I have a Taycan Turbo S with Burmester and as a sound professional, it is one of the best I have heard. I have driven loaners with both the BOSE and the standard system. Ignoring the standard system, the major difference between the Burmester and BOSE is the soundstage. In the BOSE it sits at knee level. With the Burmester it sits above the dashboard. All three dimensions of height, depth and width are represented. Instrument placement is true and the depth of space is beautifully clear right to the edges of the stereo image. Using an uncompressed 24 bit 48 khz WAV audio source, the Burmester is reference accurate with a pretty flat response across the frequency range. Of particular note, there is no processing of the bottom end which remains true to the original recording. The top end too is accurate and smooth, whilst the mid range is positioned correctly given the flat response. There is no vibration at comfortable sound levels. The BOSE System suffers from over processing of both the top and bottom end. The bottom end is woolly and inaccurate and the top end is harsh and painful to listen to. It is not surprising that given the overemphasis of both top and bottom, the mid range suffers. Soundstage definition suffers due to the positioning at knee level. I personally hated it. The Burmester sound system is in another class to the Tesla Model 3 and Polestar. The premium sound system in the Model S was closer to the Burmester but suffered from poor build quality leading to excessive vibration. In my car I had two speaker replacements.
Agreed, and then some. The Bose sounds artificial and compressed. Instrument separation and extension is far better and more natural sounding with the Burmester, which is why we spec'd our incoming with it.
Hi there GRS Sailing… Just wanted to ask you a couple of follow-up questions relating to your helpful comment on Bose/Burmester audio options for the Porsche Taycan. How do you actually play your High Res music in your car? I believe there isn’t a 3.5mm auxiliary jack. So the options as I see it are either through a USB stick -which raises the issue that some systems can’t process 24-bit flac files (let alone DSD ones)… that’s certainly the problem with my Aston’s B&O unit. Or, perhaps, one could connect a HR player, like my Astell & Kern Sp3000 through the USB port and use the A&K as a dac… The question there would be whether one can then still take advantage of all the speakers/settings of the native Burmester.. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
I just received my Taycan with the Bose system and I came to the exact same conclusion.... Before that I had a Cayenne also equipped with the Bose sound system and I wasn't very satisfied with the overall sound quality. On the Taycan, I also took the laminated glass option which really helps to keep the noise level down even on motorways. I tried the BMW i-X with the Harman Kardon which includes subwoofers in the driver's and passenger's seats. That was really amazing!!!!
Comparing the Taycan BOSE system to my Volvo XC90 Bowers and Wilkins, I'd say the Taycan system is a notch better. not by a whole lot, but definitely a notch. The Taycan Burmester system sounded sounded so similar to the BOSE system to me, clearly not worth 3 times the price
Thanks for sharing, though, we'd say the B&W system in the Volvo is far superior, especially where the mids are concerned! Agreed on the two Taycan systems though.
My neighbour has a XC90, too with B&W. I like the bass of my Taycan much better but the trebles are better in the Volvo imo. I normally have +4 on the bass or even more and -2 on treble.
I have a chance to buy a good specced Porsche Taycan but it would come with the standard sound system. Would I be able to upgrade them second hand? Can I reach the same quality as it was original by retrofitting? i see many used ones for sale so I thougt getting the parts could be easy, is the installation possible, are the spaces and everything compatible with the standard system?
It's likely the amplifier will be different, but you'll need to look into forums and see if anyone has extra info on that. To be honest, if you're going to upgrade it anyway, you'll get the best upgrade by going to an audio specialist.
I owned a Taycan with Burmeister for a fairly short period but long enough to listen to the audio system with a mix of music genres. It is, as suggested, ok/decent but not as good as one would expect in a car of this sort of price especially when compared to the upgraded B&O system in an Audi RS6 (C7). Possibly worth pointing out that I have a 911 with Burmeister now and get a fair amount of distortion with heavy bass at even middle volume levels (I've been told this is normal). Porsches are amazing cars in many ways but have flaws, often in areas you just wouldn't expect or take for granted as being of a high standard.. Cabin rattles and creaks being one of them!
Yup, also experienced a bit of distortion in the Taycan Turbo with the Burmester system; it lacked control across the mid-bass tones. In total agreed with your comments, thanks for sharing!
I also had some distortion in my Taycan Turbo S. There was an annoying rattling noise in the drivers front door. But I also noticed a significant better sound quality when playing lossless from an USB stick compared to Apple Music from the PCM.
