Disappointed in B&O Unleashed

[RogueCow]

Picked up my truck today, am kinda furious i paid for this option, hoping it's defective...

After 6-7 hours i finally got rid of tbe wife/kid and cranked to 30...

Completely Underwhelming, and i can listen comfortably all day. I had a 2007 truck with a Sony system I could not max out, amazing bass, great sound, i guess ford has decided to cheap out in the audio department, as i find this system completely lacking.

I knew going into it it's going for quality over quantity, so i expected to deal with getting it louder later if i needed, but the sound quality is nothing to write home about...

Anytime i have surround on, i hear distortion (checked to see if there was a plastic bag rattling around in the back seat) from the headrest speaker and ceiling. This starts all the way down at 22

I have a pair of low profile jl subs to go in to round out the low end at higher volumes, but at this point i dont even know if the rest of the system can hang without distorting itself to bits...

Still need to try some other sources, and let the system settle out but my first real listen has been a real dissapointment

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[Daily22ssv]

Picked up my truck today, am kinda furious i paid for this option, hoping it's defective...

After 6-7 hours i finally got rid of tbe wife/kid and cranked to 30...

Completely Underwhelming, and i can listen comfortably all day. I had a 2007 truck with a Sony system I could not max out, amazing bass, great sound, i guess ford has decided to cheap out in the audio department, as i find this system completely lacking.

I knew going into it it's going for quality over quantity, so i expected to deal with getting it louder later if i needed, but the sound quality is nothing to write home about...

Anytime i have surround on, i hear distortion (checked to see if there was a plastic bag rattling around in the back seat) from the headrest speaker and ceiling. This starts all the way down at 22

I have a pair of low profile jl subs to go in to round out the low end at higher volumes, but at this point i dont even know if the rest of the system can hang without distorting itself to bits...

Still need to try some other sources, and let the system settle out but my first real listen has been a real dissapointment

Yep! No power at all! A better sub wouldn't help unless you put a amp on the whole system. The distortion sounds strange! Wireless sound Thur Android auto has poor quality as well as XM. Did you try another source?

 

[RogueCow]

Tried wireless apple carplay (spotify downloaded highest quality), android bluetooth (spotify), android auto plugged in (tidal), fm, xm

Fm seemed louder than any of the others but got muddy, and there is a constant high pitched hum, like wtf...

All in all, just super cool to be planning audio upgrades on a $70k vehicle with the highest optioned audio package, just to get up to par with my 2007 trade in.

 

[Daily22ssv]

Yep! I traded mine off a few weeks ago. Make sure it's reliable enough before sinking and large sums of money in it. I had a lot of problems with mine. Early powerboost build in November.

 

[RogueCow]

Yep! I traded mine off a few weeks ago. Make sure it's reliable enough before sinking and large sums of money in it. I had a lot of problems with mine. Early powerboost build in November.

That sucks, what kind of issues?

 

[Daily22ssv]

That sucks, what kind of issues?

Transmission issues, random check engine lights, body creaking issues, rattles, head unit issues. Strange vibrations driving on highway. Ford had issues finding fixes for most items. It was in shop more than my garage. Just had enough.

 

[RogueCow]

Transmission issues, random check engine lights, body creaking issues, rattles, head unit issues. Strange vibrations driving on highway. Ford had issues finding fixes for most items. It was in shop more than my garage. Just had enough.

That sucks, fingers crossed i have better luck than you :/

 

[Daily22ssv]

That sucks, fingers crossed i have better luck than you :/

Yes! I hope everyone here has better luck than I did!

 

[F-150 Prius]

Yes! I hope everyone here has better luck than I did!

Mine has just covered 6000 miles with zero problems. Not a rattle or a squeak, but I agree the sound system could be a lot (lot…) better. At least provide a page on the touchscreen to individually control the speakers … I don't think I've ever heard the headrest speakers, the passenger side doesn't sound like the driver side (I assume that means some speaker problem) and different audio sources sound different … and sound different at different amplification levels … turn up the volume and the music changes … ugh … the best thing about the audio is the cabin is quiet, so there's enjoyable clarity in the sound. B&O can't be okay with what Ford has delivered in their name.
I think Ford could also update Android Auto to work wirelessly and with less fiddling around. Anyway, for my purposes, it's fine and the thing I use most is the phone, which is clear and while I'm on the freeway, people on the other end of the call don't even know i'm driving a truck.

 

[Itsjustmd]

Yeah, the system isn't great at all. Sometimes I find myself turning up the volume only to realize it's already at 30. There's also times that it seems to rattle the back window. It's quite annoying.

 

[Predator]

It sounds best at full volume

 

[SonnyDigs]

I can't imagine anyone being able to exceed 15..
Mine will blow you out of the truck at 15..
I'm 100% satisfied with what I'm hearing..

 

[RogueCow]

I'm wondering if my truck is broken or if it is just a limit of the system.

Can someone please try to play "The Piano Guys - Perfect" on their unleashed system?

In surround mode, the ceiling and headrest speakers breakup and distort (like someone waving a plastic bag) above a volume of 24. If it turns out this is common for all unleashed systems, i won't bother the service department with it...

*Tried it on androidauto plugged in and bluetooth, spotify and tidal, nothing made a diff*

 

[Itsjustmd]

I can't imagine anyone being able to exceed 15..
Mine will blow you out of the truck at 15..
I'm 100% satisfied with what I'm hearing..

I wish. I'm used to much louder and much better systems. Hell, my wife's Kia Sorento has a better system than this.

 

[F-150 Prius]

I'm wondering if my truck is broken or if it is just a limit of the system.

Can someone please try to play "The Piano Guys - Perfect" on their unleashed system?

In surround mode, the ceiling and headrest speakers breakup and distort (like someone waving a plastic bag) above a volume of 24. If it turns out this is common for all unleashed systems, i won't bother the service department with it...

*Tried it on androidauto plugged in and bluetooth, spotify and tidal, nothing made a diff*

you mean this:

I don't know if it distorted … I fell asleep … : )
jk
I played a piano instrumental version and an arranged instrumental, both sounded dull and warm, so I think. piano exceeds what this system can reproduce cleanly, but certainly in a moving vehicle, the fidelity would be satisfactory.
Bass is tight and full, mid range is not muddy (winding down treble and bass, the mid-range was decent, having mid and bass flat and winding up the tweets did not bring an improvement, but it also didn't bring distortion or overdrive, even at 30/30 volume.)
I'd attribute some of the lackluster audio clarity to spotify from android over bluetooth or android auto, which seems to play some apps at a lower volume and lower fidelity (additional compression of the source during streaming?) but again, I find the audio clarity to be … satisfactory … : )

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