Frustrating HD Radio Problem
06-15-2011, 06:14 AM
#1
AudiWorld Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 109
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Frustrating HD Radio Problem
Hi All:
I've got a 2011 S4 with the B&O stereo as well as Nav. My previous car was a 2008 E90 335i that also had HD radio. I'll do my best to describe the problem, but forgive my ignorance regarding terms. I'm certainly no audiophile.
The problem I am having is with the HD option on, I am having issues with the "balance", for a lack of a better word. On some songs where there is a split in the delivery, in HD mode I am only getting one "side" of the signal. For those that are familiar, The Toadie's Possum Kingdom is a perfect example. The song starts off with a driving guitar riff, and then the vocals begin. "Make up you're mind, decide to walk with me...." The guitar track in the beginning, in HD mode, disappears. Another example is Foo Fighter's new release, Rope. Same thing occurs.
Has anyone else experienced this and/or come up with any solutions? I have tried everything regarding settings within the menu, and nothing works. At my 5K service I mentioned it to the SA, thinking he would look at me like I was crazy, but he acknowledged the problem, having received several other complaints. But, he had no solution.
Anybody have any thoughts? Thanks for reading this semi-long post!
I've got a 2011 S4 with the B&O stereo as well as Nav. My previous car was a 2008 E90 335i that also had HD radio. I'll do my best to describe the problem, but forgive my ignorance regarding terms. I'm certainly no audiophile.
The problem I am having is with the HD option on, I am having issues with the "balance", for a lack of a better word. On some songs where there is a split in the delivery, in HD mode I am only getting one "side" of the signal. For those that are familiar, The Toadie's Possum Kingdom is a perfect example. The song starts off with a driving guitar riff, and then the vocals begin. "Make up you're mind, decide to walk with me...." The guitar track in the beginning, in HD mode, disappears. Another example is Foo Fighter's new release, Rope. Same thing occurs.
Has anyone else experienced this and/or come up with any solutions? I have tried everything regarding settings within the menu, and nothing works. At my 5K service I mentioned it to the SA, thinking he would look at me like I was crazy, but he acknowledged the problem, having received several other complaints. But, he had no solution.
Anybody have any thoughts? Thanks for reading this semi-long post!
06-15-2011, 04:43 PM
#2
AudiWorld Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Lancaster, PA
Posts: 573
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I am also "less than impressed" with the HD sound......as noted here:
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2805837
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2805837
Last edited by Goony; 06-15-2011 at 04:46 PM.
09-29-2011, 10:26 AM
#3
AudiWorld Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Glad I found this thread... everybody else thinks I'm crazy. I have a 2011 A4. I agree with TDIII's comments. I've been describing it as some weird DSP effect going on in that in strangely amplifies some background sounds but the lead vocal, guitar, etc. gets squashed in some cases. It happens on different HD channels but not every song. But I've heard the same song on different channels doing the same thing.
Is there a customer service phone number, email address, anything that I can get a hold of someone at Audi with? My dealer looked at me like I was crazy, or that it was just a reception issue.
Is there a customer service phone number, email address, anything that I can get a hold of someone at Audi with? My dealer looked at me like I was crazy, or that it was just a reception issue.
09-29-2011, 10:36 AM
#4
AudiWorld Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Another way to put it... imagine you setup your home theater system in 5.1 but forgot to hook up the center channel. That's almost what it's like... some DSP is converting the signal to 5.1 but the Audi HD radio is ignoring the center channel, which is why the lead seems to disappear and all you hear is the background.
09-29-2011, 10:47 AM
#5
AudiWorld Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 192
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
09-29-2011, 10:52 AM
#6
AudiWorld Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Evanston, IL
Posts: 225
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I reported my MMI issues directly through this AoA form and to my dealer. Not than anything has been done about them, but AoA responded with a phone call each time to ensure they had an accurate record of the problem.
12-15-2011, 11:18 AM
#7
AudiWorld Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just a follow-up in the HD radio issue in my Audi A4. I was contacted by customer service, who asked me to start logging the problem. As I've been paying more attention to it, I've come to a surprising conclusion. It's simply the right channel of the original FM signal that is all but completely missing in the HD signal.
