Although matters were admittedly helped by the BMW’s pure-electric powertrain, O’Connor said the audio remained crystal clear on the move. However, he did add that the overall magnitude of the sound “didn’t blow [him] away”, commenting that he would have expected parts of certain songs “to sound bigger”.
Sounding “big” was no mammoth task for the upgraded Harman Kardon system with its 17 speakers, though, with O’Connor describing what he heard as “fantastic”. One of the standout features of the Beemer’s high-end hi-fi was that it gave distinct separation between instruments and frequencies, which O’Connor said “allows you to hear every part of the song”.
One element standing in this premium system’s favour as opposed to the other Harman Kardon systems in this test was the positioning of the tweeters (high-frequency speakers) on the A-pillars. O’Connor pointed out that in the i4 “they point towards you, rather than to opposite sides of the car. Like in a home cinema scenario, this is going to give you the most immersive sound.”
Standard
The regular BMW system was so good that it could convince our expert it was the premium set-up, despite him expecting parts of some songs to sound “bigger”.
Premium
Position of tweeters helps the BMW system to stand out, even from the other premium set-ups. O’Connor says this helps the fantastic set-up to give an immersive sound.
What makes a premium audio system?
Aside from the smattering of badges identifying a posh in-car audio system as something from a premium brand, the differences that set them apart are more than skin-deep. The Senior Engineering Manager for Bowers & Wilkins, George Fryer, told Auto Express, “While it might differ with other manufacturers, for us it’s typically a collaboration; in some situations we’re invited to sit in early clay models of cars to have conversations of how to engineer the car to get the best sound performance.”
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