[thereef510]

Originally Posted by Paladin1

Had the HK system in my F15. It's a good audio system, and a good enough in-car audio system with nearly every source. Nearly. For streaming audio, it's more than enough, and if that's all you use I wouldn't upgrade. That said, with acoustic glass and a recorded source on USB or HD, the B&W is the best stock in-car system I've heard. Better than the B&O system I had in one car, and audibly better than the HK - with the appropriate source. Whether it's worth the several-thousand-dollar premium is of course up to the listener, but the combination of the super-quiet cabin and the B&W sound system actually makes listening to quality recorded music feasible in a car now.

thank you for your experience. I may just go to the dealership and see if I can hear one of their cars with it, even if its in a different series. I'm definitely getting the quiet glass option. My other concern is that while I listen to music off my phone, its a lot more rare than me listening to podcasts on the majority of my commutes. And while it may sound brilliant, that's a an awful lot of money they want for it.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by thereef510

thank you for your experience. I may just go to the dealership and see if I can hear one of their cars with it, even if its in a different series. I'm definitely getting the quiet glass option. My other concern is that while I listen to music off my phone, its a lot more rare than me listening to podcasts on the majority of my commutes. And while it may sound brilliant, that's a an awful lot of money they want for it.

Originally Posted by thereef510

thank you for your experience. I may just go to the dealership and see if I can hear one of their cars with it, even if its in a different series. I'm definitely getting the quiet glass option. My other concern is that while I listen to music off my phone, its a lot more rare than me listening to podcasts on the majority of my commutes. And while it may sound brilliant, that's a an awful lot of money they want for it.

I ordered mine without hearing it in the G05 first. I love the audio overall, hands down the best stock system I've heard in a car. You need to use proper audio files over USB to get the most out of the system so if you're only using Bluetooth for audio it will still sound amazing but you'll be missing out on its potential

[jumpingpint]

Originally Posted by thereef510

I'd like to think I'm a discerning music listener. I converted all of my music to ALAC (apple flac) onto my iphone. I don't have any of the streaming music services because I still only really listen to all the music I grew up with and I have all of it on my phone. In any case, so all of my library is as high quality as it can be.

In our F15, we have the Harmon Kardon system, and its perfectly fine. It doesn't distort unless you get to ear splitting levels. The bass could be a bit more but its still perfectly fine at reasonable listening levels. We want to get a g05 but there's no real way for me to audition the B&W system, none of the X5s they stock at the dealership has that option, nor would they appreciate it if I sat there trying to listen to my music for a long enough time or at a loud volume to justify its price point. My question is, how good is the B&W system? is it really worth the price?

I tried the amazon music through Apple car play, the BW is much better than HK.
I am no professional on speaker though. I have HK in F15 because HK is standard

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by jumpingpint

I tried the amazon music through Apple car play, the BW is much better than HK.
I am no professional on speaker though. I have HK in F15 because HK is standard

Get some lossless audio files, I have about 600GB of '60's rock and onward through the 90's' more or less. While frowned upon I can share a link to my music collection. I do have more but I'll need to find out what back up drive the rest is on first.

lossless audio makes a huge difference with the B&W system

[Aimster82]

Where is the best place to get lossless audio?

[dan321]

Originally Posted by Aimster82

Where is the best place to get lossless audio?

Not a recommendation but here is a place to start looking:

https://vox.rocks/blog/10-sites-for-...-music-in-flac

[The J-Man]

I might make a separate post about this, but what is everybody's experience with getting the highest quality streaming, particularly Amazon Music HD?

With both Apple and Android, I cannot connect with a cable and play Amazon Music like I could in past BMWs.

With Android, I think bluetooth audio is the only option, which plays at a max of 320 Kbps. I suspect it is even less as the sound is marginally better than XM.

However, with Apple running Carplay, I believe I am getting a much higher bitrate because Airplay is being utilized. This is confirmed as I can turn off bluetooth on the phone and the connection still works.

Amazon Ultra HD songs sound fantastic on the B&W, but I am wondering if the sound could get any better?

