[Ilyam5]

Originally Posted by AndroidRobot

even if the amp was plug and play the speakers aren't of the same quality. I bet it would make some difference though.

I agree. Amp will not fix the whole system. You will need to spend major bucks to revamp speakers and speaker locations.

HK is pretty balanced for what it is. And sounds decent with high quality music. I would leave it alone. and worry about getting good source of Hi def music collection on your drive.

Playing the same HD track reference music on HK and B&W the differences are:

- Location of speakers - HK plays at mid body level and sounds like the system is below your head - so imaging is there but floating below. B&W ceiling speakers take care of it. Imaging is much better on B&W, music stage is on the level of your ears
- Tighter Bass on B&W. HK has good bass but it is soft and not as punchy. Thats speaker quality, impedance and Crossover separation. HK amp has enough power for my volume levels and it has decent current to drive the HK bass drivers.
- B&W are known for their magic mid range - and that is the best quality of the system. It is recognizable to audiophiles who have it at home.

It is of course up to you to spend the money or not on the upgrade. But you have to realize that near field listening in the car will never produce the same results as the real speaker system at home.
Having 803s at home driven by Threshold amp - the major advantage of the big speakers - they project the sound and create perfect imaging and 3d staging in front of you.the further you are - the better it is.
Being 10 inches from car speakers is not the same experience.
So one can say for the same 3400 you can buy the system for the house and have more bang for your buck.
If you are leasing - different story - get the B&W for 100 bucks a month.
Plus - did anyone mention the lights inside the B&W speakers - that alone should be enough to buy it if we can only get the sky lounge roof for the full disco effect

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by Ilyam5

I agree. Amp will not fix the whole system. You will need to spend major bucks to revamp speakers and speaker locations.

HK is pretty balanced for what it is. And sounds decent with high quality music. I would leave it alone. and worry about getting good source of Hi def music collection on your drive.

Playing the same HD track reference music on HK and B&W the differences are:

- Location of speakers - HK plays at mid body level and sounds like the system is below your head - so imaging is there but floating below. B&W ceiling speakers take care of it. Imaging is much better on B&W, music stage is on the level of your ears
- Tighter Bass on B&W. HK has good bass but it is soft and not as punchy. Thats speaker quality, impedance and Crossover separation. HK amp has enough power for my volume levels and it has decent current to drive the HK bass drivers.
- B&W are known for their magic mid range - and that is the best quality of the system. It is recognizable to audiophiles who have it at home.

It is of course up to you to spend the money or not on the upgrade. But you have to realize that near field listening in the car will never produce the same results as the real speaker system at home.
Having 803s at home driven by Threshold amp - the major advantage of the big speakers - they project the sound and create perfect imaging and 3d staging in front of you.the further you are - the better it is.
Being 10 inches from car speakers is not the same experience.
So one can say for the same 3400 you can buy the system for the house and have more bang for your buck.
If you are leasing - different story - get the B&W for 100 bucks a month.
Plus - did anyone mention the lights inside the B&W speakers - that alone should be enough to buy it if we can only get the sky lounge roof for the full disco effect

The sound level on my B&W is pretty much as you said. I had it at 75% volume and found it's not as loud as my HK was but the audio was crystal clear. Bass isn't over the top or crazy, rather it sounds very crisp and has depth I haven't heard in a car before. I guess describing the sound is hard you have to experience it.

[JJGA]

How much are you guys paying for the B&W option? It's a 9k option in my country, which is ridiculous.

We have it on our current 530d g30 (5k~ for this car), sound is amazing but definitely not worth 9k.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by JJGA

How much are you guys paying for the B&W option? It's a 9k option in my country, which is ridiculous.

We have it on our current 530d g30 (5k~ for this car), sound is amazing but definitely not worth 9k.

on my 50i it was $3400

[bemfelj]

it's unreal when comparing US prices with EU.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by bemfelj

it's unreal when comparing US prices with EU.

high taxes suck so I can imagine

[ScottMZ3]

Can anyone share how to get iTunes music into a lossless format and onto a USB drive or the BMW internal drive? I've searched Google and can't seem to find any way to do this.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by ScottMZ3

Can anyone share how to get iTunes music into a lossless format and onto a USB drive or the BMW internal drive? I've searched Google and can't seem to find any way to do this.

