Disappointed in B&O Unleashed

[Jefmedia]

Just my 2 cents. A good sound system will make bad sources sound worse, while a mediocre or bad system doesn't show the flaws because it is unable to faithfully reproduce the sound it was given. If you use a uncompressed sound source such as Tidal or Amazon Music Prime you will learn quickly what the capabilities of your sound system are. This can be really good or really bad. I briefly got to listen to the Unleashed system at the drive event, but really didn't push it. I do have a 16 Limited that was the Sony system and gutted it, replacing the speakers with Focal's and the processor, amps and sun with JL Audio, spent way too much, but hey I love good sound. The truck sounds great, one of the reasons I am hesitating on getting a 21. Bottom line good stereos's needs a good source and XM is not it.

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[Orlando150]

So just to follow up on a few things:

1) I used SiriusXM because I often use it in my current truck. I am very familiar with how it should sound, and I really only listen to one station. So bit rate and audio quality is same as what I'm comparing to. Not an absolute rating of quality, but relative to my existing system.

2) I am not rating it on just "how loud it can get". I can't turn my existing system up past about 17 (yes I know that will be relative) for example but it goes into the 20's (or more, I have no idea). All I want is for it to sound clean and not distort, at "my max" level. I'm not a teenager cruising with friends trying to shake neighboring cars. Just want clean and powerful like my existing truck.

3) Will definitely be playing with all kinds of sources and the surround setting and listening for headrest effects. I was trying to do a lot of things in the 15 minutes I had, and couldn't do real fiddling while driving.

4) The fade setting is a good idea! If they don't have the crossover set to taper off the lows from that dash speaker, then fade to back some may help me. It will be in list of things to try if I can ever get my own truck!

Totally fair on those points and like I did mention if that is what you listen to day after day you want to make sure it's acceptable for you. You did make it sound like you just threw on the Sirius because it was fastest and then "cranked it" which is why some people (and myself) replied that way.

Hopefully it can be adjusted to your satisfaction in the settings.

 

[Daily22ssv]

??

We should be able to quickly query the folks on this forum who have already received theirs what software versions they are running to confirm if indeed a software update was pushed in the last 24 hours.

Having many friends with Tesla's and seeing how often they get updates that legitimately add new features and capabilities (probably monthly), i am curious how much and quickly Ford will really be able to implement this new "ethos" into their approach. I just don't see them doing this...perhaps a periodic bug fix here and there, but i don't see them having the capabilities in their product development, expectations from the customers, risk tolerance, cost, etc. to truly deliver a constant stream of new capabilities. Can you imagine a software update from Ford (like Tesla owners get) that says, good news, here's our Change Log for this update:

- Phone as a Key enabled
- +5 HP and +12 lbs torque added through new optimized engine settings
- 1-2 MPG improvement

;-) Wishful thinking, but this is the kinda of substantive update Tesla owners get...i suspect ours will be very infrequent and pretty boring (except the Active Pilot stuff).

That would be nice! Our tesla updates onec a week it seems.

Just my 2 cents. A good sound system will make bad sources sound worse, while a mediocre or bad system doesn't show the flaws because it is unable to faithfully reproduce the sound it was given. If you use a uncompressed sound source such as Tidal or Amazon Music Prime you will learn quickly what the capabilities of your sound system are. This can be really good or really bad. I briefly got to listen to the Unleashed system at the drive event, but really didn't push it. I do have a 16 Limited that was the Sony system and gutted it, replacing the speakers with Focal's and the processor, amps and sun with JL Audio, spent way too much, but hey I love good sound. The truck sounds great, one of the reasons I am hesitating on getting a 21. Bottom line good stereos's needs a good source and XM is not it.

I.was close to installing

Just my 2 cents. A good sound system will make bad sources sound worse, while a mediocre or bad system doesn't show the flaws because it is unable to faithfully reproduce the sound it was given. If you use a uncompressed sound source such as Tidal or Amazon Music Prime you will learn quickly what the capabilities of your sound system are. This can be really good or really bad. I briefly got to listen to the Unleashed system at the drive event, but really didn't push it. I do have a 16 Limited that was the Sony system and gutted it, replacing the speakers with Focal's and the processor, amps and sun with JL Audio, spent way too much, but hey I love good sound. The truck sounds great, one of the reasons I am hesitating on getting a 21. Bottom line good stereos's needs a good source and XM is not it.

I was close to installing same system in my 16 platinum. The new truck is a major improvement to the Sony. The truck over all is the biggest improvement over the 16. The drive quality and seats. It actually rides like a luxury truck should.

 

[SonnyDigs]

Update
This afternoon I noticed my Alex+ Ford app on screen this afternoon is the first time it can up and worked flawless. This is day 4 of having truck. Possibly an update with vehicle overnight idk. Amazon music sounds amazing! It's definitely different on xm or Android auto. I'm now very impressed! Volume is much better, sub kicks doesn't distort at hight level. Major difference!

That's great news....

 

[SonnyDigs]

Update
This afternoon I noticed my Alex+ Ford app on screen this afternoon is the first time it can up and worked flawless. This is day 4 of having truck. Possibly an update with vehicle overnight idk. Amazon music sounds amazing! It's definitely different on xm or Android auto. I'm now very impressed! Volume is much better, sub kicks doesn't distort at hight level. Major difference!

I've only seen Alexa once in the month I've had my truck..
It was pretty much unresponsive..

