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I can’t comprehend someone not being satisfied with their BW audio. Having both a HK and BW car the difference it’s night and day between the two.

Saying the BW isn’t very impressive is like saying you don’t find your Bentley to be very luxurious or you were disappointed with the build quality of your Rolls Royce….it’s just not a thing. It literally is the best audio system in a sub-100,000 car. You can physically watch the door panels move the sound is so powerful.

If you don’t feel that way about yours only two things are possible: 1) You are deaf or 2) Your car is broken.

 

[31355]

Hello, music producer here.

We have two Volvos, one with B&W and one without, and to be honest they both don't sound very good, but I never expected a car environment to sound good anyway.

What I mean though, is that B&W is not worth the upgrade in my opinion. Our B&W car just sounds a little bit better at higher volumes, but those are volumes I would never play music at for any extended period of time because I want to protect my hearing.

This just makes me laugh.....how could anyone say that with a straight face? The two systems are not even comparable. I guess to the casual listener perhaps, but to just say the BW isn't really very impressive simply discredits anything you have to say about audio.

It literally could be the BEST audio system to ever hit the market in a car. Audiophiles around the world have reviewed the BW system and are stunned.....but you say it's "not very good"?!? Come on man.....I guess you are the guy that says Ferraris aren't very fast and Bentleys are not very luxurious, too?

 

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I'm sure the tens of people who know absolutely nothing about cars or stereos who have sat in my car (and others' cars) and have spontaneously complimented the stereo without knowing what B&W is and without even knowing what car they're in have all obsessively read up on the marketing literature and know the community's overall thoughts on the system. Obviously, that's also influencing them.

I think it’s a valid point that people that are just told something is awesome tend to agree. It’s awesome without their own in-depth evaluation. Well that probably apply it to this audio system. It also goes to prove a point how good it is. People that know nothing about audio easily tell it’s simply sounds better than other audio they’ve heard, even if they can’t technically tell you why. So when someone that’s not an audio file complaints that the system doesn’t sound very good and it’s pretty clear something needs adjusted or fixed. A lot of what makes the system so exceptional isn’t so much the actual speakers what is the staging in placement of the sound within the space. It also is so high end it covers sounds in the music never heard before unless her systems like the breathing of the singer, or hearing the singer slide on the guitar string. It’s one thing when an audio file says they are not fond of a system, because their criticism and critique is completely unlike the average person. When the average, Joe says it doesn’t sound good that there is a problem with the system.

 

[31355]

Apple Music is "lossless" (ie CD-quality), does anyone know, is that transmitted through the USB port via Lightning?

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/apple-music-lossless-audio/

About lossless audio in Apple Music - Apple Support

Learn about lossless audio in Apple Music and how to turn it on or off for your device.

support.apple.com

View attachment 195343

I don’t think you understand what lossless quality is if you think it’s “cd” quality…..

 

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Perhaps you didn't get the memo, but a couple years ago Apple purchased Primephonic, which streamed lossless FLAC. They've recently launched Apple Music Classical which incorporates Primephonic's excellent categorizing features, but they've also adopted some of the lossless streaming capabilities across their other services as well. Perhaps not universally, BUT they've absolutely upped their quality game overall.

Classical Music App - Apple Music Classical

Elevate your listening experience with the world’s largest classical music catalog, a powerful search designed specifically for its nuances, and the highest audio quality available.

learn.applemusic.apple

Trust me. I've been a hater of streaming music for a LONG time, but I do believe the technology has officially caught up and thus I've had to retire that argument... mostly. You still need the gear AND operating systems AND fully capable apps to stream it in its full bitrate glory, which many car setups have a bottleneck in there somewhere I'm sure. But the tech has arrived, that's for certain.

Yes I got the memo.....I stream lossless on my car from time to time when I want to really enjoy the quality of a good song.

My comment was that lossless compared to CD was funny.....because lossless is WAAAAAAAY higher quality than a CD.

 

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Ugh....can you read before you make statements?
Apple calls 16-bit/44.1 kHz (which is CD quality) Lossless, and 24-bit/192 kHz High-Res Lossless.
That's it.

Yeah....the point was lossless music is MUCH higher quality than a CD. I don't care what Apple classifies what....my comment was 100% accurate in that CD is far inferior to TRUE lossless music. I'm sure it pains you to not be able to ridicule me with your comment, but you didn't comprehend what I was saying I guess.

