subterFUSE

You are making the incorrect assumption that my system is designed purely for loudness, when I actually went with a sound quality approach. I've been an audio enthusiast for most of my life.

subterFUSE

Indeed, not cheap. But neither is the upgraded B&O option. What does Audi charge for it, $5900? The only point I am trying to make is that for the expense of these ultra-premium factory systems you could spend less and get better quality. If my memory serves, all of my equipment combined was less than $5900.... and my equipment is definitely on the higher end of the scale. (Just the front speakers alone were $2200) It would be easy to select more modest equipment and save considerably, yet still end up with higher quality than the upgraded factory option.

We made minimal alterations to the car. Amplifiers, crossovers and BitOne processor are installed on a metal rack in the trunk. The amp rack is attached to the underside of the rear deck via 4 screws. The subwoofer enclosure was specifically designed for the E60, and takes up very little trunk space. (only lost the small nook behind tire well) The factory radio unit has been maintained. We used double-sided tape to attach the Audison BitOne volume control to the front console under the radio with no holes drilled. Rear speakers are installed in the factory locations in the rear deck. The only parts of the car which had to be modified were the front door panels to allow for the larger speakers. These can be returned back to original condition rather easily.

I am very pleased with the results, and very happy I made the investment. I spend a fair amount of time in my car and always listen to music while driving, so it makes driving even more enjoyable.

v_therussian

It would have been ignorant of me to make any assumptions without actually hearing your system. I made a general statement, based on personal experience. I'm sure that once you crank up that double-sided taped Audison volume control, all doubts disappear

j/k sorry - I don't mean any harm. I tend to speak my mind, where most people prefer to remain idle. Call it stupid, if you want - I prefer to think of it as a form of courageous honesty, of course


Let me ask you, what do you use as source? Does it play "lossless"? One of my biggest gripes that I'd love to be able to fix is the fact that FLAC/ALAC files aren't easy to integrate into the car audio - at least not using my modest stock system with Dension. And since I'm all over the place already, let me add that in retrospect, Dension was a waste of money - I should have just gotten the stock iPod interface.

subterFUSE

The Audison BitOne offers multiple inputs. (RCA, optical, SP/DIF) This is nice because it gives you options for connecting audio sources like an iPod, or other media players. The only drawback is that you must control the music on the media device itself. My E60 was built prior to any iPod integration options from BMW.

For my source I am running an iPod Classic with an Apple A/V cable which runs directly into the AUX Input of the Audison BitOne processor. This effectively bypasses the factory radio completely, so there is not as much signal degradation from multiple conversions.

Another option which I tried out was to use my iPad with a Optical Digital Output via the Camera USB Connector. I found a small device which takes a USB input and then gives you an Optical Digital Output. I then used the Apple Camera USB connector for iPad to give me a USB connection to the Optical dongle. It worked perfectly. The only drawback was that finding a way to mount an iPad wasn't practical. Furthermore, an iPad doesn't have enough storage capacity for me. I keep 2 iPod Classics in my car currently, both with 160 GB capacity.

If absolute sound quality is the goal, you really do need to stick with CD. However, the convenience of having all the music available on an iPod wins the battle in my case. So I use Apple Lossless compression for the majority of my music files. As mentioned above, I do have the advantage that I'm using an Apple dock connector A/V cable directly into the aftermarket processor... so the iPod signal does not get degraded by the BMW stereo.

It is also nice that the Apple audio cable works with my iPhone so I have a charger for the phone when I need it, and when I am charging the phone I can still listen to music while it is charging since the iPhone is also an iPod, and I get the audio interrupt feedback from the Trapster app.