Acura Announces Partnership with Bang & Olufsen

[JonUrban]

It will be interesting to see (hear) if there is 5.1/7.1 discrete playback or just the faux crap like Bright, Energetic, Warm and Relaxed. That would be a disappointment for sure. And to crow about laser etched speaker grilles instead of true Atmos capability is pretty lame.

You would think that with all of those speakers and channels they would do Atmos

 

[LennonCobain]

I have an appointment tomorrow evening with my Acura dealer to demo the new 2025 MDX and will be testing the 19 speaker Bang & Olufsen system. Early reports are that discrete surround sound is not supported, but hope to confirm myself. I will be armed with various flash drives in different formats to see if the system is just finicky (even though the owners manual indicates that flash drives should be formatted to FAT32).

 

[Mackspower]

I have an appointment tomorrow evening with my Acura dealer to demo the new 2025 MDX and will be testing the 19 speaker Bang & Olufsen system. Early reports are that discrete surround sound is not supported, but hope to confirm myself. I will be armed with various flash drives in different formats to see if the system is just finicky (even though the owners manual indicates that flash drives should be formatted to FAT32).

"But Sir, don't you want to drive the car? No, I'm just here for the immersive sound stage and file format compatibility . . ."

 

[LennonCobain]

"But Sir, don't you want to drive the car? No, I'm just here for the immersive sound stage and file format compatibility . . ."

At the dealership now and that is it 100%. My sales consultant knows me and was expecting it. Plus I have a 2022 and the power train hasn’t changed.

 

[LennonCobain]

OK, so I tested the Bang & Olufsen 19 speaker system in the 2025 Acura MDX. I was able to get 5.1 FLAC files to playback correctly. I also used a 5.1 channel test file to confirm what was played back from each speaker.

This video won’t do it justice.

The system has limited sound adjustment options. For 5.1 files, the “Surround Level” setting made no noticeable change to how the tracks were played back.

The USB port remains under the armrest but is now USB-C vs USB-A. Fortunately I had an adapter for my FAT32 formatted drive that was immediately recognized.

Dolby Atmos .m4a files I had on the drive were not recognized (which wasn’t a surprise).

Overall, my impression is that the current ELS Studio 3D system in my 2022 MDX sounds better. At best, it’s a draw. The B&O doesn’t display audio artwork from tags as sharply as the ELS and it appears to be smaller as well.

I take delivery of the 2025 on Saturday so I will have more time to dig into the B&O system.

@Cygnus_X1

 

[Tres Discrete]

OK, so I tested the Bang & Olufsen 19 speaker system in the 2025 Acura MDX. I was able to get 5.1 FLAC files to playback correctly. I also used a 5.1 channel test file to confirm what was played back from each speaker.

This video won’t do it justice.
View attachment 107963

The system has limited sound adjustment options. For 5.1 files, the “Surround Level” setting made no noticeable change to how the tracks were played back.

View attachment 107964
View attachment 107965

The USB port remains under the armrest but is now USB-C vs USB-A. Fortunately I had an adapter for my FAT32 formatted drive that was immediately recognized.

Dolby Atmos .m4a files I had on the drive were not recognized (which wasn’t a surprise).

Overall, my impression is that the current ELS Studio 3D system in my 2022 MDX sounds better. At best, it’s a draw. The B&O doesn’t display audio artwork from tags as sharply as the ELS and it appears to be smaller as well.

I take delivery of the 2025 on Saturday so I will have more time to dig into the B&O system.

@Cygnus_X1

Interesting.
I have an old friend (in every sense of the word!) still in the music biz that believes once cars are outfitted with capability & hardware to stream Atmos, that will be the game-changer (ie Sirius XM adoption)
I guess time will tell…

 

[LennonCobain]

Some additional notes from the 2025 MDX:

4.0 and 5.0 files playback properly without the need to add silent C and/or LFE channels.

7.1 files playback (as far as I can tell) as 5.1 files with the side surround channels with the rear surround channels.

24/48, 24/96, and 24/192 bit/kHz files are supported. I haven’t tried any combinations of 16bit files yet.

 

[JonUrban]

Some additional notes from the 2025 MDX:

4.0 and 5.0 files playback properly without the need to add silent C and/or LFE channels.

7.1 files playback (as far as I can tell) as 5.1 files with the side surround channels with the rear surround channels.

24/48, 24/96, and 24/192 bit/kHz files are supported. I haven’t tried any combinations of 16bit files yet.

That's a good job there LC! An excellent check out. Glad to see that the discrete stuff still plays, and with even more bit rates supported.

My RDX is 3 years old now, and I have been debating whether to keep it, which is fiscally responsible, or go for a 25. They have yet to put out anything on the 25, and the MDX is just too big for me. We'll see.

