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Harman Kardon worth the upgrade?

102K views 109 replies 67 participants last post by  mshu 
#1 ·
Ordering a 335 and saw a CNET review where the guy talked about how awful the Harman Kardon stereo was in the 3 series. He is only one guy and reviews all sorts of cars....so who knows.

Anyone that is into tunes do any extensive comparison and have any quick input for me?

Anyone done the upgrade and been happy/unhappy with it?

Thanks in advance!
 
#48 ·
I would highly recommend the HK over the base system. No comparison, 600 watts and 16 speakers with the HK. Only have 1200 miles on my F30 with HK. Seems like the music from my HK system gets better each day. Must be the speakers are going through a burn in and sound is getting better. Used the HD Radio today for the first time and sounds better than SAT radio for sure. SAT radio seems more compressed and not as clear....but is still very good.
 
#49 ·
The HK is worth it.

I'm not much of an audiophile but the sound from my audio set up (Alpine Amplifier MRV450, Kenwood KDC-X959 head unit, Infinity 6000 comps front, JBL GTO 6 1/2 3-way rear, Alpine Type S 12" Sub) in my RSX is comparable though the sound in my RSX is much clearer at higher volume due to the amp.
 
#54 · (Edited)
#55 ·
A waste of money is a function of income. For some that's not a lot of $. There are many who view your purchasing a BMW as a waste of money but I'm not presumptuous enough to calculate your values for you. BTW, if you want to fanboy the system, great, but you may not have gotten to the part of your cited review I'll paste below. LOL. To a trained ear bright = s.hitty.

"The F30 HK system did sound tons better than the E90 HK system, but it was still bright and forward to me."

The settings I liked best myself were the bass control up three clicks and 100 Hz down 50%, 2k down three clicks, 5k down two clicks, and 10k up 2 clicks. This seemed to be the least annoying. The Logic 7 surround feature turned on would make the system sound much brighter and I didn't like that, but I did find the hk system bright in my listening (my 2k cut was to try to get rid of the brightness, but it wasn't completely successful).I'm pretty certain that my settings are not as flat as that pretty flat initial curve, but it sounds better to me.
__________________
 
#57 ·
The 3 major sound sources for the vast majority of car audio listeners are: MP3's at 128k or lower, terrestrial radio (am & fm), and satellite radio (Sirius or XM). The sound quality of your car system will be heavily influenced by the source quality, and none of these 3 is anything better than mediocre. Satellite radio in particular is incredibly bad. It's just amazing to me how many people judge the HK using horrible recordings played on highly compressed formats . If you don't think that the HK system sounds at least pretty good on a well recorded CD, then I have no idea what your point of reference is. The old axiom of garbage in = garbage out applies here. If you're not willing to seek out really good source material all the time, I see no point in throwing tons of money at "improving" your audio system. Most contemporary rock recordings are downright terrible, even on CD. "Better" aftermarket components are also no guarantee of better sound. It's like trying to design your own home speaker system instead of buying something designed and manufactured by experts. If you're really good, you might succeed. But very few people know what they are doing.
 
#62 ·
320kbps mp3s.
This is far more common then you think. Unless you are ripping your music yourself from CD using the worst possible settings you can find or you pirate your music, odds are your digital music is of higher quality, not the best obviously but not bad either and can be appreciated in a nicer audio system.

That said, I still don't buy HK because the only sound I care about its quality is the sound of my engine and exhaust.
 
#65 ·
To the OP,

I opted for the HK audio because for the BMWs my wife and I have had in the past, the ones with standard audio did not sound as good to our ears as the ones with upgraded audio when playing music. For news radio, I doubt there is a need for the upgrade. For us, the difference was well worth the cost.

At one time the upgrade was called Logic 7, which is also the name of proprietary surround processing from Lexicon, part of HK. I used Logic 7 extensively in my home theater in the past and much prefer using it in my car because it expands the virtual size of the listening environment and is more immersive.

Bruce
 
#71 ·
Its hard for me to say, because I have never had the base stereo. Sometimes I think that the HK sounds amazing and sometimes its meh...

It would be very hard for me to risk going with the base stereo unless It was a matter of getting the vehicle or not. Its not that expensive of an option.

It would be very easy to skip the B&O option in the 5 or 6 series based on the $4000+ price tag. That is ludicrous. No B&O for me, thank you.
 
#74 ·
Read the posts below and does not seem to be much consensus. About to order the listed car and trying to decide if the updade makes sense. Comments welcom
I recently picked up a 2014 335i with the stock sound system. The HK is obviously better, but the stock is better than I thought it would be. The biggest loss is in the bass. Songs with heavy bass and louder volumes, the sound loss is significant. Otherwise, the stock system does an ok job. That said, I may go AM and upgrade it to a sound that I want. I should be able to do that for only a bit more than what HK would have cost. I still feel vehicles of this caliber should come with better stock/premium options.

