[sinbad4]

ASD, Active Sound Design. BMW's answer to balance quiet interiors with enthusiast pleasing engine sounds. In short, the cabin in some BMW vehicles is too quiet. You cannot hear the engines roar - pleasing to many, but not your typical enthusiast who likes to hear his engine. For some vehicles, BMW had put in a "sound pipe" from the engine intake to the cabin side of the firewall, thus letting some of the natural engine noise resonate to the passengers. More recently, they just create artificial engine noise and play it over the cars audio system.

I never liked the idea. While I like to hear the song of my engine and exhaust, the idea of listening to fake, artificial, unnatural noise from my speakers is absurd to me. Turning off ASD was the primary reason I purchased Bimmercode and a bluetooth OBDII connector. I turned off ASD within a few days of owning my M40i.

Turning off ASD, however, was not all joy. The X3 is a very well made and quiet car. While the engine generates a very pleasing growl with burbles, cracks and pops, it is very much muted by the cars excellent noise isolation. I was tempted to turn ASD back on. But, I know the noise I hear with ASD is a lie, a cheat, and I cannot bear it.

While my car's been in the shop. I had a M40i loaner for some weeks. I've learned to hate and loathe ASD. Mostly I hate the fact you get loud droning noise at cruising speed. The extra noise at acceleration, though a lie, is not wholly unwelcome. The drone cruising is distracting and annoying. I need to turn up the volume for my audio book and speak louder to be heard for passengers. Having experience both on and off for weeks, I can fervently attest that I detest ASD.

You who have not disabled your ASD are likely are unaware of just how pervasive and loud the system is - especially in sport mode at highway speeds. One really needs to live with it off for 30 days and then enable it before making an informed decision.

I do encourage people to try Bimmercode. It's well done and easy to use. New features are added every month or two. You can enable and disable ASD and other features within a few minutes. E-Sys is much more confounding and involved. Remote coding is available, but, may need to be redone after servicing.

E-Sys can do much more (today) than Bimmercode, but is difficult - esp. if you're like me and no sprechen das deutsch.

Bimmercode discussion: https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1477248

For remote E-Sys coding, there are a number of resources. Almaretto contributes to the community and has many happy clients.

[bmwgrande]

I don't mind ASD, but I also knew what it was going into the purchase. And perhaps I'm a bit odd, but if I'm driving on the highway awhile, I usually do it in ECO PRO, which is much quieter. As much fun as Sport Plus is, I can't justify keeping the RPMs higher while crusing at 80 down the highway with no one around.

I've seen a lot of people on here unhappy with ASD, and I'm glad they're able to code it off. But it is a unique problem set for BMW, as you noted. And after having my M40i, when I drive rental cars for work travel now, I absolutely hate both the lack of sound dampening in cheaper cars and the high-pitched whine of the engine when I have to accelerate at anything more than 2K rpm.

I would be interested to hear what your solution is to the quiet cabin vs. hearing the engine problem. While it may be a lie, I find ASD is a pretty good solution, all things considered, but that's my personal opinion, which seems counter to many on the forums here.

[MoeLuvsMoney]

Originally Posted by sinbad4

I turned off ASD within a few days of owning my M40i.

Same. I primarily drive the freeway (~70%) and am much happier with a quiet cabin. I also think I can hear the pops n' bangs better when I do stomp on it.

[MrPorter]

Pretty strong feelings on this, eh? That's fine.

I'd hate for you to get a peek behind the curtain on the production of the music you pump through those speakers, though.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by MrPorter

Pretty strong feelings on this, eh? That's fine.

I'd hate for you to get a peek behind the curtain on the production of the music you pump through those speakers, though.

Don't forget how every form of media from your phone is compressed unless you're using FLAC or another lossless codec so none of it is "real"

[mmmmm40i]

I just picked up my M40i this week and have been amazed at how quiet the car is. I am getting suspicious that the dealer has coded ASD off and not told me. Really, I don't get any highway drone, and it is an effort to hear the crackles & pops. I am still in the break-in period though; maybe things change once you take the revs up a notch.