 

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it’s correct to call it CD quality because:

1. “Lossless” refers to the compression algorithm or lack thereof used. CDs are uncompressed, and as such, lossless. ALAC (the audio format used by Apple Lossless) is compressed, but it uses a lossless algorithm (meaning the data after decompression is 100% identical to the pre-compressed data.)

2. Red book CD audio is 16-bit and 44.1 kHz. Apple Lossless is the same.

Some Apple music comes from “Apple Digital Masters.” Some of those are higher-quality recordings than the ones on CD. Many are not.

CD audio is pretty damn good (and so is Apple Lossless).

So we now only can describe lossless music as only whatever Apple Music streaming service offers? I don’t think so, they didn’t set the standard. You go play a CD and then stream REAL lossless file and tell me they sound “the same”. Come on….

 

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Ridiculing you is behind the last item on my list of priorities to accomplish in this life. Your comment basically said that vonogo erroneously equates CD quality to higher-res lossless, and the comment does so with a ridiculing undertone like: "I can't believe you'd ever think that".

1. Music on CDs is uncompressed. Uncompressed = lossless. Therefore the premise of CD music is inferior to lossless is incorrect, because CD music is lossless. It may be inferior to some other types of lossless, but it is still lossless. Higher bitrate lossless files are not "TRUE" lossless files. They are simply higher resolution lossless files.
2. He wasn't saying that he thinks lossless is CD quality (despite that being accurate). He was talking about Apple Music "Lossless", not making a general statement about lossless = CD.

Whatever, now you are just making excuses and playing games with semantics. The point is CD quality is high, but far and away not as high as other types of music files. The ENTIRE conversation is about using supper-high quality audio to play songs on the BW, and CD is not in this category, no matter how you want to parse your words. Besides, you can't even buy music on CD and better yet, you can't even play it on a new Volvo...so what's the point?

Moving on....

 

[31355]

Precision in communication is key.
I'll bet anything that 99% of the time, not accounting for random guessing, you wouldn't be able to tell any difference between CD-quality lossless files and higher-resolution lossless files. At all. Especially in any car audio system whose DACs and filtering processes are largely unknown by us and only by the ones implementing them.
Can't buy music on CDs? lol.

Well as someone that owns a BW car and has tried ALL media files it’s child’s play to tell the difference between CD quality audio better formates. That’s like the ENTIRE point of having the BW system. But since you don’t own one you can’t really understand I guess.

 

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You have a very strong opinion about this based on what some "audiophiles" from "around the world" have told you.

To me both systems just sound like I'm listening to music IN A CAR.

Have you ever listened to high fidelity music in a studio environment for an entire day and then went to drive home and listened to music in your car? You'd be "meh" about it too.

Yes….I have quite a bit of musical expertise as a singer in my college career. I have friends that are professional singers, people you see on TV. Yes I’ve sat in a studio. Yes I know the car will never sound like a studio setup, but that’s irrelevant. My opinion is not what I am told….it’s my opinion based on being a musician myself for many years and actually being a true audiophile that actual understands music, structure, tonality, color, timber, staging etc. why on earth must you be so unpleasant? You just try to pass of my comments like I’m dumb dumb idiot that doesn’t know anything about music. My dad is a professional singer, as well as others in my family. I’ve sang in choirs around the world and as vocalists to some very famous people back in college. I’m well aware on how to judge car audio.

 

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Hi friends
Just to keep you aware about my problems.
I started this topic because of B&W sound issues since the delivery day of my XC90.
The 2.9 AAOS update has been done and has fixed most of the problems.
I can now set trebble and bass.
So my impression is that the is not as amazing as I imagined it. So bad.
this is the first time that I must put the trebble setting at its maximum to get an acceptable sound quality, big surprise for me for a 3k$ system …

Please go sit in a different car with BW and prepare to be blown away….and then go get yours fixed properly.

 

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Something HAS to be wrong then. If your ears aren't broken (like mine are from years of hearing damage - too much time around jet engines), then keep investigating. If one thing has blown me away from B&W, it's their tweeters. And I say this as somebody rocking multiple sets of high end Danish ScanSpeak tweeters around the house in some pretty high end speakers.

I know that sound is quite subjective, but B&W in particular typically does VERY well in the treble department.

You can say that again. These double dome aluminum tweeters are just astounding in their sound, espeically helped by the forward facing design to create an unbelievable sound stage. There is no way you can turn up the treble setting and still have "bad" sound. This car has to have issues.