I don't think that's possible sadly. I had to use some unsavory methods to get lossless audio that I didn't have before

[Ilyam5]

Originally Posted by ScottMZ3

Can anyone share how to get iTunes music into a lossless format and onto a USB drive or the BMW internal drive? I've searched Google and can't seem to find any way to do this.

Your current Apple music should be AAC format in Itunes plus
iTunes Plus refers to songs and music videos that are high quality AAC audio encoding (256 kbps—twice the quality of protected music purchases that were sold in the iTunes Store until 2009) that don’t have digital rights management (DRM). All iTunes Store music and music videos for sale now are in iTunes Plus format.

YOu can convert AAC to Flac - but AAC is good quality as well.

Best way is to rip your Cds and Lps to Flac using Exact Audio Copy, or other software which includes the FLAC codec.

By default, your PC won't know how to play the FLAC files, so you'll need a compatible media player. A few media players worth taking a look at are foobar2000, Winamp, VLC, and Songbird. I use VLC

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by Ilyam5

Your current Apple music should be AAC format in Itunes plus
iTunes Plus refers to songs and music videos that are high quality AAC audio encoding (256 kbps—twice the quality of protected music purchases that were sold in the iTunes Store until 2009) that don’t have digital rights management (DRM). All iTunes Store music and music videos for sale now are in iTunes Plus format.

YOu can convert AAC to Flac - but AAC is good quality as well.

Best way is to rip your Cds and Lps to Flac using Exact Audio Copy, or other software which includes the FLAC codec.

By default, your PC won't know how to play the FLAC files, so you'll need a compatible media player. A few media players worth taking a look at are foobar2000, Winamp, VLC, and Songbird. I use VLC

Converting AAC to FLAC still isn't lossless it just changes the codec. Ideally you need to find natively FLAC audio if possible even though doing this is rather hard at times depending on your library size.

[ScottMZ3]

Thanks everyone. Sounds like just playing the iTunes music via CarPlay is the best bet in our case. We don't have CDs anymore...everything is on iTunes or Apple Music.

[iconoclast]

Before I reach out to BMW; can any one on here let me know if B&W is now available and orders may be placed for X5 & X7?

[Anonymous 2]

i have B&w In my 2016 750li, the B&W lights up with LEDs at night and this is beautifull but not good for sound quality.
At lower volumes the HK, B&W and B&O are the same due to sound quality, but at higher volume levels B&O is better. The clarity, the tonal balance, and the sound stage and Bass are awesome in the B&O system.
IMO Bowers & wilkins doesn't worth even 500$....

[iconoclast]

One thing I hate about the B&O in my E63 Wagon is that the lights in the speakers could not be shut off. I have always disabled this on other vehicles I have owned which had this feature and not being able to is just bizarre. I may be in the minority but all these ambient lights and constellations make me feel like I am going to the prom. I prefer a fairly dark cabin when driving and only necessary instrumentation illuminated.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by Anonymous 2

i have B&w In my 2016 750li, the B&W lights up with LEDs at night and this is beautifull but not good for sound quality.
At lower volumes the HK, B&W and B&O are the same due to sound quality, but at higher volume levels B&O is better. The clarity, the tonal balance, and the sound stage and Bass are awesome in the B&O system.
IMO Bowers & wilkins doesn't worth even 500$....

you mean Bang and Olufsen?

Originally Posted by iconoclast

Before I reach out to BMW; can any one on here let me know if B&W is now available and orders may be placed for X5 & X7?

it should be, there's not shortage from everything I've heard.

