BMW X7 Audio Review: Is the £3,200 Bowers & Wilkins sound system worth it?

[@Spyk3rX]

So many car reviewers never talk about the audio especially the premium options. Keep it up!

[@shehryar1091]

Such a detailed review. Loved it. I'd like to see you try out other car systems like Bentley's Naim, Rolls Royce's system, and Mercedes' Burmester.

[@stubones]

FYI, it does not have a 5.0l V8. It's a 4.4l v8. Maybe the 50i designation threw you off. Excellent review.

[@jps3b]

I just took inventory of my BMW X5 with the Bowers and Wilkins upgrade. I can’t wait to really put it through its paces. Thank you for the review

[@TheMystro1971]

I have tested most all the genuine serious high end audio systems in the top luxury market. It is true the Bower & Wilkins Diamond n the new BMW X7 is THE best money can buy. Spacial separation combined with BMW's ultra quiet acoustic glass puts this system in its own league. Amazing considering how big the cabin is to fill with sound.

[@PeterMilanovski]

All the car's can do treble, where they struggle is at the bottom end. New car's don't have any subwoofers! What they call subwoofers is actually the bass driver that is part of a three way system which you will find that the door speakers are tied in with. Had they actually been subwoofers, you would have commented about the difficulty of being able to see what's in the rearview mirrors! Which a subwoofer should have no trouble shaking the daylights out of. I love a system that has a really strong bottom end, my home B&W speakers don't disappoint and my neighbours can confirm that! But I do have a proper subwoofer! I have always had a proper subwoofer in all my car's but it's starting to look like these new car's won't be able to be upgraded, if you replace the under seat woofers for proper subwoofers then it would be like removing your midbass drivers in your home system, it's going to sound terrible! There's not much different between car hifi and home hifi, everyone is going with rubbish class D amplifiers and quoting over inflated output power figures! If that system really had 1000W plus output power, you should have ended up with a different hair style after turning up the volume! 1000W would put hair on your chest! Regardless of sex! You really need to talk about what you are feeling! If the music isn't physically moving you then I'm not interested in paying that much extra! I'm better off getting an aftermarket subwoofer (a real subwoofer with a proper class A/B amplifier) installed that will add more impact to my music at a much lower cost. The rest of this surround sound rubbish is useless, all our music is in two channel.

[@Synycom1]

You are absolutely right. See my review. I agree with your analysis.

[@kyron2092]

You were playing Tom Misch, now I know you're legit. Lol, on another note, I love how they created a spotify playlist to what the system can do. "Royals" by Lorde sounds amazing through my Harmon Kardon stereo in my car. I could only imagine how great it sounds in that X7.

[@Synycom1]

I have this in my 740 Le x. It cost £4675. It looks pretty and the sound is good but to be honest it isn’t worth the money. I also wouldn’t say the Idrive control for this is intuitive. You have to hunt around to change things like Fade front and rear or balance L/R or mess around with the equaliser if you like these things. Forget the BMW voice control for the sound system it keeps getting confused with my iPhone if it’s in the car and thinks I want to route music from that unless each time I disable it! The sound system in my wife’s Mini Cooper S sounds as good if not better at a fraction of the price. Why? You cannot get away with physics. In a big car (which my 740 is) no matter how good the system is the speakers are never positioned in an ideal aspect to the driver or any passenger, whereas the Mini is so much smaller it’s more like wearing headphones. Clear, absorbing and you can ‘feel’ the sound,

[@MrGhosTRideRrR]

Idk, I have an iX the new one, it's way bigger than an X6M or 740 in height width and length. I have harman cardon in there, it was literally 3000$ cheaper than the bowers wilkins, I gave it a try and it blew my mind, the sound is perfectly positioned, it's loud and clear and equalizers are top notch.

[@robburton8462]

Just put a deposit down on a X7 with the B&O system, can't wait to pick it up next week! Thanks for the reveiw

[@momofaro]

Great intro to the B&W system and educational for new X7 owners with this system.

[@Birmingham_racing]

If you can afford a x7 you can afford it no problem so well worth it for anyone who's into sound

[@nyyrusty]

Very clear and crisp, but it sounds like they still haven't gotten to the lack of real bass issue yet.

[@diluxe]

Can you review the Naim system in the Bentley GT

[@MrMiamiswaggz305]

Wish I had this

[@thedrivebygg]

Good video guys, great sounding system, does it have an equaliser you can manually adjust the base nd treble?

[@esthetics4512]

It does

[@HiddenTide]

Excellent review!

[@xXFeralArtsXx]

What is he talking about? IF you spend 100k pounds on a car at least, do you seriously think 3k more for a premium sound system will be a question of DO WE WANT IT?

