Thanks for sharing your musical experiences! That’s really cool. Totally unrelated, but your overshirt is awesome. Though, those white seats are even cooler, haha!
This was very interesting, thank you Kris! Your videos influenced my original 2019 XC90 R-Design back then (an older subscriber of yours here:) with the B&W which I no longer own, but very interesting as I am considering the Polestar 3 for the future and knowing the differences is really helpful.
Have you also tested the "base" audio system (is is Bose?)? I know everyone will yell at me "B&W is superior", still curious to hear how much worse the base system is. Especially that looks like it is also not os much "base". Especially if I'll just listen to the music that won't be Dolby Atmos. I'm afraid it is so much personal that the only working way would be to listen to both by myself...
The B&W in the P3 is awesome, full stop. Better than the B&W in our V90. A note on Dolby Atmos tracks. You can find plenty of Dolby Atmos playlists on Tidal, and Tidal does visually notate them as Dobly Atmos in the app. However, not all DA tracks are created equal. For example, if you pick the 70's Dolby Atmos playlist, it kinda feels like there's no real difference or benefit. I attribute it to a limit to the remastering process. Then some more recently released tracks are way, WAY, better in DA. There are also some older songs where it seems like more effort was made to make the most of DA, like some Prince tracks. When not running a DA track, it's then totally up to the staging you have selected and the equalizer settings. If you run it in "Room" (aka: Gothenburg concert Hall), you'll hear the headrest and headliner speakers get pulled in more. They're not loud by any means, but they're present. In your test you also dialed down 1kHz ad above, which is what those speakers would otherwise help to fill.
If you're not using the 'stage' or "room" settings, I'd say that you're really missing out depending on the song. I'd recommend that you try to listen to Tove Lo "no one dies from love" in 'stage' mode, or better yet, Tove Lo with "how long" in "room". I think they sound absolutely phenomenal.
Apple music supports dolby atmos along with 48 kHz. It also natively uses 256 kbps. And I can tell as a former long time Spotify user that its a major deal. Its much much more punchy on same music on apple music. Dolby atmos is amazing to use snd give such a depth to the music when you can separate all the instruments. So I would highly recommend you redo it with apple music. Major shift in both volume needed to be used and the audio itself
Follow up, in lossless setting in apple music its suppose to support 1411 kbps. But it cannot be verified as far i know due to apple having its own implementation
Love all your videos, but when u dialed in ur preferred settings in the EQ and also said u are ok with the terrible quality of Spotify 192kbps, I stopped listening. U cannot test this with ur settings and not going for Atmos is just waste of time. If ur friend is an audiophile he would tell u the same or be semi-deaf
the watts, the amount of speakers, the badge - it is all marketing, except of the size of the midrange speakers (and subwoofer) The main difference is the tuning of the system and the project specification of the car maker. The old system in XC/V volvos sounded best if set focus to drivers position. the stage was wide and deep. Newest xc60 has a narrow stage like between the door and middle of the car. But it is not a fault. It is how the people like it and how the car maker wants it. To approach the old setup you have to set the focus to all seats and move fader to the front. Then you get the wider stage, but not the precise focus which also is less punchy BTW, the subwoofer is not b&w invention. infinite baffle is well known and is actually my favourite above all other subwoofer concepts. Unfortunately the membrane size is to small and the frequency output is cut off to prevent rattles so the B&W does not produce any substantial bass under 28-30hz, as well as practically any other OEM in any mass production car.
This is awesome and very interesting! Just to clarify your last point, are you saying the B&W system is the same as most other OEMs in not delivering bass under 28-30hz - or do you mean that the B&W system stands out from other OEMs who tend to deliver more bass in that range? Thanks for your awesome comment!
hey Kris, thank you again for another amazing review... i actually have a 2021 XC90 with the B&W sound system, a V90 with the B&W and saturday i will get my P3 with the B&W sound system... i m curious to see what's gonna sound like...
Can you plug in a USB stick with FLAC files and play them? Any "HiFi" audio system that can't is not HiFi. I hate streaming to a good, moving audio system. Spotify sounds like sh*t if you have a good setup compared to lossless audio. Where I live in the UK reception is rather useless even in the cities and it often takes forever (many seconds) for the damn thing to start playing many times whilst streaming, but USB stick provides instant high quality audio bliss.
Spotify is far from lossless. Super compressed and urgh. You don't know what you're talking about. Audio is subjective, different people hear different things, what sounds good to you will sound average to someone else. Wattage isn't as important as you think - look at naim audio and what they do with their systems.
Apple Music uses Atmos. When Atmos music is played in the 3, it shines. Brightly.
Why did you not test the system with Atmos through Tidal or Apple Music?
Thanks for sharing your musical experiences! That’s really cool.
Totally unrelated, but your overshirt is awesome. Though, those white seats are even cooler, haha!
I still love the Bowers and Wilkins system in my 2017 XC90.
To get the best awsome sound in this car,you need TIDAL.1411Kpbs vs Spotify's 320Kpbs.
Lossless on Apple Music should be 🤌🤌 on this system too
This was very interesting, thank you Kris! Your videos influenced my original 2019 XC90 R-Design back then (an older subscriber of yours here:) with the B&W which I no longer own, but very interesting as I am considering the Polestar 3 for the future and knowing the differences is really helpful.
