[Peanuts]

Not heard great things about either tbh.

Obviously with the bummer of no Head Unit upgrade, which system will give the best arena to play with?

I plan on letting mikey wield his magic?

Is there any point going for the 10 speaker Hi-Fi, or can the boost set up be improved significantly?.

[Simz]

try hold off judgement until you have heard the systems in person. The standard boost system is weak but the hi-fi is good quality and worth every penny of the £320 upgrade price.

there have been rumbles about the hi-fi distorting badly at high volume, but this tends to be at very high volume and at a level most people would not use, plus there have been cases of faulty speaker units.

On the whole, and I can speak from experience, the hi-fi systems delivers a quality sound with crisp treble, deep warm bass and it can go loud enough without distortion for 99% of owners

go to a dealer and listen for yourself - take a cd or two to test

[FergusM]

I stuck with the standard Boost stereo and plan to get Mikey to do the upgrade, saw no point in paying for the Hi-Fi upgrade to just get it replaced. And not paying for the hi-fi upgrade helps me justify the cost of Mikey upgrading it.

[ASTON]

I had the hi fi grade in my mcs. It wasn't a bad system. better than a boost,which is really poor. You only get what you pay for. I didn't spec it on my cooper D,but i am going to Mikey's next week for his upgrade. If you can hold off a week,i will let you know the best option

[KenL]

I have the MINI hifi upgrade and am perfectly happy with it.

It does not seem great with really bass orientated music (need to turn the bass down to a -ve number) but on most of the stuff I listen to it is great.

Pink Floyd - Animals was sounding superb on my way to the golf course this afternoon

[popey]

I have owned 2 R56's with the Hi-Fi (still own 1 now) it was rubbish in both, waste of time and you would be better looking at an upgrade from NewMINIStuff.com . They even distort at normal volume level on some tracks! Oh and it maybe only 2 R56's Ive owned but thats 3 sets of Hi-Fi gear as I had them replace it in the first car....... it was still rubbish!

I have also had a number of R56's as loan cars without the Hi-Fi and they wasn't great by any means, but they didn't cost £320.

[Purple Dave]

Quote: Originally Posted by popey (original)

I have owned 2 R56's with the Hi-Fi (still own 1 now) it was rubbish in both, waste of time and you would be better looking at an upgrade from NewMINIStuff.com . They even distort at normal volume level on some tracks! Oh and it maybe only 2 R56's Ive owned but thats 3 sets of Hi-Fi gear as I had them replace it in the first car....... it was still rubbish!

I have also had a number of R56's as loan cars without the Hi-Fi and they wasn't great by any means, but they didn't cost £320.

We're never going to agree on this are we Popey

IMO the the HiFi is not rubbish at all. It suits some music styles better than others, like Ken said really bass'y music is not it's forte. But nowhere near as bad as some would have you believe.

Having said that .... IF I was happy to have someone take my new car apart (disregarding any potential warranty issues it may cause) I would go for Mikey's upgrade. I have no doubt it's better in every way, aftermarket solutions always are.

[popey]

I think when you take your car to some one line Mikey (newministuff), his reputation is such that you know its going to be right. I spoke to me dealer and they were fine about it just a case of ££££.

The new Justin Timberlake album sounds rubbish on it at any level and that is a very very well produced album. I found that you can help the distortion by reducing the bass level, but then it sounds bad all the time not just at distortion.

I think also MINI have created a rod for their own back here, calling it "Hi-Fi" just ups peoples expectations of the system. I know its a car and its never going to be Hi-FI, so gain why call it this. The perfect name for it is Boost +

[Solwood]

The great thing with Hi-FI is its not the same to everyone. We have the Boost in our 2001 cooper and just love it. I have owned and listened to some very GOOD home hi-fi systems and the boost is very good. We do not listen at ear splitting volumes and have always found it to have good clarity.

Is it worth 320? Thats another Q we are the 2nd owners of our car. I would have thought £320 would buy some stff competotion and bettrer cableing.