Following my comment (about my current 911) I decided to take both door cards off and have a really good look at whether I could improve the situation. I added some felt around the inner side of the speaker grills. I also noticed on both doors that SOME of the metal tabs on the Burmeister grills were bent fully over and touching the plastic of the door card. I bent all the tabs that looked like this back so that the end was a couple of mil away from the plastic. These two things combined almost completely removed the buzzing distortion I was getting.
That's interesting, thanks for sharing! Odd that Porsche and Burmester would have such a build quality issue and oversight in something quite fundamental
I have the Burmester in my taycan 4s its excellent, detailed, instruments well separated considering it’s all powered through a class D amp also the time alignment is very good and as a previous reviewer said the soundstage is on the dash I also ticked the acoustic glass which helped a great deal with road / tyre noise I find the Bass anaemic, if you up the bass in the EQ the door woofers work harder as opposed to subwoofer increasing bass for the majority it is fine but I am Abit of a bass head, by adding an aftermarket subwoofer to the burmester I’m very pleased now I heard the Bose in a loaner taycan and wasn’t impressed, I will be changing my 4s for a CT and will opt for standard as I will be going aftermarket, having said all this the Bose in my cayenne coupe (22) is very good, compared to the Bose in the panamera ST Turbo (19) that I had again my new order of cayenne coupe will be coming with standard and I will be upgrading with aftermarket - for just Under £4k you can get a great aftermarket stereo which will be better than the Burmester - I had to tick the Burmester in the 4s because my local dealer said it’s a new car they won’t be able to over look the aftermarket audio habit that I have lol If you do go aftermarket go to a reputable audio shop who has experience with Porsche, I do a lot of installs my self Other option is if you have Bose upgrade the tweeter and mid range and sound deaden the doors and you will be quite surprised with the results and add an after market sub and if you really want to have the full package
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, although a bit contradicting with the Burmester system comments. Surprised you don't like the Bose one, especially given its price vs the Burmester system.
I agree with your end comments on the Bose, though I’d word it as “it’s a bad system”. I had JBL 660c series speakers and a Rockford Fosgate sub in my old Camaro and it blew the doors off the Bose in my Taycan. My suspicion is that Bose sold VW a logo stencil and that’s about it. Their long history of making boring sounding clock radios doesn’t transfer to cars anyway and the door card interiors show no more tuning than any other car. It’s a mediocre speaker in a waterproof shroud.
Had a Model X prior to my Porsche Taycan CT and I can tell you that the sound in the Tesla was far superior. It was way more “open” sounding and the mids were very good. I really miss the TMX in that regard.
Tesla stock sound systems are good but the upgraded burmesters and naims annihilate it. I wish they had the ability to upgrade to an ultra high end system. My S580 4d burmester is well worth the $6200 upgrade price. On the Model X and Model S they should carry burmester high end 3d as an option.
I was happy with my car until I spoke to Rick who is an audiophile and he pretty much told me that my Porsche Speakers (Bose) sound shitty and not Porsche worthy... now you can comment with "what kind of friend is that"... to that I say, one that will always tell me the truth, and that goes a long way. That said, I compared it to my i5 M60 with a Bowers & Wilkins and it was noticeably better.
Find the best Porsche Taycan deals: locally.link/CvlZ
Review of the Taycan Bose audio system: totallyev.net/porsche-taycan-bose-audio-review-better-than-burmester/
Review of the Taycan Burmester audio system: totallyev.net/porsche-taycan-audio-review-burmester-system/
Review of the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo: totallyev.net/porsche-taycan-cross-turismo-review-best-electric-porsche/
Review of the Porsche Taycan Turbo: totallyev.net/porsche-taycan-turbo-review-670hp-ev/
Video timestamps:
Audio configuration: 00:00
EQ & connectivity: 01:17
Cabin noise: 02:41
Sound demo: 03:11
Bass: 04:08
Treble: 04:49
Soundstage: 05:51
Verdict: 06:49
I have a Taycan Turbo S with Burmester and as a sound professional, it is one of the best I have heard. I have driven loaners with both the BOSE and the standard system. Ignoring the standard system, the major difference between the Burmester and BOSE is the soundstage. In the BOSE it sits at knee level. With the Burmester it sits above the dashboard. All three dimensions of height, depth and width are represented. Instrument placement is true and the depth of space is beautifully clear right to the edges of the stereo image. Using an uncompressed 24 bit 48 khz WAV audio source, the Burmester is reference accurate with a pretty flat response across the frequency range. Of particular note, there is no processing of the bottom end which remains true to the original recording. The top end too is accurate and smooth, whilst the mid range is positioned correctly given the flat response. There is no vibration at comfortable sound levels.
