[AndroidRobot]

My volume speed compensation stopped working via the 03/2019.37 software for the record, I'm going to make a new iDrive profile and see if that fixes things so you guys know.

[thomas_Rp]

Thanks AndroidRobot. I am still on the 11 2018 software version. Going to stay on that for now.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by thomas_Rp

Thanks AndroidRobot. I am still on the 11 2018 software version. Going to stay on that for now.

That's what I had before but wanted cornering lights. It might work again with a new user profile, I'll have to make one and see. I have a decibel meter which could help me see but it's tough when you can't truly isolate other sounds

[SwedeJohanson]

Anyone having "crackling" sounds coming from their B&W speakers?

I noticed this on Satellite radio, especially during talk radio (news, sports talk, etc.).

I first thought it was a 3-D sound setting, but still hear this when I select the "studio" setting.

Any thoughts?

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by SwedeJohanson

Anyone having "crackling" sounds coming from their B&W speakers?

I noticed this on Satellite radio, especially during talk radio (news, sports talk, etc.).

I first thought it was a 3-D sound setting, but still hear this when I select the "studio" setting.

Any thoughts?

It could be bad signal quality coming in? try playing an audio book or only voice-based audio from USB, preferably lossless and see if there's still an issue. I don't use the radio since audio has always been crap no matter how good your sound system is

[Wild Blue]

I have to pile on, along with everyone else. "Listening to lossless audio via bluetooth" simply does not make sense. Make a physical connection via audio jack or USB.

[X5bmwmn]

Thank you Tenac, iconoclast, davramic and magbarn for your comments. I finally got a chance to go back and check out the system. Unforntunately it did not start well - used a usb stick with lossless audio.
The system sounded "bland" and nothing I did to change settings would make a difference. Finally, the SA tried to change the volume using gesture control and after a few tries the system started to react. Switched off the gesture control on this vehicle and then the system came alive. Yes, it is good as I would expect. Now, hope fully software gremlins would go away soon.
Using my iphone (lossless files) via a cord also sounded great.

[ElectroGeek]

Originally Posted by X5bmwmn

Thank you Tenac, iconoclast, davramic and magbarn for your comments. I finally got a chance to go back and check out the system. Unforntunately it did not start well - used a usb stick with lossless audio.
The system sounded "bland" and nothing I did to change settings would make a difference. Finally, the SA tried to change the volume using gesture control and after a few tries the system started to react. Switched off the gesture control on this vehicle and then the system came alive. Yes, it is good as I would expect. Now, hope fully software gremlins would go away soon.
Using my iphone (lossless files) via a cord also sounded great.

I dont understand, the system sounded bland, the volume would increase with the volume knob?
Once you used gesture control to increase volume the sound changed ?

can you discribe this a bit more?

[ElectroGeek]

Dose anyone happen to know what DAC chip or hopefully Chips are used in the X5 B&W system?

[Auricom]

Originally Posted by ElectroGeek

Dose anyone happen to know what DAC chip or hopefully Chips are used in the X5 B&W system?

All BMWs with B&W surround sound system feature a Harman QuantumLogic surround sound processor unit customized for that vehicle with multiple stage presets and equalizing.

"The X5 and X7 with Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound system features 20 exactingly placed speakers powered by a 1475-watt 20-channel amplifier, with QuantumLogic® Immersion processing, full-active output stage technology, dynamic equalizing..."

https://news.harman.com/releases/har...eva-motor-show

Harman (a Samsung company) owns B&W automotive audio.

[X5bmwmn]

Originally Posted by ElectroGeek

I dont understand, the system sounded bland, the volume would increase with the volume knob?
Once you used gesture control to increase volume the sound changed ?

can you discribe this a bit more?

Initially the system did not sound good at all. I could change the fading from back to front and also from left to right but nothing would change in how the system sounded even when I changed the bass/terble vis equalizer. The volume knob did work. Once SA changed volume via gesture control the system came alive .... meaning I could hear clarity and fineness of the system. I decided to turn off the gesture control and not waste any more time/ run into issues so I could listen to varying music and check out the sound. Hope this clarifies.

[ElectroGeek]

Originally Posted by X5bmwmn

Initially the system did not sound good at all. I could change the fading from back to front and also from left to right but nothing would change in how the system sounded even when I changed the bass/terble vis equalizer. The volume knob did work. Once SA changed volume via gesture control the system came alive .... meaning I could hear clarity and fineness of the system. I decided to turn off the gesture control and not waste any more time/ run into issues so I could listen to varying music and check out the sound. Hope this clarifies.

ahh, well at least it started to behave normally, I have not had that issue. I have found the B&W audio definitely worth the price IMO.

[Supraman66]

Do any of you have the volume spike upward then downward when you change the soundstage preset? I have noticed that no mater the source and am trying to determine if it is normal or I need to have them look at it.