[@muhammadfahmi6755]

really good surrounding sound and the bass it taste so good well done BMW

[@janzvacek2674]

B&W suck in high-end BMW’s however it sounds absolutely amazing in the new Volvos. I’ve heard both.

[@maxl7827]

That is an hilarious statement. Do some research, even just the speakers they have on the Volvo B&W systems are inferior. Volvo uses 6.5inch woofers while Bmw uses 8inch subwoofers. No wonder the Volvo B&W system does not get low and deep enough.

[@365gymboy]

You should compare it to the Volvo B&W setup...

[@RasmusandPiper]

it isnt the same? same number of speakers and total wattage

[@365gymboy]

I understand it to be only 1100w in the Volvo and only 11 speakers.

[@Epotheros]

@@RasmusandPiper I heard that the Volvo system isn't quite as good as the set ups in other cars like the high end BMWs and the older Jaguar system (which was considered the best in the world when it was introduced in the XF back in 2009).

[@RasmusandPiper]

@@Epotheros bmw also uses diamonds on the speakers, something that volvo does not. On the other hands, volvo has a tweeter on top (of the dashbord) something that bmw miss

[@degou3438]

@@365gymboy 19 speakers and 1400W in the volvo. And Volvo is better

[@UltraFlexGyms]

Great review ! Just a small note regarding the engine, its 4.4L not 5.0 :)

[@DMFattorini]

Range Rover 1,700w meridian would be good to review

[@StandForSomethingGood]

Nice review. Love it.

[@TheKobeBird]

Appreciate the content! Audio review on cars is so underrated! We would love if you could do a review on the Jeep Grand Wagoneer with their McIntosh system

[@dimen1997]

Does the active design sound system sound better I assume through these speakers?

[@jeffreybackes4664]

Thanks for the review, I guess that's another $3,400 added to the price of my new seven series

[@jax3311]

I've got the Bowers and Wilkins system in my Volvo XC60 Inscription and it is absolutely incredible. Wonder if it essentially the same system? In the Volvo it does support Android Auto as well...

[@dubbelgamer064]

the systems are quite different the volvo doesn`t have diamond tweeters and the sub setup is different but the differences will only be in the highest of highs and the bass mids will be relatively similar

[@degou3438]

Volvo is better

[@dennis-br6vr]

@@degou3438 no it is not..

[@degou3438]

@@dennis-br6vr yes, is it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/homng399e9Bpiq8&pp=ugMICgJwdBABGAE%3D

[@ypsircxd5814]

@@dennis-br6vr it actually is, check Daily Motor channel

[@umicheli]

Hi...how about Apple Music Hi-Res playback ? If CarPlay is used the wifi or bluetooth connection does not allow Hi-Res Lossless playback..due to poor bandwidth, however an iPod with Hi-Res music plugged into the USB should give us the full non compressed music...have you tried that ? I think that spending this kind of money to playback compressed audio is somewhat counter productive....? I would love your comments on this, thanks

[@elvin4732]

I hawe a HARMAN KARDON on 525d F10 and its great. This Bowers&Wilkins will be wounderfull

[@borisvalabik9059]

I've had the B&O on my 2018 A8L and i was dissapointed. My wife's Harman Kardon on her X4 sounds bettet! No idea how that's possible but i'm serious, it just sounds better. And the B&O was like £6000-£7000. Definitely not worth it. Now i've ordered the X7 and i'm still not sure, even after watching this, if i should've ordered the B&W or not. I guess i still have a week or so to add it to the options list at the dealer. I would so love a no-bias opinion from someone. Is there anyone with a real experience with B&W on a X7?

[@bigrahizzle]

So what did you end up with? how do you like it?

[@yeahray9907]

Ok but my 2020 7 B&W speakers do not have the Fibonacci ambient lighting! Bummer!

[@tn5074]

Does it have Aux? would love to know

[@DanielBlack-g8u]

Can you swap harman cardon for bowers in bmw M4?

[@nonamemen6413]

What is more better harmann kardon or this ?

[@Dan330i]

Is it better than burmester sound system from a S CLASS

[@thevinduekanayake248]

drifty Boiii_458 yes.

[@azharsattar7653]

MB Burmester is absolute junk I have the High End 3d $6400 in my S63 Coupe. I regret buying the car because of it. Porsche Burmester is much better.

[@keshkepital7556]

Burmester in the new G class is also bullshit. I set bass to -10 and it still sounds crazy. Hurts my ears.

[@Infinity-dp8sc]

@@keshkepital7556 wait so the bass is loud?

[@callummcpherson2958]

Can you turn the blue lights off?