Have you also tested the "base" audio system (is is Bose?)?
I know everyone will yell at me "B&W is superior", still curious to hear how much worse the base system is. Especially that looks like it is also not os much "base".
Especially if I'll just listen to the music that won't be Dolby Atmos.
I'm afraid it is so much personal that the only working way would be to listen to both by myself...
I love my Bowers&Wilkins audio in my 2020V60 Cross County. That was interesting thank you.
The B&W in the P3 is awesome, full stop. Better than the B&W in our V90.
A note on Dolby Atmos tracks. You can find plenty of Dolby Atmos playlists on Tidal, and Tidal does visually notate them as Dobly Atmos in the app. However, not all DA tracks are created equal. For example, if you pick the 70's Dolby Atmos playlist, it kinda feels like there's no real difference or benefit. I attribute it to a limit to the remastering process. Then some more recently released tracks are way, WAY, better in DA. There are also some older songs where it seems like more effort was made to make the most of DA, like some Prince tracks.
When not running a DA track, it's then totally up to the staging you have selected and the equalizer settings. If you run it in "Room" (aka: Gothenburg concert Hall), you'll hear the headrest and headliner speakers get pulled in more. They're not loud by any means, but they're present. In your test you also dialed down 1kHz ad above, which is what those speakers would otherwise help to fill.
Spotify is NOT lossless. They´ve promised for many years, have not delivered.
One of the best tests for any sound system is the final 4-5 minutes of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. - played loud!
If you're not using the 'stage' or "room" settings, I'd say that you're really missing out depending on the song. I'd recommend that you try to listen to Tove Lo "no one dies from love" in 'stage' mode, or better yet, Tove Lo with "how long" in "room". I think they sound absolutely phenomenal.
Apple music supports dolby atmos along with 48 kHz. It also natively uses 256 kbps. And I can tell as a former long time Spotify user that its a major deal. Its much much more punchy on same music on apple music. Dolby atmos is amazing to use snd give such a depth to the music when you can separate all the instruments. So I would highly recommend you redo it with apple music. Major shift in both volume needed to be used and the audio itself
Follow up, in lossless setting in apple music its suppose to support 1411 kbps. But it cannot be verified as far i know due to apple having its own implementation
How does it compare to Burmester in the Macan?
Polestar B&W is better to my ears and music tastes. I think only the 4D Burmester gets close to this
You’re right, the room makes a difference as witnessed by different concert halls like just different cabin interiors.
Love all your videos, but when u dialed in ur preferred settings in the EQ and also said u are ok with the terrible quality of Spotify 192kbps, I stopped listening.
U cannot test this with ur settings and not going for Atmos is just waste of time. If ur friend is an audiophile he would tell u the same or be semi-deaf
Is it possible to use Apple CarPlay, for lossless Dolby Atmos? You need Tidal or Apple Music to Get Dolby Atmos *waiting for my EX90*
the watts, the amount of speakers, the badge - it is all marketing, except of the size of the midrange speakers (and subwoofer) The main difference is the tuning of the system and the project specification of the car maker.
The old system in XC/V volvos sounded best if set focus to drivers position. the stage was wide and deep. Newest xc60 has a narrow stage like between the door and middle of the car. But it is not a fault. It is how the people like it and how the car maker wants it. To approach the old setup you have to set the focus to all seats and move fader to the front. Then you get the wider stage, but not the precise focus which also is less punchy
BTW, the subwoofer is not b&w invention. infinite baffle is well known and is actually my favourite above all other subwoofer concepts. Unfortunately the membrane size is to small and the frequency output is cut off to prevent rattles so the B&W does not produce any substantial bass under 28-30hz, as well as practically any other OEM in any mass production car.
This is awesome and very interesting! Just to clarify your last point, are you saying the B&W system is the same as most other OEMs in not delivering bass under 28-30hz - or do you mean that the B&W system stands out from other OEMs who tend to deliver more bass in that range?
Thanks for your awesome comment!
@@bneyarb5037 you'll find practically no OEM system which would deliver substantial bass under 30 Hz.
hey Kris, thank you again for another amazing review... i actually have a 2021 XC90 with the B&W sound system, a V90 with the B&W and saturday i will get my P3 with the B&W sound system... i m curious to see what's gonna sound like...
How does it compare to the BMW iX BW system?
Thanks,interesting . Sounds like you're onto something. It's no news that smaller speakers give less power, even if they are good.
Well done
Can you plug in a USB stick with FLAC files and play them? Any "HiFi" audio system that can't is not HiFi. I hate streaming to a good, moving audio system. Spotify sounds like sh*t if you have a good setup compared to lossless audio. Where I live in the UK reception is rather useless even in the cities and it often takes forever (many seconds) for the damn thing to start playing many times whilst streaming, but USB stick provides instant high quality audio bliss.
Spotify is far from lossless. Super compressed and urgh. You don't know what you're talking about. Audio is subjective, different people hear different things, what sounds good to you will sound average to someone else. Wattage isn't as important as you think - look at naim audio and what they do with their systems.