Base Stereo

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by stevehifi

Garbage in = Garbage out

Majority of people will listen to the radio or MP3s which are very compressed and lack alot of definition and range of frequencies. What's the point of buying a high end system if the material that you mostly listen to is poor quality in the first place?

Interesting take on the issue.

[jm1234]

Originally Posted by stevehifi

Garbage in = Garbage out

What's the point of buying a high end system if the material that you mostly listen to is poor quality in the first place?

There is no point but I'll bet most people will not be listening to MP3's that are "very compressed" but are in the 160+ kbs range. At 160+ kbs the majority of people have trouble telling the difference between the MP3 and the source when listening in an ideal sound environment. This is a car, I'd be shocked if more than 1 in 100 can tell the difference.

The premium system does have more power and more speakers which is something that directly influences sound quality when in a noisy environment. I think people can hear this. It's also got better sound reproduction than the base system. I would agree with several posters here that the low frequency response of the base system is comparable (at less than full volume), but low frequency response isn't what suffers most from normal car noises (whistling wind (high frequency), tire hum (high frequency) and exhaust (mid bass)).

I think the assumptions about the quality of MP3s people will listen to and the value of a high end system when listening to those MP3s isn't correct. I'd encourage people to listen to MP3s themselves (to see if they can hear a difference) and to listen to both stereos (base and premium) themselves for the same reason.

[Seth_Horwitz]

Originally Posted by stevehifi

Garbage in = Garbage out

Majority of people will listen to the radio or MP3s which are very compressed and lack alot of definition and range of frequencies. What's the point of buying a high end system if the material that you mostly listen to is poor quality in the first place?

Granted, a CD played on a base system will probably sound better than an MP3 on an enhanced, but an MP3 on an enhanced will sound better than an MP3 on the base system. Is it enough to justify $1,900? That's entirely subjective, so I think posts like this aren't of much help. Is Alpine White better than Jet Black?

[Davinhci]

I got the Premium sound b/c i didn't want to mess with aftermarket stuff for the entertainment part of my car. Sounds pretty good to me and others have been impressed. I don't know how stock sounds but it can't be bad. At least i hope not for the price you paying for the car.

[Noelpolar]

I have the Individual high end audio in my 335i (in Australia it’s an option up from Logic 7)......have recorded and played MP3s at 120kb/s thru to 320kb/s.......both on CD's and thumb drives. For similar or the same source music 320kb/s sounds the same as a CD to my ears (read really good for a car…..and similar to a good home stereo in the range of $3-5k)…..whilst when listening to material recorded at 120kb/s I wish I’d recorded at a higher bit rate. Now I just record at 320…..since memory or discs are cheap.

[loliea]

I have the upgraded HK in my e46 M3 but was not satisfied with the quality and wanted HD radio. So I started with the head unit and purchased an Alpine iDA-X001 with HD and enhanced iPod connector (it basically corrects the mp3 with the MediaXpander that "restores the harmonic structure across the full bandwidth" of compressed music; in few words make mp3 sounds much better, close to CDs).
After that I thought I would go the extra mile and get an amp+new speakers+new fatter cables but the sound greatly improved just by changing the head unit (only $700 for HD and ipod connectors). I didn't think it was worth spending extra $$.

Anyway it doesn't matter how much you spend on the car audio, there will always be the background noise of the tires wind and melody of the engine that will distort the music...

[ArtPE]

good info, especially coming from someone familiar with 'live' music...

I use my stereo at low volumes, just enough to mask the normal road noise level...not loud by any means...and taking my preferred taste in music into consideration, jazz and classical mostly, the base stereo should do just fine...

thnx

[Technic]

Originally Posted by jm1234

There is no point but I'll bet most people will not be listening to MP3's that are "very compressed" but are in the 160+ kbs range. At 160+ kbs the majority of people have trouble telling the difference between the MP3 and the source when listening in an ideal sound environment. This is a car, I'd be shocked if more than 1 in 100 can tell the difference.

The premium system does have more power and more speakers which is something that directly influences sound quality when in a noisy environment. I think people can hear this. It's also got better sound reproduction than the base system. I would agree with several posters here that the low frequency response of the base system is comparable (at less than full volume), but low frequency response isn't what suffers most from normal car noises (whistling wind (high frequency), tire hum (high frequency) and exhaust (mid bass)).

I think the assumptions about the quality of MP3s people will listen to and the value of a high end system when listening to those MP3s isn't correct. I'd encourage people to listen to MP3s themselves (to see if they can hear a difference) and to listen to both stereos (base and premium) themselves for the same reason.

Agree...

IMO, burning MP3's at 320kps with Variable Bit Rate (VBR) straight from the CD will give the closest sound quality possible to Lossless (uncompressed) while keeping the song size reasonable. Another thing to consider is that a song that it is originally burned at less than 320kbs will not "upcompress" to 320kbs at the same sound quality as one that is burned straight to 320kbs from the CD source.

I've noticed a slightly better sound quality from USB sticks than iPod with the same MP3 song thru the same USB port. Which tell me that the 6FL option D/A converter could be doing a better job than the one in the iPod.

[Damage Inc]

$1900 is very expensive for the M3 stereo upgrade geez.... that thing had better ROCK as you can spend that money on too many other performance items other than the friggin radio....

[gtr]

I'm thinking the same thing. Is it better $1900? If it was $750 it would be a no brainer decision for better sound during bad road conditions.

I usually dont' play music very loud and at normal volume. Is there a differents of clarity and able to hear the highs and low with base radio 90%?

In comparason my mother has a 545I with logic 7 which is not great in my opinion. Does the base sound similar to that?

[ideliver]

BMW has really messed with the M3 on this one...

The standard (Hi-Fi) is okay...same as the the base on the 328
The L7 is not available on the M3 but is the standard stereo for the 335...is better...

The Premium stereo for the M3 is ...very disappointing...

They couldn't offer the L7 because the "premium" is so uninspiring that no one would get it...everyone would stick with the L7...

But...my CA tells me that for MY09 the 335 gets the (Hi-Fi) as the base radio and the L7 is an option...

For me...I am ordering the base radio and going to the aftermarket...

[.RanT.]

I cannot wait to see what people do aftermarket.

That is the route I am going to take, just have not made any final decisions on what products I am going to use.