A4 Phil

Genuinely curious as to what you all are listening to in your cars that makes much of a difference to the sound quality. Sound quality is SOOO bad these days. When I was a teen it was all about CD and DVD music with as close to original sound as possible. You could build your own speakers and a home stereo system had a receiver/amp that cost as much as a cheap car. Digital audio today is TERRIBLE, nowhere near lossless. An MP3 today does not even approach CD fidelity. FM radio is long forgotten and has so much interference. HD radio just never took off and despite promises, it is compressed so much that you are really better off getting the signal over normal FM.

MP3 transfer data at 320 kbps
XM transfer data at 48 kbps
CD's transfer at 1,411 kbps
High-Resolution Audio’s bitrate 9,216 kbps, none of our cars have High-Res Audio

If you are just Blue Toothing from your mobile or even pulling XM, your shortcoming is not the speakers, but the compression. There is aftermarket car High-resolution audio, but I am not sure that it is compatible with our MMI.

Lucken2

I think some of us are probably comparing the same sources with the different radios from different cars we came from. I had an I-Pace prior and the Meridian sound system, with the same sources, was better. Even with XM or MP3, if the bass & midrange are weak points, it will show.

Now speaking for myself, I won't say the B&O system is bad, it's fine, but it's not as good as the Meridian I came from. Just MO.

Pale Rider

This is quite an over-generalization. Yes, it’s easy to put/receive lossy files in your car, but that doesn’t mean they have to be low quality. And it’s actually not difficult to put lossless files in your car if you care to. I’ve got exceptional home speaker and headphone systems. And while I have thousands of hi-res files, my own view is that hi-res is overrated. It can be great, but it’s no guarantee. And the reality is the poor quality of so much music starts in crappy recording, long before the transition to lossy packaging. On tracks where it actually matters, especially classical and well-recorded acoustic music, it’s worth it to have quality files even in a car with modest or decent systems. And Redbook is usually more than sufficient for the car. Are the resolution and fidelity the same in my car? Hardly. But the music is enjoyable, and that’s what counts.

I listen to content, not data rates. That’s what makes Sirius/XM so successful. Lo-res? Sure. That’s one reason it works reliably. But the brain can tune out its shortcomings. At home, I tend to listen critically, while in the car, I tend to be more quickly engaged emotionally in the music. Even if the system is not fantastic. I know at least one musician that said when he wants to get connected to his music, he takes a drive. Doesn’t mean we don’t want a good system, and like others, I tend to like the Meridien a little better, but not enough to not love my car. And sometimes I wish Audi took a Burmester clue from Porsche. But worrying about file resolution in the car is a sure/fire buzzkill.

Multiphonic

That really depends. 320 kbps MP3 has gotten really good. I am an audio engineer and I monitor on ATCs. Can I hear the differences? ATCs are very detailed, so yes sometimes, but it's not the wide chasm that it once was.

My issue with the B&O system is the midrange. It is so out of balance that by the time I get the midrange to where I can hear it, the high frequencies are blistering. The system lacks a dedicated midrange control and the treble is tied to mids to a degree. I prefer to listen at low volumes, which isn't possible on this particular B&O. It only sounds decent to me when cranked.

I haven't heard the stock system, but I could imagine it being a better overall listen. For the Q4 e-tron Audi went with Sonos. Very curious to hear what they've done.