Before ordering my new F20 I thought a lot about the sound quality I would get with different configurations and after listening to and comparing some of the options, I choose to stay with the standard speakers, partly for financial reasons, but mostly because the standard speakers seemed to sound good.
Being an old jazz musician I have always been somewhat critical when sound quality is concerned - in my car as well as at home.
So what are my experiences so far after two months and 4000 km in my new 118dA?
I must say that I am very happy with the sound: good bass, clear middle and high tones, good dynamics and enough power to drive the speakers to rather high volumes without distorsion - far too high to please my wife ;-)
I have the iDrive without Navigation, Radio Professional 663, and USB 6NH and of course the standard speakers.
But...... and this is important - the input quality!
If you play music with good recording quality and use a high bit rate when you convert them to MP3, you get get a really good sound out of the system! Otherwise it´s average.
My minimum bit rate is 192 kb/s and most of my MP3s are sampled with 256-320 kb/s and I use both the CD-player and some USB sticks 16 and 32 gb.
I have seen some info saying that the BMW-system should have trouble playing high bit rates, but I have no problem with that at all.
Try to get hold of Stanley Clarke´s song "Sonny Rollins" played by the Stanley Clarke Band and do as I do - enjoy the good sound quality of the standard speaker system in your F20!