The BOSE System suffers from over processing of both the top and bottom end. The bottom end is woolly and inaccurate and the top end is harsh and painful to listen to. It is not surprising that given the overemphasis of both top and bottom, the mid range suffers. Soundstage definition suffers due to the positioning at knee level. I personally hated it.
The Burmester sound system is in another class to the Tesla Model 3 and Polestar. The premium sound system in the Model S was closer to the Burmester but suffered from poor build quality leading to excessive vibration. In my car I had two speaker replacements.
Cannot agree there, and know there are many that won't either. But glad you're enjoying the system.
I dont agree either. Dont think the Burmester is so much better. Not for my ears. Tesla Model 3:s sound system I didn't like at all.
Agreed, and then some. The Bose sounds artificial and compressed. Instrument separation and extension is far better and more natural sounding with the Burmester, which is why we spec'd our incoming with it.
Enjoy.
Hi there GRS Sailing…
Just wanted to ask you a couple of follow-up questions relating to your helpful comment on Bose/Burmester audio options for the Porsche Taycan.
How do you actually play your High Res music in your car? I believe there isn’t a 3.5mm auxiliary jack. So the options as I see it are either through a USB stick -which raises the issue that some systems can’t process 24-bit flac files (let alone DSD ones)… that’s certainly the problem with my Aston’s B&O unit.
Or, perhaps, one could connect a HR player, like my Astell & Kern Sp3000 through the USB port and use the A&K as a dac… The question there would be whether one can then still take advantage of all the speakers/settings of the native Burmester..
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Nice review, very hard if not impossible to find on YT! Much appreciated
Thank you, glad you liked it!
You’ve got love RUclips when the exact comparison you were looking for exists 😅❤
Don't forget to subscribe!
I just received my Taycan with the Bose system and I came to the exact same conclusion....
Before that I had a Cayenne also equipped with the Bose sound system and I wasn't very satisfied with the overall sound quality.
On the Taycan, I also took the laminated glass option which really helps to keep the noise level down even on motorways.
I tried the BMW i-X with the Harman Kardon which includes subwoofers in the driver's and passenger's seats. That was really amazing!!!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and congratulations on the new car!
Comparing the Taycan BOSE system to my Volvo XC90 Bowers and Wilkins, I'd say the Taycan system is a notch better. not by a whole lot, but definitely a notch. The Taycan Burmester system sounded sounded so similar to the BOSE system to me, clearly not worth 3 times the price
Thanks for sharing, though, we'd say the B&W system in the Volvo is far superior, especially where the mids are concerned!
Agreed on the two Taycan systems though.
My neighbour has a XC90, too with B&W. I like the bass of my Taycan much better but the trebles are better in the Volvo imo. I normally have +4 on the bass or even more and -2 on treble.
I have a chance to buy a good specced Porsche Taycan but it would come with the standard sound system. Would I be able to upgrade them second hand? Can I reach the same quality as it was original by retrofitting? i see many used ones for sale so I thougt getting the parts could be easy, is the installation possible, are the spaces and everything compatible with the standard system?
It's likely the amplifier will be different, but you'll need to look into forums and see if anyone has extra info on that. To be honest, if you're going to upgrade it anyway, you'll get the best upgrade by going to an audio specialist.
I owned a Taycan with Burmeister for a fairly short period but long enough to listen to the audio system with a mix of music genres. It is, as suggested, ok/decent but not as good as one would expect in a car of this sort of price especially when compared to the upgraded B&O system in an Audi RS6 (C7). Possibly worth pointing out that I have a 911 with Burmeister now and get a fair amount of distortion with heavy bass at even middle volume levels (I've been told this is normal). Porsches are amazing cars in many ways but have flaws, often in areas you just wouldn't expect or take for granted as being of a high standard.. Cabin rattles and creaks being one of them!
Yup, also experienced a bit of distortion in the Taycan Turbo with the Burmester system; it lacked control across the mid-bass tones.
In total agreed with your comments, thanks for sharing!
I also had some distortion in my Taycan Turbo S. There was an annoying rattling noise in the drivers front door. But I also noticed a significant better sound quality when playing lossless from an USB stick compared to Apple Music from the PCM.
Thanks for sharing!
