borisivan

Hi,

New owner here: 2018 S5 SB, with the upgraded B&O stereo.

I'm coming from a BMW 335xi with the Logic 7 upgrade. I love just about everything about the S5 over the 335xi so far. But the stereo seems 'ok', maybe I was just spoiled with the upgraded stereo in the 335.

So far most listening is via Pandora over bluetooth. But today I connected via the USB cable in the center console and used Android Auto instead, and launched Pandora there.

It seemed like the music quality was better, i.e. better surround sound / stereo effect, crisper. Haven't had more time to experiment yet, so it's possible that it was just a better song/recording that would have sounded great even if over bluetooth. But I thought I'd ask: Has anyone else noticed the same thing, or is there no difference?

Thanks!

SYMAWD

Wired connections are better.

Nikon1

evanseric21

There are a lot more variables. If you are streaming MP3s, the newer Bluetooth standards are fully capable of playing the files at there highest quality. If you are playing WAVs, FLAC or some other higher quality files then I agree that wired would be better. Most people are streaming MP3s though.

borisivan

Thanks guys. I'll check out the other B&O threads.

Nikon1

TT-S4

I too just came from a 2016 BMW 340i Msport with the HK audio.

This B&O can sound very good, right up there with the HK.
They both have some areas that they accel in compared to each other.

Try this:
TURN OFF the "Surround" effect.
TURN OFF the "3D" effect.

This will now give you a clearer and better sound, that is more like what actual music recordings were recorded to sound like in actual stereo.

The surround and 3D are effects, similar to the Logic-7 that HK uses.
And I dislike both of those effects, as I prefer to listen to music recorded in stereo in actual stereo mode.
The effects in the B&O can greatly alter the overall sound.

Also, each audio input has it's own treble, bass, and sub level adjustments.
If you have Satellite radio settings, then the settings for FM-HD, or CD, or digital media may be different.
The surround and 3D effects carry over to different sources, but each source has it's own tone settings.

Satellite radio has the loudest input, and CD one of the lowest.
If I am listening to CD and have the volume where I like it, and I switch to Sat. radio the volume jumps crazy high.
For such an advanced audio system I'm surprised the audio engineers missed that one.
For external media devices, that has variable audio signal output, I can see why the system may not be able to compensate for different input levels, because external media typically has variable output.
So, in that case make sure you external source has it's output set properly. If it's too low, then the B&O system will have to have it's volume turned up quite high for adequate sound level
If the source level is too high, it will cause distortion at the input level, and you do NOT want that at all.
Typically, a volume or level setting around the mid point gets you in the correct range, and you can adjust from there.

Also, external audio devices may have their own tone, eq, and other sound settings that may carry to the output signal, which will then be played by the B&O system.
Make sure to turn off any eq or other tone controls on your external device, and adjust after you listen to the original source first.

Ojai

Greg W

TT-S4

There is.