[@hamishoc4684]

yea, you can change colour, brightness, and what sections are what colour and so on

[@gsasailer]

Thank´s 🙏

[@berkangulsenogullari]

The engine is actually 4.4L V8 not 5.0L

[@gamingbtc]

So if no Android auto, what do more than half of the world's cell phone users use to play their music? Is there an aux jack or something? lmao.

[@aapkaapna5703]

U can't check the sound quality by using radio tracks..

[@AStick3Pedals]

4.4 liter engine not 5

[@pdn561]

BMW's mobile tech strategy is a complete mess at the moment. No Android Auto is bonkers! You didn't really talk about how the system performs on the go, when traversing the local pothole-riddled roads, or cruising down a dual carriageway over the incessant hum of tyre noise, or on a busy motorway with massive wagons rattling away. (It's not often I'd be listening in a parked car.) Could you include some of that next time please?

[@kzarandooz]

This car is amazingly sound insulated when driving its the same as parked! Android auto is going to be added this year

[@MrCrlpll]

I have the HK system and I have upgraded the speakers with Bimmertech Alpha One and it is night and day . Planning on installing a Mosconi DSP Amplifier 8/10 to further improve. It is way cheaper than Bower and Wilkins and quality is the same if not superior

[@wernertrugler1171]

sorry to say, but neither is the BMW X7 an ultimate driving machine, nor does the test tell much about the quality of the sound system. you explain in detail many many technical facts and marketing statements but playing some tracks does not help in any way because we do not hear the B&W system but our headphones, computer speakers or whatever we use to watch this video.

[@smarthomesounds]

Thanks for watching - this video was always intended to be our insight into the system. We always like to include a sound test as it's always highly requested but struggles to show the nuances in the audio because as you've said, it depends on how you are listening to the video. I would love to hear your suggestions on how we could improve that?

[@Scotford_Maconochie]

It's not a 5.0L it's 4.4L biturbo

[@matija4933]

Audi Bang&Olufsen 👌🏻😍 I love it!!!

[@manavdesai928]

Nah not a big fan of it and it’s not that good . bower and wilkins ,harman Kardon, bose are better

[@g.s.7383]

Bruh I listen to my R6 engine sound Not some crappy music

[@p4oen1x]

I own a bmw x7. And im a bmw fan for last 15 years. 9:13 its a worse quality leather ever ! It piss me so much(

[@banffgondola9585]

BMW own you

[@keshkepital7556]

Doesn‘t look nice, agree. Let them fix/replace it.

[@Synycom1]

I spotted that too!

[@marcellkaracs4862]

what 5l V8, what about u speak?....

[@Pavel71442]

Крутой автомобиль но увы недостижимый !!!

[@TripleMachine]

You said that this is not sponsored but I kept thinking that you sound like somebody that is being paid so make this video. Not really a fair audio review.

[@SA3D427]

How many watts ?

[@shaktisingh9733]

1500 watt

[@1JRW1]

You have no idea at all about how to review an audio system. You are clearly not an audiophile. Bass extension, bass grip speed, instrument separation, bass, mids and treble balance, warmth, brightness, microdynamics, macrodynamics, soundstage, image, timing, headroom... Unfortunately it seems there are no audiophiles yet interested on reviewing car audio systems.

[@wernertrugler1171]

i have to agree. it seems no audiophiles exist anymore. i would have been very interested in a qualified review but i know nothing yet. at least staging and tonality HAS to be discussed in any audio system review, expecially in a car.

[@madikgetlakagiso1525]

Audis bang and olufsen is the best

[@timmietz]

Lambo Urus B&O you mean?

[@madikgetlakagiso1525]

@@timmietz yes that one...its is the same system in Audi/lambo

[@kevinfloyd6837]

well someone ran out of ideas... Smart Home Sounds reviewing .....in a car...??? ummm

[@aleksandrkovaljov]

Shame on you, BMW. All the sound systems are crap! I have the B&W on G05 and it really sucks. H/K on G23 also. Very disappointed.

[@melissaf7807]

Porsche

[@easternbeast3615]

more music, less talk please

[@marjanradanovic1946]

bloke needs 10 mins of bs talk, just put the audio at the beginning and talk later

[@윤성준중국차]

존나사고싶다 씨벌

[@bootlegbay3771]

1475 watt lol, totally fake.

[@neptunevibe]

My God.. Compared with Mercedes Benz is like 10 years back in design... You must be very stupid to get a BMW

[@RasmusandPiper]

audi 3d bang olufsen is better and has more wattage 1920w.

[@kzarandooz]

Bang and Olufsen sucks! This is much better

[@joakimquensel597]

I compared Mercedes W222 S-class Burmeistet 3D and a G11 BMW 7-series B&W. The Burmeister 3D is totaly superior in my opinion. especially the bass.