But best of luck with your new MDX. I hope you don't even have to worry about clicking speakers ever again!

 

[LennonCobain]

That's a good job there LC! An excellent check out. Glad to see that the discrete stuff still plays, and with even more bit rates supported.

My RDX is 3 years old now, and I have been debating whether to keep it, which is fiscally responsible, or go for a 25. They have yet to put out anything on the 25, and the MDX is just too big for me. We'll see.

But best of luck with your new MDX. I hope you don't even have to worry about clicking speakers ever again!

Thanks Jon. My sales consultant was unsure if the 2025 RDX will be a new generation or the last year of the current one. Since the current generation launched with MY 2019, I would think that MY 2025 would be next generation.

 

[LennonCobain]

Here is another tip for anyone demoing the B&O system. Bring a flash drive with a small amount of files, otherwise you will receive an error message when immediately connecting the drive. This is simply because the system is indexing the files. Ignore the error message and eventually it will be recognized.

 

[slotkar]

Just like my HP ZBook 17 mobile workstation computer...

 

[Impossible Lime]

Some additional notes from the 2025 MDX:

4.0 and 5.0 files playback properly without the need to add silent C and/or LFE channels.

7.1 files playback (as far as I can tell) as 5.1 files with the side surround channels with the rear surround channels.

24/48, 24/96, and 24/192 bit/kHz files are supported. I haven’t tried any combinations of 16bit files yet.

LC, thanks for the work to figure this out, you saved me some time. Have you figured out a way to test wired connectivity? I would like to be able to play Hi Res audio from Qobuz/Tidal/Deezer etc. while I'm in the car without downsampling.

The Acura OM documentation for this is woefully inadequate and contains an "out" for them in case something doesn't work.

 

[LennonCobain]

LC, thanks for the work to figure this out, you saved me some time. Have you figured out a way to test wired connectivity? I would like to be able to play Hi Res audio from Qobuz/Tidal/Deezer etc. while I'm in the car without downsampling.

The Acura OM documentation for this is woefully inadequate and contains an "out" for them in case something doesn't work.

Sorry, but I haven’t tried this.

 

[Bob Romano]

So, I have plugged my 1TB drive into my new ZDX (got it yesterday) and it does not register. It says no USB found. It is currently formatted as exFAT. Do I need to reformat the drive? I also have the Beosound system in the ZDX and I think sounds pretty nice using SiriusXM and Android Auto using Apple Music so I am interested to see if it actually plays 5.1 like the MDX and RDX.

 

[Impossible Lime]

So, I have plugged my 1TB drive into my new ZDX (got it yesterday) and it does not register. It says no USB found. It is currently formatted as exFAT. Do I need to reformat the drive? I also have the Beosound system in the ZDX and I think sounds pretty nice using SiriusXM and Android Auto using Apple Music so I am interested to see if it actually plays 5.1 like the MDX and RDX.

Owners manual says FAT32. I have a 1TB drive and just haven't made it back to the dealer to test it.

 

[LennonCobain]

So, I have plugged my 1TB drive into my new ZDX (got it yesterday) and it does not register. It says no USB found. It is currently formatted as exFAT. Do I need to reformat the drive? I also have the Beosound system in the ZDX and I think sounds pretty nice using SiriusXM and Android Auto using Apple Music so I am interested to see if it actually plays 5.1 like the MDX and RDX.

Most likely you need to reformat to FAT32. Before you do that, my suggestion is to mess around using another flash drive formatted to FAT32 and put a few test files on it to confirm 5.1 support for the ZDX.

 

[JonUrban]

So, I have plugged my 1TB drive into my new ZDX (got it yesterday) and it does not register. It says no USB found. It is currently formatted as exFAT. Do I need to reformat the drive? I also have the Beosound system in the ZDX and I think sounds pretty nice using SiriusXM and Android Auto using Apple Music so I am interested to see if it actually plays 5.1 like the MDX and RDX.

Wow Bob, you got a ZDX? How is it. The dealers around here are giving almost $20K off list as they are not selling. I mean, they look great and there is a TypeS and all, but pure electric cars up here are not a big mover.

 

[Bob Romano]

It is really nice and FAST!!! Unfortunately, it seems that the ZDX does NOT play discrete 5.1. Here in Vegas you can't turn your head without seeing some sort of electric vehicle. Teslas everywhere. They gave me about $12,000 off the car. By the way, NTFS will work for formatting the drive. The sound system is really nice though. At this point I will have to settle for Beosound 3d.

 

[ddahl44]

Rumor has it TLX is being phased out.

 

[timbre4]

Rumor has it TLX is being phased out.

Just read about that; freshened for 2024 but could cease production by late 2025. Next Gen EVs coming. Acura is mum about its future for now.