My advice; If you listen to bassy songs at high volumes and you don't want to bother with the hassle of AM, get the HK. If you don't listen to music with a lot of bass, or you're not going to listen at a high volume, or you are willing to go AM for what you want, then just stick with stock. That's the best advice I can give on this topic.
 
#79 ·
I agree, but having had both standard and HK in two different cars at the same time I can say the difference was not great. Noticeable, but not as much as with older HK systems. BMW has de-contented the quality of the HK system IMHO. The HK is barely worth the money, because the difference over standard system is pretty minimal. The B+O is on another level completely and so is its price. Id like to see something better than HK and lower quality than B+O for about 1500 bucks (something like the HK that came standard in the early build E90 335). That would be the sweet spot in my book.
 
#77 ·
As an audiophile I just want to add that low bit rate sources can certainly limit the sound, but for any bit rate source there are players which make the source sound better and other players which make the sound worse. POint being that it is not as simple as it may sound.
 
#81 ·
I have a 2014 335i with the base sound system. I bought a JL PowerWedge (400watts RMS) with a JL 300 watt mono amp. Everyone who's been in my car say it sounds great, not just the base, but the mids and highs as well. I noticed that playing songs from the iPhone sound much better than CDs. It's most likely due to my eq setting on my phone (which is on hip-hop).
 
#86 ·
I've noticed that there is a lot more bass with the hip hop setting on my phone vs playing the same song from a cd in the car. My 400 watt sub doesn't produce earth shattering bass, but it's enough to make a difference in the car. While playing cd's, it doesn't even sound like my car has a sub.
 
#91 ·
Doesn't Infiniti use BOSE?

As a lease, HK is worth it for me and sounds very good other than the bass. Wish it was stronger for certain songs but I still like it.

If I was to finance then for that $900 I'll have a way better system set up including at least 4 new speakers, 1 sub, 2 Amps, etc.
 
#92 · (Edited)
What's the alternative? Ripping out what is in there and putting in 3rd party equipment and spending way more? Or staying with the very average stock system. So for me, it's obvious that tif you want better (however that is defined), you get it.
 
#97 · (Edited)
Just picked up a new 2017 X3 with the HK system.
Previous 3-series had the stock HiFi system.

Stock HiFi sounded pretty great for stock.
My only complaints on the HiFi system were:
1) at loud volumes the sound started becoming broken
2) didn't have an equalizer it would greatly benefit from (especially in the 5khz range)
3) subwoofer was strong but very artificial and not tuned

Now have the HK system.
My thoughts:
1) the volume quality gets better the louder it gets
2) make sure in the equalizer you increase the 5khz level (greatly benefits acoustics in music)
3) for fader, instead of 50/50 front/back change it to 45/55 front/back
4) my expectations were just marginally achieved
5) for the price BMW is asking, it is worth it (especially when compared to some other options) but if it was any more expensive it wouldn't be
6) this is not a "must-have" option, get it only if you can fit it in your price range (you won't be disappointed but won't be getting a steal)
7) most youtube recordings of the HK system in action are playing top-notch quality audio which you will rarely play on your system
8) if you only listen to any kind of radio, do not get it as it will make no difference
9) get it only if you import high quality (320kbps) music from external source to get the value for your money you expected

To sum it up: it is not a Bang & Olufsen system (sound is clear in every way) nor is it the HiFi system (sound tries to be great and achieves just enough for it to be classified as great) with a pricier price tag. It is exactly in between.

Someone on another thread said the HK system doesn't have any bass - they are wrong.
Plenty of bass. Floor shakes. Whoever said there is none is a fool.

The problem all of us have is that we have been spoiled by the stock HiFi system.
The first time we heard it we were amazed by how good the stock sound is.
Then after time naturally we started expecting more.
Our expectations eventually achieved Bang & Olufsen level.
We got the HK system with B&O expectations.
A bit saddened to see our HK system isn't actually a B&O system.
We realized reality.

If anyone tells you HK system is the best option or a must have option, then they are fools.
If anyone tells you not the get the HK system as it is c***, then they are fools too.
Take a coin yourself and flip it. Yes, this is the best way to decide whether to get this option or not.

If you are stuck between the Dynamic Handling Package or the HK sound system, get the later.
If you are stuck between the Xenon Lighting Package or the HK sound system, get the former.
If you can get all 3, then get all 3 of them.

If you spend $2k on the full LED lighting package, then you are a fool with too much money.
 
#98 ·
2) make sure in the equalizer you increase the 5khz level (greatly benefits acoustics in music)
3) for fader, instead of 50/50 front/back change it to 45/55 front/back
4) my expectations were just marginally achieved
Because you distorted the signal. Leave the eualizer and fader alone for the intended already calibrated sound.
 
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