beaverlake

Spotify Premium on your mobile. All Spotify settings set to maximum streaming rate. Set Bose to about +1 or +2 on treble and +2 or +3 on bass (at least for these old ears).

I was a Pandora premium user because of their radio station playlist algorithms but 1-2 months ago they seemed to start repeating songs as often as Spotify. Spotify offers 320k to any device; Pandora limits mobile to 128k. There is a noticeable difference - especially when you hit a remastered classic rock album.

Best bang-for-the-buck audio upgrade you can do for Bose IMHO.

Patriot

How are you connected to the PCM? Bluetooth or direct connect? 991.1 or 991.2? iPhone or Android?

Alec Syme

Good tip. I just upped my settings. I'll see if I can notice the difference. I can certainly notice the difference between bluetooth and when it's connected to the Lightning cable.

alec

Archimedes

I switched to Tidal and also noticed a huge improvement in the sound quality from my cars.

TerryC4S

+1 on Tidal

TerryC4S

I know this is a bang for the buck thread but thought I'd share what I have done to improve source quality. I run an iPad Mini with the USB3 camera adaptor connected to the lightning port. I have an Audioquest Jitterbug handling USB noise filtering with an Audioquest Dragonfly Red for the DAC. The setup requires the 3.5mm cable from the DAC to the AUX port in my Bose system. I can run Apple lossless files through iTunes as well as Spotify Premium or Tidal. I put this together for when I fly. I use it with my Sure SE535 IEMs and it sounds fantastic. I decided to leverage it in the car. I just park the iPad in the glove box and let it rip. Now I can't wait for Nick for finish my tweeter upgrade for the Bose system.

thebrit86

With respect to the Pandora issue,

beaverlake

Re connection - I've used both the cable and Bluetooth, am using Bluetooth for now. Re Pandora and music - I'm a long time Pandora user and I've tailored a lot of stations. Re the Dragonfly, etc - I've been tempted to do something like this using a Meridian mini DAC but I got out of the habit of ripping CDs. And carrying music so I never tried it. I'll bet it sounds great. I'm no noob to home audio o car audio but I was pleasantly surprised at the very noticeable improvement.

gripshifter

Tidal hi/fi lossless is the way to go...

Reno 911

+1 to Tidal with their lossless (and newly released master quality) audio. Spotify is expected to offer lossless soon.

c_Gio

I'm nervous about stock speakers & bass.... so have my bass down a few clicks. No it doesn't sound great but mostly just hear those big rolling 305's anyway.

asia

Picked up 991.2 C2 with Bose yesterday, and tried Tidal hifi lossless.

Surround off, linear on, autopilot off, base 0, treble +1.

Parked, engine off, just fair audio quality, lacking the clarity of my home stereo system.

Driving on the back roads, very good audio quality, don't feel I need anything better given the background noise.

smbryan

or you could do Nick's Dynaudio tweeter upgrade and lose those cheapo Bose pieces altogether

Benedict14

Turn the Linear off as well. It's 'perverting' your listening experience - in the same manner as surround does, but using a different technique. The autopilot shouldn't affect sound quality. It only raises and lowers volume dependent on speed (external noise).

I'd also recommend Nicks upgrade on the tweeters. There is a very noticeable difference. Since your using lossless, the Bose speakers are taking some very nice sound and messing it up.

Enjoy !

neil.schneider

Supposedly the Bose system has been totally revamped for the 991.2. It should sound better.