Mike5215

The big changes for 2010 were a biturbo 4.3 liter V8 instead of the normally aspirated 5 liter, different headlights and front bumper with LED lights, new tail lights, inclusion of massage seats, back up camera and Parktronic as standard, selectable ambient light color and probably some other stuff I can't remember. Google "2010 S550 standard features" and you'll get a link to a MotorTrend listing that shows all the changes. I don't think COMAND was changed at all.

The B&O cars are rare. I've seen a couple on line (usually S600, 63 and 65) but I haven't heard the system. It can't sound any worse than the H&K.

Bluetooth integration on the S is primitive. No streaming BT audio. Basic phone stuff only. It's possible your friend has MBrace and that the extra controls thru his phone for the shades and stuff are coming thru that, but it's not standard on the car itself.

Jason B

Hmm. I'll ask him if he has mbrace.

Also, what's with this Mercedes Bluetooth piece here:
Is this for all a classes or just 07-09? Was it removed and built in and hidden for 2010+?

Mike5215

Yeah, it's now integrated in 2010+. That's a previous generation BlueTooth puck.

hem85

Excellent details. Thank you for your time a effort to share it. I just ordered my "package".

Mike5215

Thanks! Let me know what you think. I've since added a Fiios headphone amp for a little added gain. It goes between the EQ and the Aux In. Power by USB charger.The stock system handles it easily. There are some songs where the output from the front door woofers blows my pants leg around.



Updated schematic:

Mike5215

Another refinement (Ipod/phones only):

Add a quality outboard DAC (HRT Istreamer 12v/$230 Amazon). Bypasses both the Ipod's less than ideal internal digital-to-analog converter as well as the internal headphone amp.





Recommended for digital files encoded at 256kb/sec or better, but will improve all sources. Charges the iPod/phone as well. The HRT is the first outboard DAC certified by Apple, which means the Ipod/phone fully surrenders both the internal digital audio stream as well as the internal clock. IPod/phone internal EQ settings are still applied. Processes all digital audio including local files, cloud content and internet radio sources.

Direct digital connection eliminates the need for the ground loop isolator.

Cleaner look in the cabin...one less cable.


Benefits:

Noticeably cleaner sound.

Audible "space" around the notes. Each instrument sounds distinct rather than being mixed into "the soup".

Plug-and-play, no user configuration necessary.

Full resolution playback of all files including FLAC and Apple Lossless files up to 16bit/96htz.

Latest schematic:



While I wrote the original mod with an eye on cost, based on my experience the outboard DAC is worth the $230 investment if audio quality is important to you and you'd like to get more out of your set-up.

Fiio E5 Headphone amp is optional.

http://www.parts-express.com/fiio-e5...black--230-102

Provides a little extra gain, handy if you play your music loud and are bumping up against the car's max volume. (Note that you're not risking overloading the system. The Aux In volume level is noticeably lower than the COMAND's internal sources.)

Do not use the more expensive Fiio E11 pictured in the post above. More power than you can use and it doesn't charge while it's playing.


If you're in the Gainesville, Florida area and would like to audition this mod, PM me.



On the subject of digital quality in a home audio set-up:


If this mod spoils you for great sounding audio at home, consider adding High Res audio to your library.

A modern PC or notebook is capable of lossless reproduction of digital audio at the 192khz/24 bit-depth level. Studio master tapes and digital studio masters are encoded at the 192/24, or 96/24 level. Most of us have never heard a studio master. A CD is not close to studio master quality.

A studio master has a bitrate of over 9000kb/sec. (A commercial CD is encoded at 44.1 khz/16 bit-depth with a bitrate of 1100kb/sec.) As a result, CDs contain much less sonic depth than the respective master they were encoded from.)

Hundreds of High Res bit-for-bit copies of studio master recordings are available at www.hdtracks.com. They're expensive at around $25 an album (a free sampler is available for download once you register at the site) but they do sound amazing. Several website also offer free High Res downloads, although you won't find commercial stuff for free.

Because of their enormous file sizes (a typical three minute song can be as much as 200mb) they're not practical for the car (and Apple portable devices can't play them at full res) but on a PC or notebook connected to your audio system you'll get almost ten times the quality of a CD. That doesn't necessarily mean it sounds ten times better, but know the source material sounds as good as it can possibly get)

To really take it to the next level, consider an outboard DAC at home. It'll connect via USB and bypass your PC or notebook's internal sound card for even better sound.

wilassasin

Interesting write up, nice job mike. Only thing, 2010 didn't come with any changes to engine. It's unfortunate about the lack of bluetooth audio smh, however, my pandora sounds perfect through my iphone on the regular harman kardon set up.

