I have not heard the 18 B&O...mine is a 2018 but it has the base 7-speaker system.
That said, I owned a 2016 F-250 King Ranch diesel with the "10-speaker Sony" and then traded that for a 2017 F-350 Lariat Ultimate diesel also with the "10-speaker Sony."
I found the earlier-gen Super Duty (the 2016) to have the superior sounding stereo. For one thing, the current Sony system uses a crappy mid-range speaker and sticks a cheap paper whizzer tweeter on top of it and calls it "2 speakers" when in reality it is just a 2-way tweeter. Of course, its located in the bottom of the door where a woofer might be appropriate but not a mid/high combo speaker. The OLD generation actually had a stand-alone tweeter mounted high in the rear door, and the mid-woofer was located in the small area behind the rear seat back.
The 2017 Sony system sounds OK up until about volume level 15. Then, on bass-heavy tracks the amp intentionally starts soft-clipping either because the speakers can't take more power or because the amp cannot supply it. Either way, listening to music above that volume level becomes very UN-enjoyable.
The old-gen system would play louder without clipping. Neither system was great, but I immediately preferred the old one the day I traded in my 2016 King Ranch for my 2017 Lariat Ultimate.
So now I'm driving an 800A Raptor with the basic XLT 7-speaker stereo, and one thing I'm pleased to note is that you can turn it up much louder without clipping. Of course, there is pretty much a total lack of bass...but that's to be expected with a base system. I could probably add a hide-away sub and it would sound better than the Sony...
As for the new B&O, I wonder if it really is actually different at all. Yeah, different name branded on, but sizes and locations of everything...including amps and sub...are identical. Now, the 2017 Sony system used a sony-branded amp and sub...but the door speakers all said Ford / Made in Mexico...so I wonder.
Last note - many people here have nothing positive to say about Sony in general, but Sony has produced some excellent products over the years. I bought a Sony bookshelf audio system closing in on 20 years ago...with a 3-disc carousel changer, remote control, and double tape deck. The speakers were 3-way including 6" metallic-coated woofers with butyl rubber surrounds. That system sounded (and still does) awesome! Plays loud and clear.
I'd say as most people have noted that we will have to be satisfied with an 'adequate' system in our trucks. The problem is, even though we can explain away the high price for a hundred other reasons...these trucks are high priced. A $60k pickup should have a very good sound system. You can now spend nearly $100k on a Super Duty Limited pickup. It uses this same 'adequate' B&O system. My opinion is that the extremely pricey trim levels should have a truly unique audio system...not limited to using the same speakers and architecture from a base work-truck level trim.
