Best/recommended settings for Bowers & Wilkins stereo?

390 Views 5 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Tank010, 12 d ago

Dizman7

Looking for best or recommended settings for Bowers & Wilkins stereo. Long story short I’ve had my 2023 V60 PE w/ B&W for about 3 weeks so far and I honestly haven’t been that impressed (compared to the stock stereo in my previous 2021 S60 T8). In fact my fiancé just got a new 2023 Audi A5 this weekend and she hasn’t touched any settings and the Bang & Olufsen stereo in her car sounds better to me so far (more chrisp, clear, punch) even though I know it’s a cheaper system.

As much as I like to think I have an audiophiles ears, I’ll admit though I know very little what the settings do or how they change/enhance the sound, so that’s why I’m here asking.

Any tips or pointers would be appreciated. Thanks!

edit: so far I’ve been using the Spotify app from the built in Google Play store on the car. I did try Spotify app on my iPhone via wired Apple Car play but it didn’t seem any different. So also was not sure if there was a better source to use for the sound to take advantage of the system as well. Thanks

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drewduq

· #2 · 1 mo ago

bumping. curious on the same.

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White3

· #3 · 1 mo ago

Spotify doesn’t have the highest bit rate (not lossless like many other streaming services such as Apple Music), but it should still sound good. I understand that they took away the equalizer on the new cars which would help you tweak the system but I hope that Sound Experience is still there. It allows you to set seat optimization, tone-(warm, neutral , clear), and degree of surround. Since you use CarPlay download some music to your phone using the lossless setting and try that. A wired phone connection with cd quality sound should sound better than Spotify. If that still doesn’t sound right to you then I’m at a loss. Since I have a 2020 with Sensus I’m not sure what adjustments are still available with the AAOS cars.

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G10

· #4 · 1 mo ago

Same problem, on 23 xc60

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EmDashes

· #5 · 1 mo ago

I put my settings in this post:

2023 XC90 and Bowers & Wilkins sound sytem

Hi all This is my 2nd post, glad to be there. I am a newly owner of a XC90 T8 Ultimate Dark with Polestar option. What a car ! I'm just deeply disappointed about the Bowers & Wilkins sound system available in my car. Indeed, the sound is far from being amazing and I even think that my former...

www.swedespeed.com

For Spotify, make sure you’re on the highest bitrate. I don’t have AAOS so I can’t tell you how to do that. But on Sensus, Spotify defaults to a low bitrate.

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Tank010

· #6 · 12 d ago

I started using Tidal. It’s like a completely different vehicle and experience. They have 30 days trial and the Hi-fi “mid grade package “ is $12.99 but you can pit it on your kids name if they’re in high school for 50% off.

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2023 XC90 and Bowers & Wilkins sound sytem

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