Originally Posted by iconoclast

One thing I hate about the B&O in my E63 Wagon is that the lights in the speakers could not be shut off. I have always disabled this on other vehicles I have owned which had this feature and not being able to is just bizarre. I may be in the minority but all these ambient lights and constellations make me feel like I am going to the prom. I prefer a fairly dark cabin when driving and only necessary instrumentation illuminated.

You can 100% turn the lights off plus if you're not listening to music they shut off already. So you can have the car fully dark if that's your thing or a lightshow

[magbarn]

After having our G05 with HK for about a month, really regret skipping out on the B&W system as both my wife and I listen to music extensively. I agree with the posters above, the sound stage on the HK to me is on the floor like cheaper systems and it's annoying as h... My G30 with B&W the imaging is right at my ear level and it comes alive. We demoed a B&W system finally in a G05 and it's even better than my G30 which was already nice.

Yes, we've already tried the HK setting thread where you maximize the logic 7 and adjust the EQ. I've also done extended listening at loud volumes to "break in" the system. To me it still sounds nothing like the B&W.

You can do much better with a home system for the $4000+ spent, but we spend more time in our vehicles than at home commuting so the money would've been well spent...

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by magbarn

After having our G05 with HK for about a month, really regret skipping out on the B&W system as both my wife and I listen to music extensively. I agree with the posters above, the sound stage on the HK to me is on the floor like cheaper systems and it's annoying as h... My G30 with B&W the imaging is right at my ear level and it comes alive. We demoed a B&W system finally in a G05 and it's even better than my G30 which was already nice.

Yes, we've already tried the HK setting thread where you maximize the logic 7 and adjust the EQ. I've also done extended listening at loud volumes to "break in" the system. To me it still sounds nothing like the B&W.

You can do much better with a home system for the $4000+ spent, but we spend more time in our vehicles than at home commuting so the money would've been well spent...

I'm the same way after the HK system in my last BMW. My Audi had a fantastic B&O (Bang and Olufsen) but it's nowhere near the Bowers and Wilkins.

I drive a lot so having good audio is a must hence why I got the Bowers and Wilkins which while expensive was worth the cost. Home Audio is a whole different story so I won't go there.

[iconoclast]

Originally Posted by magbarn

After having our G05 with HK for about a month, really regret skipping out on the B&W system as both my wife and I listen to music extensively.

Whenever a friend or family member asks me why I purchased the upgraded audio or if they should I always remind them that they listen to the radio far more often than they drive fast or use almost any other feature. In terms of dollars per usage it is one of the better values compared to say purchasing a higher output vehicle with a base audio system. You'll rarely use all the extra power as often as you use the radio so if a compromise is necessary then perhaps reevaluate other options to accommodate the audio upgrade. Sadly as newer cars are unveiled more and more features are bundled so this may not be possible on some vehicles and must be purchased with other options one may not need. Either way; long story short... get the upgraded audio when available.

[Anonymous 2]

Originally Posted by AndroidRobot

you mean Bang and Olufsen?

Yes

[mbarrett635]

Originally Posted by AndroidRobot

I'm the same way after the HK system in my last BMW. My Audi had a fantastic B&O (Bang and Olufsen) but it's nowhere near the Bowers and Wilkins.

I drive a lot so having good audio is a must hence why I got the Bowers and Wilkins which while expensive was worth the cost. Home Audio is a whole different story so I won't go there.

Interesting. I enjoy the Bowers and Wilkins system in my X5, but I still feel that the B&O system in my F15 X5 was better. It definitely had more clarity at higher volumes -- you could turn it up past where your ears would bleed, and there was never any distortion.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by mbarrett635

Interesting. I enjoy the Bowers and Wilkins system in my X5, but I still feel that the B&O system in my F15 X5 was better. It definitely had more clarity at higher volumes -- you could turn it up past where your ears would bleed, and there was never any distortion.

I listened to the B&O in an F15 it was good but didn't have the same soundstage as my B&W. What sort of audio source are you using?

[40080]

Really thinking about getting this option, but yet to see any videos of it in action, can anyone take a video of it at night to show the LEDs in the G05, maybe show the ranges too?