I've driven an A6 with the Bose sound system and an Acura TL with their proprietary ELS surround sound. I think the TL was better, but part of that may have been due to the TL dealer focusing somewhat on the sound system.

I've never been a big fan of Bose gear--they've never sounded particularly natural to my ears. Furthermore, I'm not a big fan of noise-cancelling technonolgy, which is part of the A6 Bose package. I've tried several pair of noise-cancelling headphones and I'm not impressed. I'd rather turn up the volume.

Has anyone spent much time experimenting with the Bose? What do you think?<ul><li><a href="http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/tw/a6sound.htm">Only review of A6 Bose sound system that I've found so far</a></li></ul>

I have a Peter Gabriel Live concert CD that I play all the time when I demo the sound on the A6.
I make sure that the DSP Surround sound is on, and the sound coming out is just incredible.
Just like the article says, you get sound even where there is no speakers!!!
The Surround also works for the Satellite radio.

but you can also select individual surround centering on either the driver, right side passenger, front seats, rear seats, or normal surround giving all five seats a central soundpoint. It's really awesome to listen to your favorite digital recording centered on the driver's seat! Try the jazz channels on Sirius(XM) if demo-ing the system. They're probably the closest to listening to a cd in your home surround system.

Been driving a 4.2 C6 A6 (with the premium Bose audio) for about a month now and despite playing around with all the MMI settings, the low end is very weak. Even with the bass control at max, it's nowhere near what is was on my last C5 A6.

Anyone else notice this? I mentioned this to my dealer and they will check it out at the first scheduled service.

My C5 Bose system was nice in my opinion but this system is at least 3 steps above that in sound quality.

Listening to mostly 70's and 80's rock from Original CDs I find the base to be more than ample. I can turn the volume to a point that is unpleasent to me but the sound is still clear.

I would have to say that the Mark Levison System in the Lexus does provide more clarity, but the Audi Bose system more than makes up for that in shear quality at high volumes.

Bass is strong. Get yours checked out.
BTW I was surprised to see no mid range control.

IMHO its not as good as the system in the new Acura RL. The low end is weak and the surround is somewhat superficial. However, its the best that Audi has every offered in the A6 (or A4) and as good as anything from Mercedes.

I think the Bose system is a step up from the C6, but I've noticed you really have to crank the volume up to get the best sound. Sound quality, at lower levels, even with the Bass and Treble boosted, is not as good as other auto systems I've heard.

I have XM radio and have been disappointed in the sound quality. I was led to believe that it would yield CD quality sound, but I find most stations to be a slight improvement over regular FM. A few stations at times do sound great, but it is not consistent. I know they highly compress the news and other non-music stations (the traffic reports voice quality is awful), but I was hoping the music stations would be better. Anyone else with XM or Sirus care to weigh in on this?

I was able to track down the link below--it looks like Audi is in good company when it comes to using Bose.

The story is a year old, so the new A6 couldn't have been reviewed, and I can't find a more recent review.<ul><li><a href="http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/press/101117/article.html">Edmunds reviews sound systems</a></li></ul>

What system are you referring to?

Instead of tweaking the volume due to speed changes, it continutally adjusts the volume due to ambient noise, and as such you can never percieve changes in volume, you just realise that it always stays the same volume level no matter what the car is doing. Very clever!

I'm content with the bass output, but it's not as deep as some I've heard (including the D3 A8). Regardless of how good Bose is, you can't argue with physics and 6.5 inch drivers aren't going to give you the kind of response that a 12 does.

I agree with Steve'sA6,

I have been disappointed with XM, both from a programming standpoint (pretty routine and mundane...the Christmas stations must have rehashed the same 100 songs for the entire month) to the quality of sound. I also have found that my XM stations don't sound "digital" and in fact are less in dynamic sound than my local FM stations.

As I've said before, sat radio is one of the extras that I would do without next time...

Mercedes use Bose for its base system and Harmon Kardon Logic 7 for its upgraded system

I'm also starting to question why I'm paying all that money for the 3 or 4 stations I'm listening to. I went for it primarily for CNN and now I'm bored with that. Maybe XM will buy out Sirius and make it more worthwhile, but they probably offer the same stuff anyway, except for Howard.

I've had both (Sirius as an add-on tuner, XM in the factory head from Honda). Sirius definitely sounds better - which is odd because XM has more repeaters - especially here in the NJ/NYC tri-state area. Also, I've found the XM signal to be a helluva lot better at 'holding' reception - could just be the factory antenna on the Accord vs. the Audiovox add-on I had with Sirius. Programming? Sirius blows away XM IMHO. Oh well - I'm stuck w/ XM currently.

Don't know if everyone has seen this. I found it an interesting article. They seemed to really like the Bose system.<ul><li><a href="http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=103904/pageId=61706">A6 Audio Review</a></li></ul>

Hi i own a 2000 Audi a6 2.5 tdi...And i have a BOSE sound system in it...I was wondering if anyone knew how much was that BOSE sound system payde when the car was new...I know that it was not in standard eqipment...So how much did the first owner that bought the car pay for the BOSE SOUND SYSTEM?
Thanks in Advance...And greetings from Serbia... :)