[Tenacious X]

Originally Posted by mmmmm40i

I just picked up my M40i this week and have been amazed at how quiet the car is. I am getting suspicious that the dealer has coded ASD off and not told me. Really, I don't get any highway drone, and it is an effort to hear the crackles & pops. I am still in the break-in period though; maybe things change once you take the revs up a notch.

Try this......put the car in sport plus and move the shift lever left into sport mode then accelerate to somewhere above 3500 RPM and quickly let off on the gas. You should definitely get some pops.

[sinbad4]

Originally Posted by bmwgrande

I would be interested to hear what your solution is to the quiet cabin vs. hearing the engine problem. While it may be a lie, I find ASD is a pretty good solution, all things considered, but that's my personal opinion, which seems counter to many on the forums here.

My solution is old school. I roll the windows down & pop the sunroof. ;-)

It's true ASD is much quieter in the non-sport modes.

[Jayf30]

I only liked ASD because it helped with manually shifting while not really paying attention to the gauges. I exclusively only have it in manual mode, I just like it and am used to it.

With ASD coded off I couldn't really hear the engine RPMs but my muffler delete fixed that

[MechX3M40i]

Originally Posted by AndroidRobot

Don't forget how every form of media from your phone is compressed unless you're using FLAC or another lossless codec so none of it is "real"

If I want better quality music in my X3, I use my collection of good old CD's! :

Not understand why anyone would pay thousands of $$ for fancy B&W speakers on their BMW and play music from iTune : Maybe someone can enlighten me on this...

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by MechX3M40i

If I want better quality music in my X3, I use my collection of good old CD's! :

Not understand why anyone would pay thousands of $$ for fancy B&W speakers on their BMW and play music from iTune : Maybe someone can enlighten me on this...

USB + FLAC or other lossless codec is the best. I agree, using poor quality music whether streamed or over Bluetooth will never make the speakers sound hoe they should

[snakehips]

Can anyone confirm if there is any ASD present in Comfort mode? I can certainly hear the engine clearly in that mode but can’t tell if it is natural or piped in.

[Jayf30]

Originally Posted by snakehips

Can anyone confirm if there is any ASD present in Comfort mode? I can certainly hear the engine clearly in that mode but can’t tell if it is natural or piped in.

It's piped in, trust me with ASD coded off you would barely even be able to hear the engine in sport with windows up.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by Jayf30

It's piped in, trust me with ASD coded off you would barely even be able to hear the engine in sport with windows up.

the car is eerily quiet without ASD almost in a bad way. it certainly takes some of the sporty feel away without the sound

[MechX3M40i]

Originally Posted by AndroidRobot

the car is eerily quiet without ASD almost in a bad way. it certainly takes some of the sporty feel away without the sound

Maybe we should try to learn to "love" ASD? :

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by MechX3M40i

Maybe we should try to learn to "love" ASD? :

I don't love or hate ASD but it exists for a reason.

[MechX3M40i]

Originally Posted by AndroidRobot

I don't love or hate ASD but it exists for a reason.

Exactly! My previous comment was meant to be a joke... I agree ASD serves a purpose (a solution of having too good a sound insulation that also blocks out music generated by the engine) and if we can look past on how it was created and accepted the importance on why it was created, then we could actually live with ASD and enjoy the car more! I'll keep the ASD, otherwise sitting in my BMW will feel like sitting in a Lexus instead...

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by MechX3M40i

Exactly! My previous comment was meant to be a joke... I agree ASD serves a purpose (a solution of having too good a sound insulation that also blocks out music generated by the engine) and if we can look past on how it was created and accepted the importance on why it was created, then we could actually live with ASD and enjoy the car more! I'll keep the ASD, otherwise sitting in my BMW will feel like sitting in a Lexus instead...

I agree, sometimes it's fun to play along with the joke to see where it goes I coded mine off before and put it back after realizing some of the excitement was gone plus you don't realize how fast you're going without some engine noise on occasion. My wife tends to not notice the speeds is the better way of putting things but that's not always a good thing.