iPod and it worked until I turned off the ignition and found that Shuffle was turned off. As I don't have Random Playback as an option in Media > Settings, I assume that putting my music on an SD card wouldn't solve the problem?
 
testcard said:
I turned on Shuffle on my iPod and it worked until I turned off the ignition and found that Shuffle was turned off. As I don't have Random Playback as an option in Media > Settings, I assume that putting my music on an SD card wouldn't solve the problem?
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Putting music on an SD will stay on shuffle until you change the setting in the MMI...........far better than fannying around with ipods and the like.
 
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Sounds like it, and thanks. Next stop Amazon and a new SD card.
 
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JamesH1973 said:
Can anyone tell me what DAC is used in the B&O S3, and can it play back hi-res music downloads without down sampling them?
Thank you in advance of any reply.
Click to expand...

No chance of hi-res. Max sampling rate is 48khz and max bit rate 320k. I've created copies of my music as 256k aac. The only lossless format I have tried is Alac at red book resolution. System didn't even recognise as a playable file, maybe because bit rate from redbook is too high. Some have reported that flac works but I cba trying; the system is nowhere close to home hi-fi standards so I doubt anyone could tell 256k from lossless anyway.
 
Simon L said:
Putting music on an SD will stay on shuffle until you change the setting in the MMI...........far better than fannying around with ipods and the like.
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Took your advice and transferred my music onto an SD card and now working perfectly with the added benefit of Shuffle. Incidentally, I used an app called mp3gain to "normalise" the volume of the individual tracks so they all play at the same level.
 
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testcard said:
Took your advice and transferred my music onto an SD card and now working perfectly with the added benefit of Shuffle. Incidentally, I used an app called mp3gain to "normalise" the volume of the individual tracks so they all play at the same level.
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Good man, you know it makes sense!! ;)
 
Plus I've only just come over from the Dark Side (VW), and it's a steep learning curve :sign imnew:
 
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testcard said:
Plus I've only just come over from the Dark Side (VW), and it's a steep learning curve :sign imnew:
Click to expand...


shhhhhhhhhhh, I won't tell anyone if you don't ;)
 
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veeeight said:
Standard 9VK, 80 Marketing Watts, 8 Speakers, 4-ch amp in 5F

*** 9VD, 180 Marketing Watts, 10 Speakers, 6-ch amp in 5F

B+O 9VS, 705 Marketing Watts, 14 Speakers, 15-ch amp external
Click to expand...
The extra 100 watts Audi claim for the *** is seriously optimistic, even if it's peak power. If the standard system is 20w x 4 then you'd expect the *** to be 20w x 5, plus sub, which isn't going to be anywhere near 80w (It's actually got 40w written on it, and that's probably a peak figure!).

The other half's S3 has the *** and I can't say I'm bowled over. I wasn't expecting too much from a system without an offboard amp, and I was right; it's passable at low volumes but as soon as you turn it up past about 20-25 it really struggles, sounding very thin and harsh. I can only imagine what a miserable experience the standard system must at anything approaching "loud". Having said that my wife never turns it up past 15 so for her the standard system would probably be fine. We had an A3 8P before the S3 and that had active rear speakers and sub as standard (not Bose) - I'd say that system was on a par with the ***, if not marginally better.

I have an A6 with the Bose system (630 marketing watts IIRC) and that's far better than the *** in the S3 - probably similar to the A3 B&O. It just shows an external amp is essential if you want a decent system; the A6 can get very loud without struggling (although a few trim rattles start creeping in at very high volume) and although it's not a perfect I was pleasantly surprised something with Bose written on it sounded half decent. Set the volume to 20 in the S3 and it's still quite quiet - do the same in the A6 and you can't have a conversation.

I enjoy listening to music in the car and if I was buying an A3 for myself I'd have to spec the B&O - the *** isn't really up to much. Having said that the engine noise makes up for it in the S3, so the sound system isn't quite as important!
 
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hellodave said:
The extra 100 watts Audi claim for the *** is seriously optimistic, even if it's peak power. If the standard system is 20w x 4 then you'd expect the *** to be 20w x 5, plus sub, which isn't going to be anywhere near 80w (It's actually got 40w written on it, and that's probably a peak figure!).

The other half's S3 has the *** and I can't say I'm bowled over. I wasn't expecting too much from a system without an offboard amp, and I was right; it's passable at low volumes but as soon as you turn it up past about 20-25 it really struggles, sounding very thin and harsh. I can only imagine what a miserable experience the standard system must at anything approaching "loud". Having said that my wife never turns it up past 15 so for her the standard system would probably be fine. We had an A3 8P before the S3 and that had active rear speakers and sub as standard (not Bose) - I'd say that system was on a par with the ***, if not marginally better.

I have an A6 with the Bose system (630 marketing watts IIRC) and that's far better than the *** in the S3 - probably similar to the A3 B&O. It just shows an external amp is essential if you want a decent system; the A6 can get very loud without struggling (although a few trim rattles start creeping in at very high volume) and although it's not a perfect I was pleasantly surprised something with Bose written on it sounded half decent. Set the volume to 20 in the S3 and it's still quite quiet - do the same in the A6 and you can't have a conversation.

I enjoy listening to music in the car and if I was buying an A3 for myself I'd have to spec the B&O - the *** isn't really up to much. Having said that the engine noise makes up for it in the S3, so the sound system isn't quite as important!
Click to expand...

Agree the B&O is a pretty big step up, largely due to the power increase and whopping sub as you say but glad to hear yer other half's *** is at least serviceable........................:whistle2:
 
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I know this is an old thread but may I ask any of you lovely people with "AS S" and tech pack for your coding? Or if your local enough may I check your coding out for the infotainment system? Hopefully you can help?
 
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