Any thoughts? Has anybody been able to get a cable connection working? Anybody compared Amazon Ultra HD songs running on Carplay with lossless on a USB stick?

[randybobandy]

Originally Posted by The J-Man

I might make a separate post about this, but what is everybody's experience with getting the highest quality streaming, particularly Amazon Music HD?

With both Apple and Android, I cannot connect with a cable and play Amazon Music like I could in past BMWs.

With Android, I think bluetooth audio is the only option, which plays at a max of 320 Kbps. I suspect it is even less as the sound is marginally better than XM.

However, with Apple running Carplay, I believe I am getting a much higher bitrate because Airplay is being utilized. This is confirmed as I can turn off bluetooth on the phone and the connection still works.

Amazon Ultra HD songs sound fantastic on the B&W, but I am wondering if the sound could get any better?

Any thoughts? Has anybody been able to get a cable connection working? Anybody compared Amazon Ultra HD songs running on Carplay with lossless on a USB stick?

To your point, if the music is being played via AirPlay, which I would imagine it is since it’s over WiFi, it is lossless audio. I just have no idea if it actually does. This also makes sense with the wireless CarPlay though.

Also, I have no idea about AirPlay, but AirPlay 2 definitely supports lossless audio. It was a huge thing when it came out regarding Sonos and multiple connections with other compatible devices.

[jumpingpint]

There is a USB-C port inside the center box. Maybe it is possible to connect the USB there and play from USB, not using Apple car play

[The J-Man]

Originally Posted by jumpingpint

There is a USB-C port inside the center box. Maybe it is possible to connect the USB there and play from USB, not using Apple car play

I've tried both USB ports in the front - the A and C - neither work for streaming audio apps, only songs stored on the phone can be played this way. Unless, I am missing something...

[randybobandy]

Originally Posted by The J-Man

I've tried both USB ports in the front - the A and C - neither work for streaming audio apps, only songs stored on the phone can be played this way. Unless, I am missing something...

I haven’t messed with anything, but saw some info on the streaming apps in car. I am not sure if they’re solely dedicated, or have you be through the phone though. The other downside would be the inability to use CarPlay. I am not sure how married you are to the idea, but I know the iPhone and iDrive messaging leaves much to be desired.

[The J-Man]

Originally Posted by randybobandy

I haven’t messed with anything, but saw some info on the streaming apps in car. I am not sure if they’re solely dedicated, or have you be through the phone though. The other downside would be the inability to use CarPlay. I am not sure how married you are to the idea, but I know the iPhone and iDrive messaging leaves much to be desired.

Hmm, I don't have any streaming apps available within idrive.

The ideal scenario would be to stream Amazon Music HD through a cable connection. I think that is going to give the highest quality sound. I was able to do this in my 2016 550 by first launching the BMW Connected app on my phone, and then launching Amazon music, but that doesn't work with idrive 7 as far as I can figure.

Amazon Music HD is the end all be all for streaming music, in my opinion. The quality and selection is absolutely fantastic. Puts Apple Music to shame. In a short period of time, I've been really impressed with Amazon's commitment to quality for both streaming music and video.

If I could get Amazon Music HD via a cable plus hands-free Alexa in my X5, all other music sources would be rendered useless.

[randybobandy]

Originally Posted by The J-Man

Hmm, I don't have any streaming apps available within idrive.

The ideal scenario would be to stream Amazon Music HD through a cable connection. I think that is going to give the highest quality sound. I was able to do this in my 2016 550 by first launching the BMW Connected app on my phone, and then launching Amazon music, but that doesn't work with idrive 7 as far as I can figure.

Amazon Music HD is the end all be all for streaming music, in my opinion. The quality and selection is absolutely fantastic. Puts Apple Music to shame. In a short period of time, I've been really impressed with Amazon's commitment to quality for both streaming music and video.

If I could get Amazon Music HD via a cable plus hands-free Alexa in my X5, all other music sources would be rendered useless.

