Hi all. I’ve recently changed from a 2016 F56 Cooper with the Media XL pack to a 2016 F56 Cooper S. When ordering, I was advised that the main differences between the two set ups was the XL has a bigger screen of course as well as a hard drive., there was no difference to sound quality as the speakers were the same. I took their word for it.
I have to say I was very impressed with the XL sound quality to the extent I put all my favourite albums onto the hard disc and looked forward to driving just to listen to my tunes properly. The sound is definitely one of the better I have experience, a full rich sound. One oif things that impressed me most was that the sound was like this at most volumes, even when really low.
Unfortunately, the new car with the Visual Boost set up sounds completely different – a thin tinny sound, with no depth and far from a pleasure to listen to – it sounds almost as poor as the standard set up I had in my R56. There is bass, but, but almost no mid-range and tinny high’s. I took a photo of the sound settings from the XL set up and used them again in the Visual Boost on the day I collected the car, so no variance there.
The music is the same, albeit from a Mini USB stick rather than from the hard disc. The sound is identical when listening to the radio, so I don’t think it is the difference between a hard disc and stick.
The question I have is… is this normal, i.e. Does the XL system have different speakers / amp set up to the Visual Boost, or does it sound like my car has issues? I’m really disappointed and wish I had gone for the XL system again, even though I rarely use sat nav.
I have to say I was very impressed with the XL sound quality to the extent I put all my favourite albums onto the hard disc and looked forward to driving just to listen to my tunes properly. The sound is definitely one of the better I have experience, a full rich sound. One oif things that impressed me most was that the sound was like this at most volumes, even when really low.
Unfortunately, the new car with the Visual Boost set up sounds completely different – a thin tinny sound, with no depth and far from a pleasure to listen to – it sounds almost as poor as the standard set up I had in my R56. There is bass, but, but almost no mid-range and tinny high’s. I took a photo of the sound settings from the XL set up and used them again in the Visual Boost on the day I collected the car, so no variance there.
The music is the same, albeit from a Mini USB stick rather than from the hard disc. The sound is identical when listening to the radio, so I don’t think it is the difference between a hard disc and stick.
The question I have is… is this normal, i.e. Does the XL system have different speakers / amp set up to the Visual Boost, or does it sound like my car has issues? I’m really disappointed and wish I had gone for the XL system again, even though I rarely use sat nav.
), and with the same package the sound is much better! The f56 has a real poor sound, indeed, if you don't upgrade it. 