Mike5215

I just put a Tune 2 Air bluetooth adapter in my wife's Audi (which also had no BT audio). It works as advertised and gives you all of the controls and artist/title data of a wired connection. Cost $80 and it snaps on to the existing Ipod connector in the glove box.

The W221 system isn't horrible if you've never had anything better. Unfortunately the stock W220's audio is excellent without any mods at all.

wilassasin

[QUOTE=Mike5215;5934986]I just put a Tune 2 Air bluetooth adapter in my wife's Audi (which also had no BT audio). It works as advertised and gives you all of the controls and artist/title data of a wired connection. Cost $80 and it snaps on to the existing Ipod connector in the glove box.

This sounds like a good option. How is sound quality?

Jason B

Just some info. Everyone is saying that the 2014 S class Burmester "standard audio system" is just as good as the optional $6,500 B&O system for the 2010-2013 S class, in terms of sound.

So, then there is the optional $6,400 system in the 2014 with the motorized tweeters seen here, video.

I wonder what the new one sounds like? And Mike, I wonder where your mods rank, which turns the stock Harmon system in the w221 into a masterpiece?

Mike5215

[QUOTE=wilassasin;5935121]Great. Indistinguishable from a direct connection. Didn't try it on the S550 so I'm not sure how much song and artist data shows up on the COMAND but on the Audi's MMI it's like having a normal wired connection.

Mike5215

Okay... those tweeters are just showing off at this point. Cool as hell but a glowing bezel and retractable baffle doesn't do anything from an audio perspective. Hidden away in all that Star Wars dazzle is probably a very nice regular tweeter.

Here's a cool gizmo if you don't want to spend $230 on a DAC but still want the benefit of bypassing your device's internal headphone amp and retaining charging through the device's dataport. It extracts the audio from the dataport and outputs it to a 3.5 mm jack, and feeds power back to the device. $8.00!

http://www.parts-express.com/fiio-l1...erter--230-114

sf_hombre

I also did this mod and am very satisfied with the results. The change is sound quality is enormous!

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to share.

Mike5215

Thanks for the feedback! I just finished a front speaker upgrade, replacing the factory mid range speakers with Focals and the H&K tweeters with a set of Bose tweeters from a W220 S Class. Now everything (CD, etc) sounds as good as the Aux In used to sound, and the Aux In quality is on a whole new level.

njsdavis

I have the 08 s550 with only the ipod adapter.

it is my understanding that a "Y" can be bought from the dealership with both the aux in and the ipod adapter.

My question is .. I have the ML-D100 whatever its called hooked up to the ipod adapter. soooo .. if i hook at the EQ stuff and the setup that you have it has to go through the aux. is it somewhere i can piggyback the MLD100 so i can get the bluetooth through the EQ setup and not run an aux cable out the glove box to my phone???

is my thinking right or did i miss something?

Jason B

What mod? The $8 one?

Mike5215

Got it. You can't use the ML100 or the actual IPod conection either because the EQ mod requires that the EQ gets the signal before it reaches the car's audio system. Only the Aux In lets you do that.

However if you still want streaming Bluetooth audio you would skip the DAC and use something like the MicroBridge BT adapter, along with the Y adapter that adds an Aux In.

My recommendation is that you wire a "hot" 12v outlet into the glovebox (easy to do, just pull power from the passenger side fuse panel) for the Microbridge so it's always on and pairs automatically.

Let me dig up the schematic for you...



http://www.miccus.com/products/blubridge-mini-jack-rx

The power cable for the mobile device itself is optional. If you're using BT audio the device can be anywhere and charge wherever you want.

Mike5215

I forgot about that $8 one to bypass the headphone amp. I don't think anyone has tried that gizmo yet,

sf_hombre

I did the $100 one. It actually cost an additional $130 for labor as I went to an audio shop to have it done. I did this because the first Radio Shack store I shopped at didn't have all of the parts and I didn't want to spend the time to track down which stores did and drive around to get them. I figured an audio shop would have the necessary on hand, and they did.

When I told the audio shop owner what I wanted to do, the response was along the lines of "You've got a $70000 car and you want to ***k it up with a $50 piece of ***t?" and "I don't recommend you even try this."