Dang, I’ll have to give it a try. I love amazon, but I have a handful of HomePods, which looking back, was stupid...so I am stuck with Apple Music. Whenever I get a new car or even in a loaner/rental, I kind of go into autopilot and default to CarPlay or just Bluetooth stream. I found something today regarding streaming (linked it below), if you go halfway down the page it mentions a couple of apps built in from what it seems. Again, I never tried it, but may futz with it now. The only downside is you lose CarPlay, but it’s just a trade off I guess?

https://www.bmwusa.com/explore/connecteddrive.html

It’s the section that has pandora, Napster, etc. not sure if it streams directly to the car. I believe Tesla is doing this with Apple Music, which is how I began scouring for something similar on BMW.

[The J-Man]

Originally Posted by randybobandy

Dang, I’ll have to give it a try. I love amazon, but I have a handful of HomePods, which looking back, was stupid...so I am stuck with Apple Music. Whenever I get a new car or even in a loaner/rental, I kind of go into autopilot and default to CarPlay or just Bluetooth stream. I found something today regarding streaming (linked it below), if you go halfway down the page it mentions a couple of apps built in from what it seems. Again, I never tried it, but may futz with it now. The only downside is you lose CarPlay, but it’s just a trade off I guess?

https://www.bmwusa.com/explore/connecteddrive.html

It’s the section that has pandora, Napster, etc. not sure if it streams directly to the car. I believe Tesla is doing this with Apple Music, which is how I began scouring for something similar on BMW.

Hmm, I had all of those apps in my 2016 550 but they are nowhere to be found in the G05.

With the B&W system, the difference in quality between Apple Music via Carplay and Amazon Music Ultra HD via Carplay is HUGE. The B&W with the Amazon music is definitely the best I've heard from a stock audio system in a car. It is several factors better than the B&O in my 5-series.

[randybobandy]

Originally Posted by The J-Man

Hmm, I had all of those apps in my 2016 550 but they are nowhere to be found in the G05.

With the B&W system, the difference in quality between Apple Music via Carplay and Amazon Music Ultra HD via Carplay is HUGE. The B&W with the Amazon music is definitely the best I've heard from a stock audio system in a car. It is several factors better than the B&O in my 5-series.

From reading this thread, it sounds like using CarPlay with the B&W is a bit of a wash? I’m interested to see if those apps are standalone. From the section on the BMW site, it sounds like they are. Wonder if it’s not available until a future update? That’s honestly a huge selling point. If BMW could clean up the sms/iMessage handling and contacts on iDrive, and the music apps were stand alone streaming to the car, I would skip on CarPlay. I have the HK, so it handles Apple Music just fine haha. Honestly, I just crank it up and it drowns off the little crackles and rattles in the cabin. Worth the price of admission!

[jumpingpint]

how about store the amazon music in a flash drive and import the music to the car

[randybobandy]

So I tried to get the Amazon Music app directly added to the vehicle. I disconnected CarPlay, tried connecting via usb, updating apps and services, and messing around in both amazon music and ConnectedDrive apps. Had no success in getting the app on the vehicle. Not sure if this is possible, or something BMW discontinued. There are a few discussions on various sites and it shows people with the app right on iDrive, but I don’t think it was ID7.

However, when I messed around in the amazon app on where to “send” the audio, the app indicated it was being sent via AirPlay. In theory, this should be lossless audio if on AirPlay 2. But who knows.

[Aimster82]

So basically.. I need to go to the dark side and get an Apple for the Airplay

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by Aimster82

So basically.. I need to go to the dark side and get an Apple for the Airplay

.

[The J-Man]

Originally Posted by Aimster82

So basically.. I need to go to the dark side and get an Apple for the Airplay

That’s what I just did. Having been on Android for two years, I was shocked how much more I like iOS, and the iPhone just works better all around in the G05 than my Samsung Note.

[jumpingpint]

Started the amazon music hd trial
Let’s see how it sounds

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by Aimster82

Where is the best place to get lossless audio?

what do you want specifically? DM me I have a good amount I can share