EF99

An opportunity came up so I'm back looking at the 2011 S4 again. I wouldn't say I'm fully on board yet, but it seemed worth revisiting. I opted out all together a few months ago.

One thing that turned me away was the lack of inventory for what I wanted, and the ambiguous ordering and delivery would be too hard to sync up with selling my current car.

Anyway, a local dealer now has in inventory exactly what I would have ordered, except for one thing:

it doesn't have the B&O sound system.

I've looked through threads and the Audi brochure, but I can't find an answer to this:

Is the audio hardware/tuner/cd player different with the B&O system, and are there different features?

Or is the B&O option purely an amplifer and speaker upgrade and nothing else? (not that that's not significant, but it's purely a sound quality decision not features).

PS this particular vehicle has the nav system, if that affects anything.

DrGP

I have the standard radio. First, let me say that it is not bad. I decided against the B&O after listening to both back to back in the showroom. But I am not much of an audiphile. Many really think it is a must have. As far as I know, the both radios have the same features and controls. Listen to the radio in the car that your dealer has. If the audio system is good enough for your ear,get the car. If not, order one to your specs and begin the agonizingly long wait for your car. Also, since the car doesn't have the B&O, use that as a bargining chip to get them to give you a better deal since now" you really want the B&O". They will need to sweeten the pot for you to take the car that they have without the radio you really want.

helix139

There is an additional difference with B&O if you have nav. The connection to the amplifier is fiber optic for a fully digital signal.

tofuking

I have the B&O and i love it, but i am a big audiophile. Again you should find a car with it and compare, go with what YOU like. I waited three months for what i wanted. The wait was brutal.

GR8-LIFE

wow, I did not know that but i did detect a BO diff in bass in the S4 with my nav compared to my previous A4 prestige that had the BO but did not have the NAV.

GR8-LIFE

If you are a big audio buff, you will want the BO. There was a day when you had to go out and get an Alpine with Bose speakers or MB Quartz speakers or Boston acoustic speakers and a nice high end amp to minimize distorion but I love the fact that you no longer have to do that to get great sounding audio. BO is one of these systems and My Mark Levinson is also one.


Not to offend anyone's decision but BO and the standard radio is night and day to someone who is really into audio. Same holds true with my LS460. Nowadays, its difficult to buy aftermarket systems and have them inteface with other electroncis in a new u car so tak advantage of what AUDI is doing. BTW, IMO, BO ALSO Sounds much nicer than the Logic 7 system in the BMWs and even the Bose systems in the AMG's. Only my Mark Lev in my LS460 sounds a little cleaner

I cant fathom being without the crisp clean sounding B&O System.

EF99

I do like my home audio, an SACD from a background of silence, a well tuned room, and a relaxing chair. Car audio, don't care as much. But my question wasn't about subjective sound quality preferences it was about feature differences.

I can't find anything anywhere. I can't even seem to find an online owner's manual for the 2011 S4, which would seem the ideal place to find things like I'm looking for, but maybe there's little info in there either.

EF99

If someone has an owner's manual handy and it has any of the following info, I'd really appreciate it:

Is the standard stereo a single disc audio CD or multi-disc player?
What audio file formats and resolutions does it play from external memory?
What media can it read? e.g. USB memory stick, SD card?
Can it record your CD's to the internal memory?

thanks

skiracerblah

If you want aftermarket amps/speakers, but OEM headunit, you should look at the various products from Audio Control to do so:

http://www.audiocontrol.com/t34/1761...tegration.html

I currently use the LC2i for my aftermatket sub amplifier i have. If i wanted aftermarket amps for the other speakers, I would have to go to their larger units which can accomodate up to 8 channels i believe and still have use of your OEM MMI.

Here's a short demo of how the LC2i works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEoqLbgKNu0

mellow_sparky

OP: here are some of your answers...

* Both the B&O and the standard radio have a single disc.

* Formats supported: MP3, WMA, ACC (MP4) - note Apple protected files can only be played from an iPod.

* Slots for SD cards only (plays the above formats) - there's an adaptor for a USB stick to plug into the AMI in the glove box - I've never tried it.

* You cannot rip from a CD to the internal hard drive. You can only import from an SD card.

Additional info to your original post...

The B&O does have a different system (including the head unit) some of the differences:

* Sound Focus: standard radio supports "Driver" and "All". B&O additionally supports "Front" and "Rear".

* Surround Level: the B&O has surround sound and there is an adjustment for this in the MMI.

* The B&O monitors cabin noise and adjusts volume, tone and loudness based on cabin noise measurements.

I'm not a huge audiophile - B&O wouldn't have been a deal-breaker for me. However since I ordered my car, I got it. I'm really happy to have it - music sounds amazing to my un-tuned ears.

More info on the system here: http://www.bang-olufsen.com/sound-system