Try the AudioForge EQ app! $2.99 on the app store. It lets you create very precise custom EQ curves and really compensate for the HK's specific shortcomings. If you get the app I can send you a couple of my custom S550 curves via email.

 

Mike,

I am assuming that if you use the EQ in the glove box option then you can't control the iPod with the command as in a direct connection with the 30 pin connector. I have a 2011 with the standard HK system.

I like being able to control the iPod via the command but it sounds like I am giving up better quality sound options by doing so. Thoughts?

 

But can you still control of your iPod/iPhone through Command while using the AudioForge EQ app ?

 

You're making a huge sacrifice in audio quality in order to use COMAND. But the EQ mod is so cheap you can easily try it and decide for yourself if the trade off is worth it. My guess is you'll be unwilling to give up the jump in fidelity once you've heard it.

If you love the new sound but want COMAND control back, you'll need to do the speaker replacement mod (the full write up is in the blog). Then you can get by with much less EQ, like either the IPhone's internal EQ or the AudioForge app (or no EQ at all for the COMAND's internal sources.)

Bill: Using the AudioForge app in lieu of the Apple native EQ via 30 pin or the Tune2Air BT adapter allows some COMAND control (skip tracks with the left steering wheel buttons, volume on the right steering wheel buttons), but sometimes the song titles are out of sync, and if you try to search for a playlist, artist, track etc in COMAND the device will revert back to the Apple EQ.

The way I use the EQ app is to play my local library of AAC files in "shuffle" mode. If a track comes on that I'm not in the mood for, I tap the skip track button on the wheel and go to the next one. I have over 2,000 tracks so it usually only takes one skip to find something I like. The App has a nice cross-fade feature that I really like too. It fades the end of one song into the beginning of the next one, like having your own personal commercial free DJ in the car.

The way to look at it is that the EQ app or glove box mod is a gateway drug. It's cheap and easy and makes a night and day difference in the enjoyment of your car. It's not the most elegant solution but it gives you a taste of what a speaker upgrade can get you. Meanwhile, live with it for awhile and then if you need to go deeper, go deeper.

The hardest part of this process wasn't the time or money, it was trying to determine what was in the car, what could be salvaged, what made sense to replace and upgrade, and then finding components that sounded good and would work in the factory speaker enclosures and with the factory amp. Luckily for you guys that part's all done now.

 

Hmmm, I may have to give the EQ in the glove box a try. If I make a few solid playlists then I should be able to forego the command interface. How about a BT interface into the EQ? Would that degrade the sound much? If I did that at least I will be able to have the device accessable to change tracks etc. Right now, I leave the iPod in the glove box plugged in to the 30 pin connector and leave it alone. It syncs when ever I download a new track from iTunes and stays charged up. It also won't conflict with my iPhone interface via BT.

I must admit for a $100k plus car when new the sound system is very lacking. I am not sure why the Germans always seem to miss the boat on this one.

 

Yeah, in the write up here on the forum (there's a link back to it in my blog) I detail adding the tiny Miccus MiniJack Bluetooth adapter to the EQ mod. Sound quality is good, but you'll want to run a "hot" 12v receptacle to power the Miccus. That way its always on and you won't have to re-pair in the event the adapter's battery dies while the car is sitting. You can pick up hot (unswitched power) from the left fuse panel on the side of the dashboard.

The other way, and I'll admit its a little ghetto, is to get a soft rubber case for the dedicated Ipod, open the disc door and gently wedge the Ipod between the door and the disc buttons. Easy access and it'll stay put too. Run both the charging cable and line out cable behind the device and work them back along the glove box crease to conceal them until they get to the glove box.

 

I think with the W222, they (at least MB) have learned their lesson. Standard Burmester with an even more badass Burmester kit as an option. I hear the standard Burmester is equivalent or better than the W221 B&O?

 

Yeah, there's a thread around here somewhere where I posted a cabin recording of a track played on the W222 standard Burmester and then the same track on my modded HK. The Burmester sounded great with very little adjustment, and the modded HK held it's own. Bass response was very close. (The 222 puts the front subs in a cavity in the floor, the 221 has them in the doors) I suspect the B&O is at least equivalent to the stock Burmester, but sadly I've been unable to audition one.

The Burmester had smoother mids and there were several DSP settings (surround modes). I found one that put the vocals right where I like them, more so than the modded HK where I'm fighting a mid-heavy factory EQ and one DSP setting (Logic 7). When you listen to the clips you'll hear the vocals more prominently in the Burmester. I could, with more tweaking on the AudioForge app, bring the vocals forward more in the 221 but at a trade off of more brightness overall.

The highs were similarly good...the Focal KRS100 tweets are very nice sounding units even if they don't swivel and light up

Short version, the modded HK is much closer in quality to the new 222 Burmester than it is to a stock HK. The Burmester has a more neutral, open sound to begin with, and then the extra DPS flexibility. Unfortunately you have to drive around in a 222 to get it.

Here are the clips. These are just crude IPhone recordings but you get the idea. Track was Fleetwood Mac You Make Loving Fun AAC encoded at 256kb VBR. Playback was on an IPod 5 running IOS 8.1 over Bluetooth Audio (native in the 222, via Tune2Air dongle in the 221) both with the standard SBC Bluetooth Audio compression, both through the AudioForge EQ app. W221 had Logic 7 active, HU bass and treble to full and fader at -2. Burmester was set to surround, priority front seats, bass and treble to full. midrange at half. Fader was neutral.

There are obvious limitations to the recording method and your playback device, but listen for how in both clips, the bass is solid and percussive without getting boomy, the mids are smooth and not overly bright, and the highs sound clean (although a little phasey as a result off the recording method).

Burmester:

Modded HK: [Focal KRS100 2 ways front doors, Hertz 6.5" two ways rear doors, MTX 4" coaxials on rear deck, Hushmat throughout. Otherwise stock]

My mods didn't cost a ton. The fronts Focals were the most expensive at $750. The rear door Hertz were under $300, and the MTX coaxials were $49. Labor and Hushmat added around a grand all totalled but I did it in phases front to rear. All sources are vastly improved although I listen almost exclusively to the local AAC library via AudioForge.

 

This is great info, thank you

 

Some other info on the optional B&O that no one really has

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/car-a...-,S,-,65,-,AMG