I listen to mostly classic rock, and many old songs were recorded on consoles that didn't have a pan function... so individual instruments/vocals were either patched directly to the left channel, or to the right, or both, but nowhere in between. Good examples are the Beatles - Strawberry Fields, and Neil Young - Southern Man. The right channel is gone (but sometimes you can hear bleed-in from left-channel mics, or a reverb, etc.)
This became evident when I would turn HD off and listen to the same song as it was playing on FM, and then adjust the balance left/right. It also explains why HD doesn't even sound stereo.
So, there it is. I believe it's an inherent flaw in the design or implementation of the hardware or software in the HD radio in all of these Audi head units, and not something wrong specifically with mine or yours. Unfortunately, I'm preparing for them to tell me there's nothing they can do about it... and I'm not going to have them rip apart my dash to replace it, only to have the same problem. I can only hope there's a software update that could fix it.
-Dan
I listen to mostly classic rock, and many old songs were recorded on consoles that didn't have a pan function... so individual instruments/vocals were either patched directly to the left channel, or to the right, or both, but nowhere in between. Good examples are the Beatles - Strawberry Fields, and Neil Young - Southern Man. The right channel is gone (but sometimes you can hear bleed-in from left-channel mics, or a reverb, etc.)
This became evident when I would turn HD off and listen to the same song as it was playing on FM, and then adjust the balance left/right. It also explains why HD doesn't even sound stereo.
So, there it is. I believe it's an inherent flaw in the design or implementation of the hardware or software in the HD radio in all of these Audi head units, and not something wrong specifically with mine or yours. Unfortunately, I'm preparing for them to tell me there's nothing they can do about it... and I'm not going to have them rip apart my dash to replace it, only to have the same problem. I can only hope there's a software update that could fix it.
-Dan
Trending Topics
12-15-2011, 12:47 PM
#8
AudiWorld Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Evanston, IL
Posts: 225
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just a follow-up in the HD radio issue in my Audi A4. I was contacted by customer service, who asked me to start logging the problem. As I've been paying more attention to it, I've come to a surprising conclusion. It's simply the right channel of the original FM signal that is all but completely missing in the HD signal.
I listen to mostly classic rock, and many old songs were recorded on consoles that didn't have a pan function... so individual instruments/vocals were either patched directly to the left channel, or to the right, or both, but nowhere in between. Good examples are the Beatles - Strawberry Fields, and Neil Young - Southern Man. The right channel is gone (but sometimes you can hear bleed-in from left-channel mics, or a reverb, etc.)
This became evident when I would turn HD off and listen to the same song as it was playing on FM, and then adjust the balance left/right. It also explains why HD doesn't even sound stereo.
So, there it is. I believe it's an inherent flaw in the design or implementation of the hardware or software in the HD radio in all of these Audi head units, and not something wrong specifically with mine or yours. Unfortunately, I'm preparing for them to tell me there's nothing they can do about it... and I'm not going to have them rip apart my dash to replace it, only to have the same problem. I can only hope there's a software update that could fix it.
-Dan
I listen to mostly classic rock, and many old songs were recorded on consoles that didn't have a pan function... so individual instruments/vocals were either patched directly to the left channel, or to the right, or both, but nowhere in between. Good examples are the Beatles - Strawberry Fields, and Neil Young - Southern Man. The right channel is gone (but sometimes you can hear bleed-in from left-channel mics, or a reverb, etc.)
This became evident when I would turn HD off and listen to the same song as it was playing on FM, and then adjust the balance left/right. It also explains why HD doesn't even sound stereo.
So, there it is. I believe it's an inherent flaw in the design or implementation of the hardware or software in the HD radio in all of these Audi head units, and not something wrong specifically with mine or yours. Unfortunately, I'm preparing for them to tell me there's nothing they can do about it... and I'm not going to have them rip apart my dash to replace it, only to have the same problem. I can only hope there's a software update that could fix it.
-Dan
12-16-2011, 04:35 AM
#9
Audiworld Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: NH
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well
I have just turned HD off. However, if you set a pre-set with HD, it seems to turn it back on again. I think I need to turn it off and then re-program all my presets, which I have not done yet.
