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B & O UNLEASHED, but what?

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I consider myself an audiophile. I have had my PowerBoost for 6 weeks now and I currently own in-home B&O speakers as well as various Kef speakers and other high end stereo system components. I am also the GSM at a BMW dealership for the past 17 years and have had extensive listening experience with B&O, B&W, Mark Levinson and many other high-end sound systems. Most of these systems cost $3500, not $700. So I approached the Ford system with suspicion, and rightfully so.

The B&O Unleashed in my $80k truck is a solid step or two below anything I have or have experienced. This is not because the speakers or amplifier are not up to to the task, but the pre-amp section seems to suck.

I was so bummed when I turned on the satellite for the first time and heard the lackluster sound.And that feeling continued even after I hooked up my iPhone and steamed music directly, or through CarPlay.

I too spent hours adjusting and playing with various setups only to come to the same conclusion as others in this thread: 1. Boost treble and bass, leave midrange centered. 2. Turn on Surround mode 3. Slide fader back to just behind front seats 4. Most importantly USE HIGH QUALITY INPUTS LIKE TIDAL. Garbage in-Garbage out.

it is now more than bearable, it is enjoyable.

I still think (and hope) a software solution could make it sound better. Heck, a graphic equalizer would take a huge step towards allowing less than stellar sources to be palatable.

Here’s hoping that happens soon.
 

Antimatter22

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I consider myself an audiophile. I have had my PowerBoost for 6 weeks now and I currently own in-home B&O speakers as well as various Kef speakers and other high end stereo system components. I am also the GSM at a BMW dealership for the past 17 years and have had extensive listening experience with B&O, B&W, Mark Levinson and many other high-end sound systems. Most of these systems cost $3500, not $700. So I approached the Ford system with suspicion, and rightfully so.

The B&O Unleashed in my $80k truck is a solid step or two below anything I have or have experienced. This is not because the speakers or amplifier are not up to to the task, but the pre-amp section seems to suck.

I was so bummed when I turned on the satellite for the first time and heard the lackluster sound.And that feeling continued even after I hooked up my iPhone and steamed music directly, or through CarPlay.

I too spent hours adjusting and playing with various setups only to come to the same conclusion as others in this thread: 1. Boost treble and bass, leave midrange centered. 2. Turn on Surround mode 3. Slide fader back to just behind front seats 4. Most importantly USE HIGH QUALITY INPUTS LIKE TIDAL. Garbage in-Garbage out.

it is now more than bearable, it is enjoyable.

I still think (and hope) a software solution could make it sound better. Heck, a graphic equalizer would take a huge step towards allowing less than stellar sources to be palatable.

Here’s hoping that happens soon.
I switched to Tidal this week and it's a night and day difference compared to using Amazon Music Ultra HD songs that were downloaded to my phone. Seems like it opened the system up quite a bit.
 

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kmayer

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My biggest complaint is the overly enthusiastic center channel. If there was both an ability to balance channels and equalizer, i would be happy. If they can give me only one, let me adjust the center channel.
 

K-Rob3

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I just bought a used '21 Lariat 502a with B&O unleashed. I wasn't very impressed with the sound quality, but fading the speakers to the back a little and adjusting the Bass, Mid, and Treble has really improved the quality, thanks to all for the tips! Im not saying its the greatest sound system I've ever heard, but it sounds 3x as good now with these changes. That center speaker is definitely the problem until I faded the sound to the back a little.
 

clipperqb

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I just bought a used '21 Lariat 502a with B&O unleashed. I wasn't very impressed with the sound quality, but fading the speakers to the back a little and adjusting the Bass, Mid, and Treble has really improved the quality, thanks to all for the tips! Im not saying its the greatest sound system I've ever heard, but it sounds 3x as good now with these changes. That center speaker is definitely the problem until I faded the sound to the back a little.
I don't own the unleashed version but when I removed the center speaker the soundstage widened dramatically.
 

Snakebitten

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My sales guy supplied me with a USB stick that had the demo music that Ford used to impress the sales staff just before the system became available.

Admittedly, if I would go through the trouble of compiling all the music I listen to into whatever quality those files are, the B&O unleashed system would impress everytime I turned it on.
 

SonnyDigs

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Spotify Premium sounds great with those settings.
 

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SonnyDigs

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I consider myself an audiophile. I have had my PowerBoost for 6 weeks now and I currently own in-home B&O speakers as well as various Kef speakers and other high end stereo system components. I am also the GSM at a BMW dealership for the past 17 years and have had extensive listening experience with B&O, B&W, Mark Levinson and many other high-end sound systems. Most of these systems cost $3500, not $700. So I approached the Ford system with suspicion, and rightfully so.

The B&O Unleashed in my $80k truck is a solid step or two below anything I have or have experienced. This is not because the speakers or amplifier are not up to to the task, but the pre-amp section seems to suck.

I was so bummed when I turned on the satellite for the first time and heard the lackluster sound.And that feeling continued even after I hooked up my iPhone and steamed music directly, or through CarPlay.

I too spent hours adjusting and playing with various setups only to come to the same conclusion as others in this thread: 1. Boost treble and bass, leave midrange centered. 2. Turn on Surround mode 3. Slide fader back to just behind front seats 4. Most importantly USE HIGH QUALITY INPUTS LIKE TIDAL. Garbage in-Garbage out.

it is now more than bearable, it is enjoyable.

I still think (and hope) a software solution could make it sound better. Heck, a graphic equalizer would take a huge step towards allowing less than stellar sources to be palatable.

Here’s hoping that happens soon.
Taking a road trip in June..
I will sign up for t g e free 30 day trial then.
Really looking forward to sampling it..
Spotify Premium blows away
Serrius, Amazon and Pandora..
Spotify sounds awesome so if Tidal is even better then I'll add it also.
 

Paul Neubauer

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I stream lossless Apple Music and don't have any complaints about sound quality. FM and satellite radio on the other hand are trash in comparison. The satellite radio signal is so over compressed that it makes AM radio sound like an upgrade.
 

Tosh

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Apple Music, with Apple Lossless connected via USB, will produce great results. As stated above, adjust your speakers do that the rears are slightly emphasized, and reduce the mids.

It's not truly "audiophile" but it's very good as long as you aren't expecting window-rattling bass
 

2Lazy2P

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I imagine there is software available (that loads on your phone) to set the calibration for the truck’s interior?
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