Exclusive car stereo test: are premium car audio upgrades worth it?
We listen to what the experts at Richer Sounds think about car companies' regular and upgraded stereo set-ups
It’s pretty well known that few cars roll out of the factory at the advertised starting price; options lists can be attractive, with a hi-fi upgrade often too tempting to ignore.
But do you need to spend this extra cash – which could run into thousands? After all, aren’t most of us just listening to the radio or plugging into a podcast on our commute? Or is there some sense in splashing out to get the sharpest sound?
To find out, we took a selection of the best-selling models from the UK’s biggest three car companies to compare their basic system with the upgraded alternative.
In this instance, all three of the upgraded systems were branded Harman Kardon. But what we soon found out was that although the branding is the same, the systems themselves – particularly their calibration – aren’t necessarily identical.
Harman, the parent company of Harman Kardon, also owns Bowers and Wilkins, JBL, Bang and Olufsen Automotive and many more. So while the technical specification of each product might be different, it’s very likely that any new car’s premium audio system probably originates from underneath the Harman umbrella.
The test: How did we compare each sound system?
As mentioned, for this test we selected one of the most popular models from three of the UK’s best-selling brands: a Volkswagen Golf, Kia Sportage and BMW i4. We had two examples of each model, one with the standard-fit system and the other with the paid-for upgrade.
Our adjudicator was Shaun O’Connor, project manager for hi-fi retailer Richer Sounds. With experience designing, installing and calibrating some of the poshest stereo systems out there, from home cinemas to music centres, for the most exacting of audiophiles, O’Connor was the perfect candidate to lend an ear for our test.
He was blindfolded as we sat him in the cars, not knowing which system he was listening to. For the test, we played three songs: Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, Clasp (Ambient) by RY X & London Contemporary Orchestra, and GLUE by Bicep.
We played each track both when driving and while stationary to provide an accurate representation of each system’s performance.
Kia Sportage
- Standard set-up: Six speakers (four front, two rear)
- Premium set-up: Eight speakers (four front, one dashboard, two rear, sub in boot)
- Cost to upgrade: Included as part of GT-Line S trim (£5,200 more than GT-Line)
The entry-level Kia didn’t get off to the strongest start with O’Connor wincing at how it handled the heavy bass of GLUE. “You can hear it cut out the lower frequencies because it couldn’t deal with everything at the same time,” he said.
“It wasn’t awful – it didn’t completely die – but as soon as you start listening to something with multiple frequencies and turn up the volume, it really can’t hack it.” O’Connor describes Kia's basic system as offering a “fairly muddy sound that just mashes everything together”.
Even so, our expert did praise the Sportage for how it managed to keep out road noise on the move and said that it “sounded relatively decent” when playing the less complex sections of Kashmir.
The Sportage fitted with the premium Harman Kardon system fared better in the eyes of our expert; he described it as “really quite good”, with stronger bass and highs, although the mid frequencies left a little to be desired.
O’Connor’s main concern was that the music felt like it was “a foot or so in front of [him], rather than on top of the seat”. This desire to be “hugged” by the sound, as he described it, was helped somewhat by adjusting the sound positioning via the infotainment system, although this didn’t entirely solve the problem.
Standard
Our expert said the basic Kia system struggled with multiple frequencies at high volume, giving a muddy sound, with some lower frequencies cut out.
Premium
The improvement with the upgraded set-up was obvious, although O'Connor found that he wasn't "hugged" by the sound, as he wanted.
Volkswagen Golf
- Standard set-up: Seven speakers (four front, two rear, one dashboard)
- Premium set-up: 10 speakers (four front, four rear, one dashboard, sub in boot)
- Cost to upgrade: £630
Straight away, the first thing that became apparent about the Volkswagen Golf’s standard-fit audio system was the strong sensation of bass that could be felt reverberating from within the front seats. Although the set-up only featured four speakers in the front, two in the back and an extra unit in the dashboard, O’Connor immediately got the impression that there might be more.
“It's really good,” he said. “I feel like there must be a subwoofer under the seats, but regardless, the whole car comes to life when there’s a bit of bass. It might not be your nan’s preference, but I like it because it doesn’t lose much frequency range when playing something quite demanding.”
