The Bose sounds fine to my 44 year old ears. No doubt more could be had aftermarket, but I'm at a stage in life where it just isn't worth the effort, and I don't need the volume anymore. That wasn't always the case, though.

My main gripe is that I can't load my MP3 files onto the system hard drive. From what I gather, one can only load songs onto the hard drive from a CD. C'mon! I can't remember the last time I bought a CD. This makes the whole hard drive thing worthless to me. The work around has been an 8 gig flash drive plugged into the armrest compartment, but that's just not as clean.

Audiophile is a funny word that, IMO, has about as many definitions as folks willing to express one. I remember spending a boatload of cash (at the time) on a fancy turntable and cartridge with which to spin my LPs. I would lovingly clean the LP with my hardwood handled Alsop cleaner and gently drop the cartridge in anticipation of perfect sound. Back then I was running Marantz and Miller Kreisel. Then my buddy got a CD player and we were all just as astounded with the lack of any sound between recordings as we were with the songs themselves. Wow. No pops or skips to ruin our listening pleasure - just pure, clean, digital sound. Today I read that the true audiophiles are back to LPs and tube amps to regain the "warmth" that analog has and digital took away. Choose what you like. I'm tired of trying to keep up.

I'm heading out to the Z now and gonna' crank the Bose to distortion levels with some Monster Magnet while whipping that little bihac of a car around some turns. Enjoy! :eekdance:

LOL. I'm an audio enthusiast too, and the Bose system, while not great, is "serviceable". I do like the OEM integration, and maybe down the road, I may look at upgrading the sound. But for now - I'll drive!

I have no problem with the Bose system. My mp3 player sounds great. I adjusted the fade a little more to the rear and it made a difference.

I'm satisfied with the system in my car. It could be better, but I'm not into the "club on wheels" thing.
For me, I like the clean, integrated stereo/nav/phone setup.

My bose system is worst than my gf's "upgraded" 6 speakers in the dualis and gets it's butt kicked by my dad's stock Q5 system...

In saying that I can't really hear music cause of the road noise which i've come to enjoy so bleh...

I do prefer the OEM look, but really think the Bose amp/speaker setup is subpar (Nissan/Infiniti needs a Levinson option; I remember looking at a 2010 VW GTI "Build Your Own" with Dynaudio speakers as an option).

I know the engine/car sound is the priority, but I would like to hear realistic vocals and undistorted music once in awhile. This Bose system just can't keep up.