Audi A7 Standard Stereo vs...

[Frenetic]

I doubt many people here get bare-bones A7, but that's precisely what I'm looking at.

Just curious if anyone has any first-hand experience between the three audio options: standard, Bose and B&O.

I'm not an audiophile or bass junkie, per se, but I do enjoy listening to standard fare at moderate levels.

Can anyone share their thoughts between the three audio systems in the A7?

Thanks.

[SunDevil]

It's a fact that you spend a majority of your time IN your car. The interior/sound is very important. Especially in a luxury sports sedan such as an A7. I could care less about the stereo if I was in a Ferrari or R8. I had B&O in my R8. Not sure I could tell the difference with my Bose in my A7. At the very least .... get the Bose. You'll thank me later,

[BlueSVT]

With aftermarket integration becoming more difficult in modern cars, having an upgraded sound system from the factory is almost a "must" if you really enjoy music and don't want to spend a lot of time and money retrofitting an aftermarket system.

I have the B&O and absolutely love it, but I haven't had the Bose to compare to. From what I've heard the Bose is also great, just not as clear all around, or as loud before distortion is noticeable.

[fantaxp7]

I bought my car used and it happened to have the B&O which is decent. If I were to buy new I would not have gotten that.

What is the price for the Bose option? I am curious as I know for sure I would have saved the B&O money and spent about half on a system that is much better. If the Bose is around 2k I wouldn't but it.

[Glacier6]

I bought my car used and it happened to have the B&O which is decent. If I were to buy new I would not have gotten that.

What is the price for the Bose option? I am curious as I know for sure I would have saved the B&O money and spent about half on a system that is much better. If the Bose is around 2k I wouldn't but it.

Bose is standard on Prestige and only $850 upgrade on Prem Plus. If you step down from B&O to Bose you will absolutely notice a difference. Just wait til you get a 6 or 7 loaner with the Bose. Albeit, it's probably not worth the $4k price difference.

[fantaxp7]

Bose is standard on Prestige and only $850 upgrade on Prem Plus. If you step down from B&O to Bose you will absolutely notice a difference. Just wait til you get a 6 or 7 loaner with the Bose. Albeit, it's probably not worth the $4k price difference.

$850 may be worth it. But as I understand it from reading user's reviews, it's not very good. But for $850 you wouldn't get far at all with an aftermarket setup...

So as with all things audio, it's best for you to go listen to the differences.

[agent47]

There is quite an appreciable difference between the bose and beo. Much bigger of a difference between the stock and bose. The price difference is huge though- $850 vs $5000 . There are a lot of people who have gone the aftermarket route with good success. I would at the least get the bose. Not as good as beo but miles better than the stock. Plus you can use lossless codecs for your music - it does make a difference!

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

[etvois]

curious,
can someone more knowledgeable with the bose & b&o systems and going aftermarket chime in, bose is easier to upgrade/go aftermarket yes? why, in detail?

[dennisg]

Generally the consensus is that going aftermarket can get you a much better system for the money than you will spend on the B&O option. For the S6 it was 6k to go from Bose to B&O. I have not heard the B&O that much to know how much better it is than the Bose, but I chose to go aftermarket and my car sounds amazing at this point. I ended up spending more than 6k but I went pretty high end. You could spend less and get WAY better than the Bose.

The Bose was OK but not good enough for me. I am not sure if the B&O would have satisfied me. I am pretty picky as I used to have a recording studio and have a lot of fantastic quality audio experiences in my memory banks. If you want the least amount of hassle, getting the car delivered with a system that is satisfying to you would be the best. You will have to listen to determine if any of those systems will do the trick.

If you decide to go aftermarket, you first need to find an installer that you trust to take your beautiful new car apart. I was going to stay with the Bose for that reason, but I found a very talented installer while getting radar detector/laser jammers installed. The guy knows how to take an Audi apart and put it back together without any evidence of it being done. And then someone that can tune it for you. No guarantees, there are a lot of hacks out there. So the aftermarket route is more challenging, (finding people/selecting components) but potentially much more rewarding

Probably the biggest factor in the improvement of my sound system was using a device like a Mobridge or Audison Bit DMI to tap the digital signal right off of the MOST bus and bypassing all of the Bose amps and processing. From there you use a programmable standalone processor to feed the amps/speakers of your choosing.

[VeryBadman]

In C7 platform I have been through all 3 systems and may share my experience a bit.

Base - Just okay to listen but don't expect much...actual should not expect any at all. Although A7 is several times more expensive than a Camry but the base stereo in both cars are more or less the same.
Bose - It's definitely an upgrade from Base Stereo and it's pretty decent if you have never listened something better. Well, actually in my other car I only replaced base speakers with JL-Audio speakers and the sound overall is already better than Bose in my then S6. You can tell that it's not something you can expect much out of it.
B&O - Definitely the best among all 3 systems, it's like day and night compared to Bose. Clarity is great and bass is enough for my taste (never like chest crushing heavy bass) but $4900 upgrade option is a hefty price tag for factory sound system.

Of course if you are some audiophile you will never satisfy with any and even the mighty $4900 B&O will not be good enough for you but you have to ask yourself that do you have any shops in your radar that you can completely trust them to work around with the electronics in your car and even if you do, are you ready to deal with the electronic issues that may arise and take time to figure out? I'm not saying you will have an issue but that chance is there and it's not low. Modern cars are so complex so some tiny errors can cause so many issues so you have to bare that in mind. If you don't want to deal with any issues and want the best sound system, paying $4900 for it may not be so bad.

[zcd2.7t]

Sound is in the ears of the listener just as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

I had B&O in my S4, and liked it.

My S6 has the Bose, which to me sounds at least as good as the B&O in the S4 - in some ways it sounds better. The S4 B&O isn't anything like the B&O in the C and D cars - no pop-up tweeters, nothing really fancy - just the B&O-branded speakers.

As good as the B&O may be in the C cars, I personally wouldn't pay the upcharge, but the small upcharge to get the Bose in the A/S/6/7 seems well worth it to my ears...

[AnTarbh]

I couldn't justify the cost of the B&O and I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if someone were to work on an electrical project of that scale on my car. So on both my '13 A6 and '16 S6 I got the BOSE. It meets my needs perfectly and didn't break the bank.

[Frenetic]

Thanks for the reply!

I just learned that the car I want does indeed have the Bose option, but it still is bare bones, so to speak! The dealer said, quite amusingly and haughtily, that this car with this level of options are actually rather rare, like I'm some pauper. I kind of laughed as a pauper I am so I guess it fits me well, lol.

I may get it tomorrow. I have another question, but I'm going to make a new thread on it.

[BlueSVT]

The SALESMAN said, quite amusingly and haughtily, that this car with this level of options are actually rather rare, like I'm some pauper.

Fixed. hehe

[Disstrict]

wow, did not realized that there is a base option.. tought its only BOSE or B&O .. whats the brand of the base audio?

[siberianwolf]

I'd rather spend difference between B&O and Bose for some performance upgrades or similar... price difference doesn't justify for me going to B&O (unless I have unlimited budget)

[RAF_S7]

Here in the UK we also have 3 audio options:

No cost base option

Bose option at $1,500

B&O option at £10,000

Couldn't justify the 10k B&O option, so just optioned out my S7 to a similar value. Bose is good enough for me