Anyone underwhelmed by B&O system...

[supertramp]

I wonder how is the sound quality in Select trim - better, worse, the same? Anybody had a chance to check that out?

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[dwadj]

I also did a sound test in the demo car and the sound is way better than my current car, although it has the Sony 11 speaker system, but it never had the hifi sound i wanted.
What i did notice, they again have forgotten to implement the ability to save the sound settings/source.

 

[JCinTpa]

Vs Shaker in my GT it sucks. No bass or audio from behind you. All it is just loud sound from the front, lacking clarity.

Agreed

 

[JeffreyC]

I consider myself and audiophile and feel that I am a good judge of sound system quality. I think the Mach-e sound system is excellent. As other have said, it is all about the source of the music. Satellite radio will ALWAYS sound relatively bad since the digital signal is extremely compressed (I hate it). Within Spotify there are options for "Streaming Quality." The higher the setting, the better the sound. However, how the music was originally recorded and produced is even more important. The system that was used in the studio / stage makes a huge difference. There are some recordings from the 50s (Dream with Dean - Dean Martin) that sound excellent relative to some recent recordings. If you use Spotify, you can search on the word "audiophile" to find playlists that others have put together of well recorded music. A good reference album that sounds fantastic is "Acoustic Live" by Nils Lofgren.

 

[SteelMach]

It definitely seems muffled, no matter what I do on the sound adjustment page, I can't get it to sound what I would call "clear" - it is absolutely not living up to the hype of "B&O" which people make sound like the ultimate sound experience.

 

[jdmrc93]

I mean, it's no stock SHAKER 1000 (for the bass lovers), or stock McIntosh or Burmester (for the true audiophiles), but it sounds very good in my opinion. I'm a bit of an audiophile myself. The clarity is quite good, and actually better than I expected. It's not "bangin", but it gets the job done. Sounds fantastic with Spotify "Very High" settings, and I imagine it would sound even better with the new Spotify Hi-Fi (coming soon), or Tidal. SXM compression is TRASH. My only "complaint" is that I think they could have added a few more speakers in some key places for a better surround effect.

 

[Ructtel]

I suspect the quality of the system might be hampered by the speakers. So often these branded stock systems skimp on the speaker quality (and number of.) With the sub in the trunk and decent power, replacing some of the speakers might be all it needs.

I agree, Ford should have put money into better speakers instead of the B&O branding. I'm sure most people will be perfectly happy with the B&O system in the Mach-E, but I found it a bit disappointing after all the hype from Ford and my dealer. To me, I find the highs somewhat offensive. Maybe if the Mach-E wasn't so damn quiet, I wouldn't notice.

I'll try FLAC files as other have suggested but I can say the same Spotify stream from my phone in a Model Y sounds just amazing. Does anyone know who makes Tesla speakers and if they will fit in the Mach-E?

 

[JCinTpa]

I agree, Ford should have put money into better speakers instead of the B&O branding. I'm sure most people will be perfectly happy with the B&O system in the Mach-E, but I found it a bit disappointing after all the hype from Ford and my dealer. To me, I find the highs somewhat offensive. Maybe if the Mach-E wasn't so damn quiet, I wouldn't notice.

I'll try FLAC files as other have suggested but I can say the same Spotify stream from my phone in a Model Y sounds just amazing. Does anyone know who makes Tesla speakers and if they will fit in the Mach-E?

Maybe I missed something but how do I get FLAC files?

 

[trutolife27]

I think the sound is great myself.

 

[Davedough]

Hmmm. I’ll be coming from a very bass heavy system that came with my GTI, branded by Fender. For a little sub, it delivers some good rumble. I’m sure can dial in clarity on the Mach E but if it’s missing that low end response I may have to add a sub down the road.
Who knows though, by the time the GT comes out they may have tweaked the system

 

[KAustin]

Just came back in from playing around with the system again. Source definitely matters. Tried Apple and YT Music along with making the adjustments pictured below. Used surround sound and it was much better.

The only issue that has been consistent is my adjustments haven't been sticking.

 

[jdmrc93]

Just came back in from playing around with the system again. Source definitely matters. Tried Apple and YT Music along with making the adjustments pictured below. Used surround sound and it was much better.

The only issue that has been consistent is my adjustments haven't been sticking.

Yes, the changes not sticking is the biggest pain in my ass right now. And very correct regarding source.

 

[louibluey]

Try an HD FM radio station that's nearby. You should see quite a difference. The source matters a LOT.

HD radio at best is closer to CD quality, and sometimes subpar depending on how it is implemented by individual FM stations. That said, we have one of the few remaining classical FM stations WCNY in upstate, NY, and it sounds pretty good in the MME. Most streaming can do higher bit rates, but also as said, the quality of the recording (content) can be just as important.

Amazon Music HD might be another option for a streaming trial, with car play, it seems to run fine.

Beyond the marginal speakers, amplifier, and missing low end frequencies, whatever DAC they used (the circuit that converts the digital bits into analog sound) will also limit the quality of sound, no matter how good (quality, compression, and bit rate) the audio file is. The DAC is probably better than the amplifier and speakers, but difficult to know for sure.

Sirius XM, while convenient at times, is for sure the worst as to quality (compression) and bit rate.

 

[Ructtel]

Maybe I missed something but how do I get FLAC files?

FLAC is a lossless audio codec so it will sound the same as the original CD. If you still have CDs, you can convert them to FLAC files, put them on a USB drive, and play them in your car. I think the program I used for converting my CDs was called foobar2000 but there might be better software now. Yes, FLAC is noticeably better than some of the old mp3 formats but you probably will not notice a much of a difference from the high quality settings on Spotify (or other streaming services) which have improved a lot over the last few years.

 

[sockmeister]

HD radio at best is closer to CD quality, and sometimes subpar depending on how it is implemented by individual FM stations. That said, we have one of the few remaining classical FM stations WCNY in upstate, NY, and it sounds pretty good in the MME. Most streaming can do higher bit rates, but also as said, the quality of the recording (content) can be just as important.

Amazon Music HD might be another option for a streaming trial, with car play, it seems to run fine.

Beyond the marginal speakers, amplifier, and missing low end frequencies, whatever DAC they used (the circuit that converts the digital bits into analog sound) will also limit the quality of sound, no matter how good (quality, compression, and bit rate) the audio file is. The DAC is probably better than the amplifier and speakers, but difficult to know for sure.

Sirius XM, while convenient at times, is for sure the worst as to quality (compression) and bit rate.

Definitely agree with all of that. The short answer I was going for is that the source of the music is extremely important.

I listen to Sirius regularly, but it does have bad compression, and some of the worst quality I've ever heard. They need an overhaul.

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