However, the system did struggle slightly when we were listening to our classical music choice; as the song built to a crescendo, O’Connor said: “This is the only bit where this system struggles. You can hear it makes a little pop and sounds almost a bit crispy.”
The upgraded Harman Kardon alternative, however, provided a much clearer sound in this regard. “If you’re an audiophile, the clarity on this system is far superior,” O’Connor said. “While you could hear a slight rattle in the door card of the other car, this one doesn’t struggle at all – it really breezes through the complex segments.”
Yet, while the premium system certainly did impress, O’Connor said: “If you’re into your drum and bass or house music, the [standard] system is arguably better. Yes it lacks clarity, but the sensation of bass in my back and butt felt better. If you’re an audiophile, the sound on [the upgraded] system is great.”
Standard
VW's basic set-up was so impressive – particularly with bass – that our expert was sure it must have more speakers than it did. But it coped less well with classical music.
Premium
O'Connor said any audiophile would be willing to pay the extra for VW's upgraded set-up, although fans of certain types of music would be perfectly happy with the brand's standard system.
BMW i4
- Standard set-up: Seven speakers (four front, one dashboard, two rear)
- Premium set-up: 17 speakers (eight front, two dashboard, four rear, two on parcel shelf, sub in boot)
- Cost to upgrade: £850
Right from the get-go, the well rounded performance of the standard-fit system in BMW's EV had O’Connor impressed. In fact, there were times when he was convinced he was actually listening to the premium set-up.
“It really is strong across the board,” he told us. “It didn’t struggle anywhere; it did get a little flustered with the highest of frequencies, but I’d definitely put it well above average.”
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.”
With this in mind, high-end systems tend to have a greater number of speakers to maximise surround-sound and frequency capabilities, and utilise much more sophisticated hardware than the standard-fit equivalent.
It’s also worth pointing out that a Bowers & Wilkins system in one car won’t necessarily be the same as in another – similar to how the HK set-up in the Sportage can’t quite match that of the i4.
“For our home range, we have three ranges of widespeaker, but while some are more sophisticated, they all utilise our continuum cone [design],” B&W’s director of partnership marketing, Tom Henderson, explained to us.
“So while there are always [cost] limitations placed on us by the manufacturer," he added, "we try to use as much common DNA and intellectual property as possible.”
The result: should you spend extra on your car’s hi-fi?
This really is the question at the heart of this experiment: is premium audio only worth it for audiophiles, or is it an option box most motorists should be ticking? In O’Connor’s view, what it ultimately boils down to is the performance of the basic offering and the cost of the premium alternative.
For instance, he believes there’s a marked improvement if you choose the Kia’s Harman Kardon stereo over the standard set-up. But when asked if he'd be happy to spend several grand to step up to GT-Line S – not accounting for the extra kit this trim provides – he quickly replied: “No, absolutely not. You don’t benefit all that much from added adjustability, either.”
As for the BMW and Volkswagen, O’Connor believes the decision about whether to upgrade should be dependent on someone’s personal circumstances. In his eyes, the base BMW arrangement “is well rounded enough and for 90 per cent of people, it’s all you need.
"If you’re just listening to day-to-day music playlists or putting on Radio 2, it’s fine," he added. "The [Harman Kardon] is really for if you like to crank it [up] and really enjoy it. For someone like me, I think it’s worth it.”
On the other hand, he said, thanks to its strong low-end performance, the standard Volkswagen system “is perfect for ‘bass junkies’ and is probably better than the upgraded one for those buyers because it’s so visceral. While I like that, I’d still probably pick the detail in the upgraded one, but the regular Golf [system] will be enough for most people.”
Ultimately, all we can recommend is you try before you buy and consider your own situation before taking the plunge. As O’Connor said, you’re probably not going to get the most out
of a high-end system if you’re simply tuning into Scott Mills every morning on an FM frequency. However, with streaming services now enabling high-bit-rate downloadable music files, going premium could be worth the cost for many of us – although not if it means unnecessarily splashing out on a top-spec model.
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