Acura will transition its premium audio systems from ELS Studio to Bang & Olufsen beginning in 2024 … [+]
Acura’s first electric vehicle, the ZDX crossover, isn’t arriving until sometime in 2024, but Honda’s premium brand has begun the slow trickle of news items that it hopes will keep them in the news cycle until launch and beyond. Last month we learned that the ZDX will be the brand’s first vehicle to get an infotainment system powered by the Android Automotive operating system and feature Google Automotive Services. Now, Acura is announcing that the ZDX will also mark the start of a new premium audio partnership with Bang & Olufsen.
Along with electrification, this marks another notable transition for Acura. The brand has relied on ELS Studio audio systems designed by producer Elliot Scheiner for the better part of two decades. The ZDX will be leading the way for the rest of the brand as it transitions all of its models to premium audio developed with the Danish brand.
Bang & Olufsen is already being used by Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Genesis so Acura will be in good company. There is actually more than one company using the Bang & Olufsen brand today. The car audio business and entry level B&O Play brand was sold off by Bang & Olufsen to Harman in 2015 and is separate from the home audio company. In fact, regardless of the brand of premium audio in a vehicle, there’s a pretty good chance it was produced by Harman International since they also own, Revel, Harman Kardon, JBL, Mark Levinson and Infinity among others.
Regardless of who owns the brand, B&O car audio systems are generally quite highly regarded. The Harman team has plenty of experience working on a wide range of vehicle types and tuning both mainstream and premium audio systems. As an electric vehicle, the ZDX will pose some unique challenges since it no longer has to contend with the sound of an internal combustion powertrain, but will still be subject to various other noise sources such as wind and tires that are usually masked. We’ll still have quite a while to wait before we learn how good the ZDX and its audio system are.
