Non-Bose Sound System

I'm 42 y/o, so I don't need a Nakamichi sound anymore. Having said that, I like the non-bose sound, it is fairly loud and clear. Has a sub-woofer inside the trunk and the bass is good with high fidelity music.

spotify or bluetooth connections adversely affect sound quality

I really like the standard stereo. I've not owned any premium stereos in my own cars but I've spent time in a few B&O and Bose equipped Audis in the past and say that this is a pretty good compromise, especially given the discrete subwoofer and some DSP functionality via MMI. I'm not sure I've noticed any signal degradation from Bluetooth but I did think SiriusXM sounded not so great (though this is pretty common with any stereo that lets you hear clearly enough to pick up the compression artifacts).

PuroMexicano said:

I'm 42 y/o, so I don't need a Nakamichi sound anymore. Having said that, I like the non-bose sound, it is fairly loud and clear. Has a sub-woofer inside the trunk and the bass is good with high fidelity music.

spotify or bluetooth connections adversely affect sound quality

Click to expand...

I love Nak systems.

Had one in my Lexus SC400 that came stock, even 20 years down the road it still works and sounds GREAT.

Nice to know non-Bose owners are quite happy with the system!

I had Harman Kardon system in my Mini and it sounded great compared to stock sound system that was in my Passat, I was worried that Audi's non-Bose would differ from H/K quality as much as stock system in my Passat did.

I also think that the non-Bose stereo is pretty good.

I will say that I find the sound quality pretty bad when listening to Sirius radio (still in trial), but I suspect that this is not the stereo's fault.

I have not listened to any CDs yet, just music via iPhone/Bluetooth and I am happy with the sound quality.

YMe said:

I also think that the non-Bose stereo is pretty good.

I will say that I find the sound quality pretty bad when listening to Sirius radio (still in trial), but I suspect that this is not the stereo's fault.

I have not listened to any CDs yet, just music via iPhone/Bluetooth and I am happy with the sound quality.

Click to expand...

Interested in knowing what its like with CD's or just from original music files since with that you get the highest quality version of the song.

Being 61 years old (me that is), sometimes when I hit a bump, the needle jumps and scratches my albums...

MPBQ3 said:

Being 61 years old (me that is), sometimes when I hit a bump, the needle jumps and scratches my albums...

Click to expand...

Set the needle for 5 grams - it won't jump so much and will wear them out faster so you can get modernated ...>

rnlabas said:

Set the needle for 5 grams - it won't jump so much and will wear them out faster so you can get modernated ...>

Click to expand...

HMMM??? Maybe I should just upgrade to my 8-track player.

You might as well jump to cassettes - they're the future man, with Dolby Sound and all ...

So after having my car for about a week, I gotta say I'm not very impressed with the non-Bose sound system. I tend to enjoy lower frequencies in any type of music, even in lower volumes.

I was wondering if it's possible to just add an amplifier to get more out of the non-Bose speakers and subwoofer or if I need to replace non-Bose subwoofer with something better and add an amplifier to power it.

I think my ears are spoiled because my Mini had Harman Kardons which sounded great and CLS 350 that I was driving around in Korea also had Logic7/Harman Kardons which was amazing. (even my passat had better sounding speakers... :crying

I don't know anything about car stereo upgrades, so if anyone could enlighten me it would be great!

I also have the Harmon Kardon system in my Mini, which I will be selling when I get my Q3. I sure hope the Bose system in the Prestige trim level is a great system. There is no excuse for anything less than a GREAT sound system in a car costing over $40,000. Hope you are able to take some measures to get the sound you love.

cableguy said:

I also have the Harmon Kardon system in my Mini, which I will be selling when I get my Q3. I sure hope the Bose system in the Prestige trim level is a great system. There is no excuse for anything less than a GREAT sound system in a car costing over $40,000. Hope you are able to take some measures to get the sound you love.

Click to expand...

I'm under the impression that Bose sound system in Audi doesn't provide that "kick" like Harmon Kardons in others or B&O in Audis :crying:

Well it's discouraging to hear negative comments on the supposedly high end sound system that comes with the Prestige. If this same system is found in other Audis then I would expect there to be ample feedback on the quality and perhaps some suggested changes that can be made to improve whatever's lacking - like the "kick". Looks like I'll be spending some time on a thorough audio test once my car finally arrives in a month. However the last thing I want to do is spend more money to mod the sound system in a brand new expensive car and in the process void some warranty. Since sound quality can be a very individual thing I'm going to remain hopeful that I will be happy with what I hear.

cableguy said:

Well it's discouraging to hear negative comments on the supposedly high end sound system that comes with the Prestige. If this same system is found in other Audis then I would expect there to be ample feedback on the quality and perhaps some suggested changes that can be made to improve whatever's lacking - like the "kick". Looks like I'll be spending some time on a thorough audio test once my car finally arrives in a month. However the last thing I want to do is spend more money to mod the sound system in a brand new expensive car and in the process void some warranty. Since sound quality can be a very individual thing I'm going to remain hopeful that I will be happy with what I hear.

Click to expand...

I wonder if adding or upgrading the subwoofer in the trunk would void any warranty

I mean of course that subwoofer that I removed wouldn't be covered anymore but would it void MMI warranty just by adding an amp and a sub?

Hmmm

The Bose has a subwoofer in the trunk in the center of the spare.

the NON-Bose also has a subwoofer in the center of the spare, at least mine does...

PuroMexicano said:

the NON-Bose also has a subwoofer in the center of the spare, at least mine does...

Click to expand...

Yeap, mine too. If anyone can call it a "subwoofer"... I looked at it and it was the size my desktop speaker haha

MPBQ3 said:

Being 61 years old (me that is), sometimes when I hit a bump, the needle jumps and scratches my albums...

Click to expand...

today, we call that DJ mixing.


I bet you didn't know your still a cool kat, you mixer you!