03-15-2012, 02:05 PM
#10
AudiWorld Newcomer
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi guys-
I've been chasing the same problem. Haus is correct in his diagnosis. HD radio in these cars is missing the right channel info; sound comes out of the right speakers but it is left channel played mono through both sides. Here's the latest and probably last episode in this saga for me:
I’ve had several interactions with my Audi dealer on this issue. As you’d expect, their initial reaction was to give me a list of standard go-away responses (HD doesn’t stand for High Def; we can’t control the quality of radio broadcasts; it’s normal; if you can hear music from the right side of the car then it’s working correctly; etc.) but I persisted. Today I went in and spent the better part of an hour with the top service guy. To his credit he was a good listener and seemed sincerely interested in getting to the bottom of the issue. With him listening I channel hopped looking for music with hard-panned right side instruments. At first he was skeptical and thought I was just being too picky but in time finally started to hear what I was describing. Then we heard a familiar CSNY song that was clearly missing a drum track. Bingo! He got it. “That could be really annoying,” he says. Yeah.
Once the service manager understood what I was talking about we went off to check other cars. It’s my wife’s 2011 A6 that got me started on this. I’m not surprised to say that when we checked another 2011 A6 it had the exact same problem. Sadly, a 2012 A7 also had the problem, meaning that even though Audi surely knows about this by now they haven’t fixed it. I’ll be in the market for a new car before year’s end and Audi was high on my list- but not until this is fixed. I told the service manager this in the hopes of increasing his sense of the importance of the issue. He promised to write it up and submit it to Audi but that’s the extent of what he can do. Clearly, swapping out the MMI or radio in this car will likely have no effect on its behavior.
So. Bummer. The work around I’m using now is to program the non-HD versions of my favorite stations adjacent to the HD versions. Then I can toggle between the two with minimal interaction. It’s not great. I am puzzled both by Audi’s not addressing this and by the relatively low level of feedback from Audi owners. The guy I saw today said he’s truly never had someone complain about it before. He gets a couple of radio complaints a day but not this, even though it’s likely that all newer Audi’s have the same problem.
That’s about all I can do at the moment. I don’t see ripping up my audio system to try to fix this. I do plan to make contact with Audi directly to express my concerns. According to the service manager: they will listen; that’s what the name Audi means. We shall see.
I've been chasing the same problem. Haus is correct in his diagnosis. HD radio in these cars is missing the right channel info; sound comes out of the right speakers but it is left channel played mono through both sides. Here's the latest and probably last episode in this saga for me:
I’ve had several interactions with my Audi dealer on this issue. As you’d expect, their initial reaction was to give me a list of standard go-away responses (HD doesn’t stand for High Def; we can’t control the quality of radio broadcasts; it’s normal; if you can hear music from the right side of the car then it’s working correctly; etc.) but I persisted. Today I went in and spent the better part of an hour with the top service guy. To his credit he was a good listener and seemed sincerely interested in getting to the bottom of the issue. With him listening I channel hopped looking for music with hard-panned right side instruments. At first he was skeptical and thought I was just being too picky but in time finally started to hear what I was describing. Then we heard a familiar CSNY song that was clearly missing a drum track. Bingo! He got it. “That could be really annoying,” he says. Yeah.
Once the service manager understood what I was talking about we went off to check other cars. It’s my wife’s 2011 A6 that got me started on this. I’m not surprised to say that when we checked another 2011 A6 it had the exact same problem. Sadly, a 2012 A7 also had the problem, meaning that even though Audi surely knows about this by now they haven’t fixed it. I’ll be in the market for a new car before year’s end and Audi was high on my list- but not until this is fixed. I told the service manager this in the hopes of increasing his sense of the importance of the issue. He promised to write it up and submit it to Audi but that’s the extent of what he can do. Clearly, swapping out the MMI or radio in this car will likely have no effect on its behavior.
So. Bummer. The work around I’m using now is to program the non-HD versions of my favorite stations adjacent to the HD versions. Then I can toggle between the two with minimal interaction. It’s not great. I am puzzled both by Audi’s not addressing this and by the relatively low level of feedback from Audi owners. The guy I saw today said he’s truly never had someone complain about it before. He gets a couple of radio complaints a day but not this, even though it’s likely that all newer Audi’s have the same problem.
That’s about all I can do at the moment. I don’t see ripping up my audio system to try to fix this. I do plan to make contact with Audi directly to express my concerns. According to the service manager: they will listen; that’s what the name Audi means. We shall see.