 

[SonnyDigs]

Update
This afternoon I noticed my Alex+ Ford app on screen this afternoon is the first time it can up and worked flawless. This is day 4 of having truck. Possibly an update with vehicle overnight idk. Amazon music sounds amazing! It's definitely different on xm or Android auto. I'm now very impressed! Volume is much better, sub kicks doesn't distort at hight level. Major difference!

Also my Poweramp app has some really good sound..
Bluetooth..

 

[Daily22ssv]

I've only seen Alexa once in the month I've had my truck..
It was pretty much unresponsive..

Try deleting it then reinstall. My older truck would do the same.

 

[SonnyDigs]

Try deleting it then reinstall. My older truck would do the same.

Thanks,
Delete from my phone apps?

 

[Daily22ssv]

Thanks,
Delete from my phone apps?

Yes.

 

[SonnyDigs]

Yes.

Thanks..

 

[daemonic3]

Totally fair on those points and like I did mention if that is what you listen to day after day you want to make sure it's acceptable for you. You did make it sound like you just threw on the Sirius because it was fastest and then "cranked it" which is why some people (and myself) replied that way.

Hopefully it can be adjusted to your satisfaction in the settings.

No prob. Agree 100% on SiriusXM compression, especially on some of the 80s/90s channels the compression is awful compared to the more popular pop stations.

I use youtube music from my phone which definitely sounds better (I think YT music is 256kbps) and on my phone I use the EQ and Dolby Atmos in the audio settings. It sounds WAY better than SiriusXM from the tuner, in fact playing SiriusXM from my phone sounds better because of it. But my complaint was that I couldn't believe it was letting the bass pass through to the dash to where it distorts way before my max level (defined as where it is no longer comfortable to my ears) and my XLT didn't. It's very surprising and easy to fix with crossover tweaks that we don't have access to.

I will figure something out!

 

[Bajou]

Something important here

Speakers are like new shoes, they are somewhat stiff and your ear may also need to get used to a new sound system.
The speakers will get more bass every hour they'll play by moving more freely and further. You should never make your opinion on a sound system before it played for a certain period of time. The first hour is the worst. then it gets better as time goes... the first 20 hours you'll feel a better system almost every hour and it will get at 95% of it's precision at around 40 hours and max out at about 100 hours. Temperature, music and volume will change these timings but at 50%-60% level and some ROCK THE HOUSE level, it should look like this. This is a somewhat high end sound system so... give it time.

Let it play alone, even tweeters get better

What i can say of mine :
many delicate and subtle notes,
About as precise than the REVEL ultimate in the Lincoln, but somewhat (20%) less powerfull
Ram's is more powerfull but nowhere near as precise.

Hope this helps understand some of your concerns

https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/eur/fr/node/410

Enjoy your new trucks

sorry for my english, not perfect, i speak french

 

[daemonic3]

Something important here

Speakers are like new shoes, they are somewhat stiff and your ear may also need to get used to a new sound system.
The speakers will get more bass every hour they'll play by moving more freely and further. You should never make your opinion on a sound system before it played for a certain period of time. The first hour is the worst. then it gets better as time goes... the first 20 hours you'll feel a better system almost every hour and it will get at 95% of it's precision at around 40 hours and max out at about 100 hours. Temperature, music and volume will change these timings but at 50%-60% level and some ROCK THE HOUSE level, it should look like this. This is a somewhat high end sound system so... give it time.

Let it play alone, even tweeters get better

What i can say of mine :
many delicate and subtle notes,
About as precise than the REVEL ultimate in the Lincoln, but somewhat (20%) less powerfull
Ram's is more powerfull but nowhere near as precise.

Hope this helps understand some of your concerns

https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/eur/fr/node/410

Enjoy your new trucks

sorry for my english, not perfect, i speak french

THANKS! This gives me hope... The truck I drove had 14 miles on it, and I returned it with 29 (missed a couple freeway exits). We developed a strong bond as I am the driver it is most familiar with haha.

 

[Wishiwas]

I've had my truck almost a week now and can't say I'm impressed by the B&O 8 speaker system in my truck. In fact I don't hear much of a difference between this system and the factory system w/o B&O.
I have tweeked it 100 ways, changed sources (HD radio and non hd). I mostly listen to my music which is ripped onto a thumb drive. I always rip Windows lossless (1411.2 Kbps). I even have some store bought downloaded music from Play Store and Amazon.
Its not that its distorted, it just sounds vanilla for a $610 option.
I'm hoping my truck gets that update someone here mentioned. I force it to check updates manually everyday. I'm thinking I may have a software glitch because mine has a super hard issue with reconnectiong Android Auto wirelessly. I don't want to derail this thread on that topic other than bring it up wondering if Ford are catching some bugs in the system and updating them.

 

[Icbmredrat]

I've had my truck almost a week now and can't say I'm impressed by the B&O 8 speaker system in my truck. In fact I don't hear much of a difference between this system and the factory system w/o B&O.
I have tweeked it 100 ways, changed sources (HD radio and non hd). I mostly listen to my music which is ripped onto a thumb drive. I always rip Windows lossless (1411.2 Kbps). I even have some store bought downloaded music from Play Store and Amazon.
Its not that its distorted, it just sounds vanilla for a $610 option.
I'm hoping my truck gets that update someone here mentioned. I force it to check updates manually everyday. I'm thinking I may have a software glitch because mine has a super hard issue with reconnectiong Android Auto wirelessly. I don't want to derail this thread on that topic other than bring it up wondering if Ford are catching some bugs in the system and updating them.

I paid for that upgrade too.... this doesn’t sound reassuring...

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