When I told him to go ahead anyway and that I could simply remove it if I didn't like it since there were no holes drilled etc. he gave me a look like "OK, idiot, I will take your money if you insist."

When it was all done he was quick to admit he was wrong and that the mod made a significant difference. It was my turn then to give him grief (with a smile) about how he was too quick to be harshly critical.

Mike5215

Yeah, people get hung up on brands or specs, especially installers. I'm more an "outcome" guy than a "process" guy. I don't care how I get the results, as long as I get the results. Granted, my S550 failed its last two glove box inspections. (My wife does the glovebox inspections when she's looking for Kleenex or pens. At which point I tell her to close the glove box because there's nothing in there but a hornet's nest of audio processing gear.)

I demo'd the EQ Mod for the owner of the shop that just did the Focal speaker install for me. I have a track on the Music Register and the same exact track, same bitrate, same everything on the Ipod going thru the DAC/EQ/Headphone Amp/Aux In. I start the iPod playing and then toggle back and forth on the COMAND between Music Register and Aux. Night and Day.

What he pointed out was that the EQ Mod sounded good and pretty much like what he expected a high end 600 watt factory system in an S Class to be, while the actual factory system sounded unbelievably cheap, hollow and dead. He kept asking me to toggle the EQ in and out so he could be sure he was hearing it right.

Jason B

This is starting to tempt me... How would this mod sound with top 40 type music? And obviously, volume gets quite a bit louder?

Mike5215

It would sound like you'd been listening all this time to Top 40 music through a set of tin cans with a pillow over your head.

There is a sense of more volume because you can dial in more low bass and mid bass. The factory amp/speakers can really pound away if they're let off the leash.

The biggest change is that the EQ can compensate for the overpowering factory mid-range and take away the harsh, hollow sound. Then you can roll back in a little of the ultra-high frequencies to restore just the right amount of the high end. You can also fine-tune the bass so that it's full and punchy without getting loose and muddy.

I would put it this way: If I installed this in your car and told you I'd just completed a whole new aftermarket amp and speaker upgrade, you'd have no trouble believing me.

What do you use most often as your source now?

Super Salami

I've done the EQ glove box mod and listen to 'top 40' and hip hop and it's great. If you do decide to do it, let me know and I'll let you know what eq settings I ended up with to give you a baseline to work with.

Jason B

Sweet! I'm mainly just using the headphone jack from my Jailbroken Iphone 5. When I do use music register, instead of the phone, there is a huge difference in sound quality, I mean pretty darn big. But I mainly use the phone aux because the apps I have download on the fly.

That's exactly what I listen to

Mike5215

I have a dedicated jailbroken Ipod Touch 5. You're already halfway there. By download on the fly do you mean streaming from Itunes Radio (or Pandora, Spotify, MOG, etc)?

Again, that's exactly what I do. Aside from the Clarion, these steps will really put you over the top:

1) The Istreamer Outboard DAC by HRT. It bypasses both the IPhone's internal DAC, which is okay but not in the same league as the IStreamer, and it bypasses the internal headphone amp, resulting in zero noise.

It takes a single Lightning connection in from the IPhone, charges the IPhone while connected, and outputs great, clean audio via standard RCA jacks. You come out of the DAC into the Clarion with a standard stereo RCA cable and you're golden. So instead of an audio cable coming out of the glovebox, and a charging cable somewhere, you only need the Lightning cable.

2) The Fiio F5 headphone amp. It's just enough to give you some low end boost with its bass boost switch, and a bit more gain so you have somewhere to go if you want to fully crank the system, and trust me, you will.

3) For streaming music, every service I know provides two different streams. A lower quality version for cellular connections, and a full quality version only available through broadband WiFi or download. (Some also require an upgrade to "premium" service. Worth it.)

Install a dedicated WiFi hotspot in the car, like the Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE. I did a write up on the install with pics a few weeks ago. It has to be 4G. A 3G hotspot can't keep the stream smooth.

The highest streaming bitrate I'm aware of is MOG at 320kb/sec. However I've found that Apple ITunes Radio (Premium is free with an ICloud account) at 256kb ACC sounds better, plus you can use the IPhone's internal EQ to get even more refined sound. I've found that "R&B" seems to agree most with the car's acoustics. "Rock" is a close second but a little brighter.

I love Super Salami's idea of sharing settings. In addition to the EQ, I'd be interested to know the sound settings on the COMAND, and the source you use.