I have also had the volume oscillate when listening to XM and my phone which I would think would be a signal issue until it happened on multiple sources. I am lookin to recreate but it seems very sporadic?

Lastly, has anybody run a sound stage sweep to determine the true output range (20 - 20k)? I like the tight base, but still feel it could be a little deeper.

Thoughts? Thanks!

[SHARMAATL]

Has anyone experienced distortion from the front middle speaker on the dash? Especially when listening to podcasts, I'm getting quite a bit of distortion from that speaker, and I'm not really sure what to do, short of taking it into the dealer.

I tried to "Reset" through the Settings menu but that has not helped.

Any assistance would be helpful. May just have to take it in.

[SHARMAATL]

Originally Posted by SwedeJohanson

Anyone having "crackling" sounds coming from their B&W speakers?

I noticed this on Satellite radio, especially during talk radio (news, sports talk, etc.).

I first thought it was a 3-D sound setting, but still hear this when I select the "studio" setting.

Any thoughts?

In conjunction with my above comment, I just read yours. This is the issue I'm having too. Did you get it resolved? I've just scheduled a service appointment for this weekend to take a look.

[SHARMAATL]

UPDATE: Took it into the dealer and they noticed the crackling in the front speaker pretty quickly. The part has been ordered, but it's in Germany so will take around 2 weeks to get here.

Hopefully that will resolve the issue.

[Aimster82]

No distortion or cracking noise at all and I play it loud. Still waiting for someone to share their EQ settings.

I do have to turn the volume down every time I change a song. Next song plays louder, etc. Kind of annoying maybe just me

[Supraman66]

Originally Posted by Aimster82

No distortion or cracking noise at all and I play it loud. Still waiting for someone to share their EQ settings.

I do have to turn the volume down every time I change a song. Next song plays louder, etc. Kind of annoying maybe just me

I don't have a crackling per se, but do notice the jump in volume should I change stations and both stations are playing "robust" music. Same can be said for when I change sound settings. It's as if the head unit takes a second to attenuate the signal which doesn't seem right to me. I have also noticed that XM and radio does it, but not so much on FLAC files. I have also noticed a volume oscillation, mainly on XM and occasionally on Bluetooth. None of these are show stoppers, but will have them look at it in the near future if I cannot get a consensus from the board.

From an EQ point of view, that is much more subjective and I find myself questioning everything. This song should have more this, that song a little more that. It is fun to play around with different setting as the type of music changes.

So my wish for the system is more low volume bass. I find that the Bass is really good, tight, and voluminous at higher volumes. It can run some rap with the best of them. But on songs that don't have a heavy bass line, at lower volumes it could be a little more pronounced. For this reason I really like the Lounge setting, but that starts to mess with the front sound stage that is second to none in this system. So what I do most of the time is keep it on Stage, and bump the base up 3 clicks.... and will sometimes go to 4 or 5 if I am playing some classic rock where the bass line is not very robust. I like bass and with the awesome mid and highs this system puts out, the current settings will never overpower that aspect.

I would love to run a sine wave through the system and have a spectrometer read it to really see if it is a flat response or if the bass rolls off two quickly to my ears.

Ultimately I love it, think it is awesome, but given the price and the fact that my ears having me guessing a bit, I find myself second guessing a bit. What say you?

[gpitts]

Originally Posted by Supraman66

Do any of you have the volume spike upward then downward when you change the soundstage preset? I have noticed that no mater the source and am trying to determine if it is normal or I need to have them look at it.

I have also had the volume oscillate when listening to XM and my phone which I would think would be a signal issue until it happened on multiple sources. I am lookin to recreate but it seems very sporadic?

Lastly, has anybody run a sound stage sweep to determine the true output range (20 - 20k)? I like the tight base, but still feel it could be a little deeper.

Thoughts? Thanks!

I experience the volume fluctuations during commercials when listening to SiriusXM. Programs seem fine. I've written this off to the companding algorithm used and it's interaction with the BMW audio system. I do not experience this on other audio sources.

[Tenac]

Originally Posted by gpitts

I experience the volume fluctuations during commercials when listening to SiriusXM. Programs seem fine. I've written this off to the companding algorithm used and it's interaction with the BMW audio system. I do not experience this on other audio sources.

Recently I have been noticing strange things with SiriusXM as well. I was able to confirm the same weirdness with audio also happens in the X3 and X5... I think it is something on the SiriusXM side.

[maczrool]

Originally Posted by Tenac

Recently I have been noticing strange things with SiriusXM as well. I was able to confirm the same weirdness with audio also happens in the X3 and X5... I think it is something on the SiriusXM side.

Have you tried the app? The sound quality, especially on the Mac bandwidth setting is leaps and bounds better than the sat version.

[gpitts]

Originally Posted by maczrool

Have you tried the app? The sound quality, especially on the Mac bandwidth setting is leaps and bounds better than the sat version.

Heavier compression I suspect. Satellite bandwidth ain't cheap.