There’s a couple of variable parts of the answer to this;
Dynaudio is the amp (software and physical) and the speakers making 400w of power output (versus the standard 80w), it won’t however impact the bitrate of a song/tune being played, which is themes important part to everything, so if the song/tune is a low quality bitrate then it’ll sound inferior to a higher bitrate tune (On a Dynaudio equipped car it’ll always still sound infinitely better than a standard system though). The higher the bitrate, the better the sound. However, regardless if that tune is being streamed at a high bitrate or not, if the original digital tune being streamed is of a low bitrate then even if it's being streamed at a high bitrate it still won't sound as good, you normally find this with 80's/90's songs which have very compressed original bitrates. So in the car the Dynaudio simply allows the tune to sound at its best as it's being delivered with more power.
If you try to stream/play over Bluetooth (no wire), whatever you do it’ll sound worse than a wired/hard connection, this is because Bluetooth has to significantly compress the bitrate to get it into a compatible wireless state. There is new technology that uses a car's WiFi connection in conjunction with the bluetooth to help, but that's relatively new and confined to wireless CarPlay solutions. In short if you're streaming over bluetooth alone, then you are compressing your source hugely and it'll sound worse.
With the Golf, I always stream via CarPlay (which is hardwired) using the MixCloud, Amazon Music or Apple Music app, most of which run at 256AAC+. But even then the quality of some streams are noticeable even when using the same app. e.g...
This has a high source bitrate, and really allows the Dynaudio to show off its capabilities:
https://www.mixcloud.com/lucasandsteve/lucas-steve-present-skyline-sessions-109/This is on the same app/platform, yet is of a lower bitrate, and it sounds inferior particularly on the vocals:
https://www.mixcloud.com/livesetd/calvin-harris-beats-1-one-mix-12-jan-2019/To further complicate matters, Amazon Prime Music is 256kbps AAC, while Spotify Premium is 320kbps Ogg Vorbis. Amazon however do use a variable bitrate, so sometimes it can sound inferior, even though AAC should be superior.
I have found the Dynaudio is sensitive to the bitrate of the music I am playing, which I personally think is a good thing because if it's a good quality bitrate then it sounds epic, the mids really pop.
So to sum, up. Bluetooth music will sound sh!te, but it'll sound even worse if the original bitrate is low.
One thing's for sure though, the Dynaudio is mega and worth every penny, you'll have no regrets there (even if you will for not speccing DCC
).
HTH
