So before I bought my car months ago now, I was looking at some threads about the hk upgrade. I saw how many people called it "amazing" and "extraordinary" and "beautiful sounding". When I bought my car though, after reading all those comments, I was kind of disappointed in the sound quality. Stock hk head unit, stock hk everything, but I only found it adequate I guess. The bass response was decent but the sound signature is v-shaped and I really don't like the highs. It's harsh sounding to me and the system just sounds colored. Compared to other stock sound systems I've heard, especially in compact cars, I would agree that the mini is above average but it really doesn't seem that "exceptional" to me as the threads I saw refer to it as. Is it just overhyped? I've also heard about the amp failures that are common with this system, so would it be worth to just swap everything out now? Will it make a big difference in terms of sound quality? I know obviously I can get higher quality components aftermarket, but the limiting factors are cabin acoustics and road noise, so for those who have done this before, would it be worth it if I spent say, $700-800 aftermarket?

 

I only swapped out the deck. I use a Pioneer SPH-10BT. It's very easy to use because your phone becomes the interface. The amount of tunability is crazy, and it really made the factory system sound great, and it hits pretty good. Good low end bass without the boom of subwoofers. This also makes it possible to upgrade everything later and already have the pre-outs for sub and 4 channel amps.

 

Are you using an aftermarket headunit with an otherwise stock hk system?

 

I'm somewhat in the same boat. From what I've read you can add something called HK enabler and that will allow aftermarket head units to work with the rest of the HK system. My HK amp seems to be on its way out and i'm considering upgrading some components. I think i'll start with a head unit so I can have bluetooth streaming and calls.

 

Yes, all stock HK except head unit.