ToughTT

I am writing this for anyone interested in a review comparing the Bose with the B and O in the Audi line. I am a 55 lifelong audiophile with a very high end two channel home system and have spent many hours auditioning speakers and amplifiers. I owned the 2008 TT with the bose system which I totaled several months ago and replaced with the 2010 A5 with the Bang and Olufsen.

In a word, there is no comparison. The B and O is far superior in every way. The image is stable and well positioned above the dash board. The timbral accuracy is very good leaning toward the bright rather than warm. The bass is not prodigious but is tight, quick and undistorted. The greatest joy to me is hearing the uncolored mid-range which is not obscured by overwhelming boom and sizzle so common in car audio. I use an ipod with Apple Lossless files which is a step up from satellite or FM in my area.

If the B and O were available in the TT, it would be a home run IMHO. The TT is a better driver, but the A5 with B and O is better for my one hour commute.

Kesem

I couldn't agree more. The B&O is peerless in car audio.

Is Apple lossless better than Apple's AAC?

JGA5Cab

I am glad to hear it. I would have gotten it extra had I not ordered a Prestige. It's included and look forward to it.

What's your opinion about phasing towards the driver as opposed to having it even?

BlueSander

I drove 2 different A5s, one with Nav, one without but both have B&O. The A5 with Nav sounds so much better and I still have no idea why. I still remember selecting song and stuffs on the A5 w/o Nav, the menu feels slow and a little jumpy.

BlueSander

A little off topic but what stereo system you have at home? I own Rotel and hopefully soon enough will set my hand on a set of 802 B&W speakers.

hef311

The Bose in my friend's S4 is good but no where near the B&O in the A5. And of course the B&O is 100x better than the Bose in my Acura RSX-S (has to be the worst Bose system available out there, so underpowered).

So what would be the highest quality source to play in the A5 w/ B&O? DVD (Concert)? Apple lossless on iPod? CD? So far they all sound pretty good.

newbie2quattro

[QUOTE=Kesem;23891114]I couldn't agree more. The B&O is peerless in car audio.QUOTE]

+1. In fact, my wife has come out to the garage on more than one occasion to find me sitting in the car listening to music from the iPod. It delivers sensational audio quality bar none.

teky929rr

+1 I agree the sound quality is just amazing, it's way better than my Harmon Kardon system on my BMW . I find myself turning up the volume quite a bit.

marksv

I have an A4 with B&O and NAV. I have driven an A4 that had the B&O without NAV. The B&O with NAV does sound better. The explanation I read was that the NAV system keeps the signal digital all the way to the individual power amps. This eliminates any digital to analog back to digital conversions. This also enables the Sound Focus feature which optimizes the sound for the driver/front/rear/all passengers by delaying and equalizing the signal for each speaker amp. I think the difference really shows on voices. This is the first auto system that I can enjoy jazz and classical music. The way the signal is digitally adjusted for the changing noise floor of the car and still sound natural and accurate is amazing. So you understand my perspective, I am also an audiophile having a $25,000 2 channel system at home.

Mcqueen

Adcom GFR700HD - with Definitive Tech Speakers Mythos 4 (Mythos 3 center), Sub (Supercube) and DefTech wall mounted surrounds...

Those B&W speakers will be nice.. I was limited to having speakers that fit in to the look of my place so couldn't get anything too bulky.

To pull this back to relevance, I live in warehouse lofts that are not that soundproof - so I can never really jam out with my home system. The B&O in the S5 is where I can really enjoy music unapologetically loud!