[KenL]

Quote: Originally Posted by Solwood (original)

The great thing with Hi-FI is its not the same to everyone. We have the Boost in our 2001 cooper and just love it. I have owned and listened to some very GOOD home hi-fi systems and the boost is very good. We do not listen at ear splitting volumes and have always found it to have good clarity.

Again some disagreement

I had the boost CD in my 2002 ONE and thought it was rubbish. It cost me £200 as an option and sounded nowhere near as good as the free system in my mkV Golf.

Like I said earlier, the R56 hifi upgrade suits me just fine

[stuvoi]

Quote: Originally Posted by popey (original)

The new Justin Timberlake album sounds rubbish on it at any level and that is a very very well produced album. I found that you can help the distortion by reducing the bass level, but then it sounds bad all the time not just at distortion.

I've heard Justin Timberlake's album on a number of different hifi systems, in car / out of car and I must admit, it's pretty rubbish on them all

Stu

[stuvoi]

Quote: Originally Posted by JSN (original)

Not heard great things about either tbh.

Obviously with the bummer of no Head Unit upgrade, which system will give the best arena to play with?

I plan on letting mikey wield his magic?

Is there any point going for the 10 speaker Hi-Fi, or can the boost set up be improved significantly?.

I had the Harmon Kardon upgrade in the R53 and now have the HIFI upgrade in this. I generally listen to Ipod (have done on both) and they are pretty similar for the type of music I listen to.

I do have some problems with distortion on full with Cascada when she's on heavy base, but I think that's just saving my ears from bleeding, but when you see some audio-philes paying £20,000 for an incar HIFI system the price doesn't look too bad.

The basic system on both R53 and R56 seemed lame after hearing the upgrades

Stu

[popey]

Quote: Originally Posted by stuvoi (original)

I had the Harmon Kardon upgrade in the R53 and now have the HIFI upgrade in this. I generally listen to Ipod (have done on both) and they are pretty similar for the type of music I listen to.

I do have some problems with distortion on full with Cascada when she's on heavy base, but I think that's just saving my ears from bleeding, but when you see some audio-philes paying £20,000 for an incar HIFI system the price doesn't look too bad.

The basic system on both R53 and R56 seemed lame after hearing the upgrades

Stu

Cascada, as in every time we touch, as in chav land music. The production on JT's album is almost as good as it gets, Timberland is an amazing producer.

[stuvoi]

Quote: Originally Posted by popey (original)

Cascada, as in every time we touch, as in chav land music. The production on JT's album is almost as good as it gets, Timberland is an amazing producer.

Popey , touche

[chilipack]

Quote: Originally Posted by popey (original)

Cascada, as in every time we touch, as in chav land music. The production on JT's album is almost as good as it gets, Timberland is an amazing producer.

i second that!!! timbaland is unbelievable!

[Jaydash]

Is the Hi Fi option anywhere near as good as H. Kardon used to be on the old MINI? I know the HK upgrade was £800 compared to £300 for Hi Fi, but can anyone who's owned both please comment? A good stereo is important to me and it's one of the reasons I disliked the GP, due to it's terrible 2-speaker system.

PS. Can someone post a link to 'Mikey's upgrade' please... it sounds intriguing. Ta.

PPS. Does BMW supply anything (i.e. blank centre console panels) to ditch the whole lot in the new car and fit your own standard DIN-sized aftermarket stuff?

[FergusM]

NewMINIStuff.com for mikey's upgrade...

Never heard of any means to dump the standard one, main issue being the fibre optic link between the stereo and the display at bottom of speedo... think you're stuck with what is there.

[mikeythemini]

I am about to do an offer on this kit

[ASTON]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikeythemini (original)

I am about to do an offer on this kit

It will be a bargin then

[drbsheffield]

I think that there seems to be 'two different' systems in the hifi upgrade. I understand that some people are saying that their's is great but the system that I had in mine was horrendous!
Like Popey, mine distorted at any volume and was by far the worse system in any car that I have had.
I had the HK system in my old MINI which was superb and later the standard Boost in my Checkmate which was in a different league to the Hifi upgrade in my R56. I think that we are kind of talking about two versions of the same system rather than discussing on a level playing field as no one would describe mine as acceptable - even for nothing let alone £320!