Following my comment (about my current 911) I decided to take both door cards off and have a really good look at whether I could improve the situation. I added some felt around the inner side of the speaker grills. I also noticed on both doors that SOME of the metal tabs on the Burmeister grills were bent fully over and touching the plastic of the door card. I bent all the tabs that looked like this back so that the end was a couple of mil away from the plastic. These two things combined almost completely removed the buzzing distortion I was getting.
That's interesting, thanks for sharing! Odd that Porsche and Burmester would have such a build quality issue and oversight in something quite fundamental
I have the Burmester in my taycan 4s its excellent, detailed, instruments well separated considering it’s all powered through a class D amp also the time alignment is very good and as a previous reviewer said the soundstage is on the dash I also ticked the acoustic glass which helped a great deal with road / tyre noise
I find the Bass anaemic, if you up the bass in the EQ the door woofers work harder as opposed to subwoofer increasing bass for the majority it is fine but I am Abit of a bass head, by adding an aftermarket subwoofer to the burmester I’m very pleased now
I heard the Bose in a loaner taycan and wasn’t impressed, I will be changing my 4s for a CT and will opt for standard as I will be going aftermarket, having said all this the Bose in my cayenne coupe (22) is very good, compared to the Bose in the panamera ST Turbo (19) that I had again my new order of cayenne coupe will be coming with standard and I will be upgrading with aftermarket - for just Under £4k you can get a great aftermarket stereo which will be better than the Burmester - I had to tick the Burmester in the 4s because my local dealer said it’s a new car they won’t be able to over look the aftermarket audio habit that I have lol
If you do go aftermarket go to a reputable audio shop who has experience with Porsche, I do a lot of installs my self
Other option is if you have Bose upgrade the tweeter and mid range and sound deaden the doors and you will be quite surprised with the results and add an after market sub and if you really want to have the full package
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, although a bit contradicting with the Burmester system comments.
Surprised you don't like the Bose one, especially given its price vs the Burmester system.
Sorry maybe written wrong, or worded wrong, what did you find contradicting ?
I agree with your end comments on the Bose, though I’d word it as “it’s a bad system”. I had JBL 660c series speakers and a Rockford Fosgate sub in my old Camaro and it blew the doors off the Bose in my Taycan.
My suspicion is that Bose sold VW a logo stencil and that’s about it. Their long history of making boring sounding clock radios doesn’t transfer to cars anyway and the door card interiors show no more tuning than any other car. It’s a mediocre speaker in a waterproof shroud.
Try bowers and wilkins sound system . Volvo xc90 and bmw m5 has it. Nothing beats it
Have tried the one in the i7 and it's indeed spectacular!
$7000 with no spartial audio support, no one needs that many speakers to listen to stereo. Porsche is so many steps behind Benz on techs as always.
Well, correct placement of speakers in the right place really helps, no matter the source input
Sounds like Porsche is aiming for a V-shaped equalization.
What about the bose vs the standard? Did I make a mistake ordering a Taycan GTS with the standard audio?
Did you? How are the base speakers?
@@GirthyPotato I was able to modify my order to the Bose sound system.
@@nogoodname8133 nice! I love the Bose in my Macan Turbo
Had a Model X prior to my Porsche Taycan CT and I can tell you that the sound in the Tesla was far superior. It was way more “open” sounding and the mids were very good. I really miss the TMX in that regard.
Thanks for sharing, indeed the Tesla is hard to beat!
Tesla stock sound systems are good but the upgraded burmesters and naims annihilate it. I wish they had the ability to upgrade to an ultra high end system. My S580 4d burmester is well worth the $6200 upgrade price. On the Model X and Model S they should carry burmester high end 3d as an option.
What mic did you use to record the audio ?
Zoom H1N, check the description :)
I was happy with my car until I spoke to Rick who is an audiophile and he pretty much told me that my Porsche Speakers (Bose) sound shitty and not Porsche worthy... now you can comment with "what kind of friend is that"... to that I say, one that will always tell me the truth, and that goes a long way. That said, I compared it to my i5 M60 with a Bowers & Wilkins and it was noticeably better.
I need more car audio reviews
Better subscribe then ;)!
Honestly shocked. Worse than a Tesla? You could buy 2 teslas for the price of this. There’s no excuse.
Agreed
Well done.
Thanks!
My Pioneer audio system in my little Yaris sounds better.
You own a tesla, don’t you😂
Nope, never have.
👍
👍🏻💯🆒️🔝
Buy Other Stereo Equipment, no thanks Ill take a proper audio company, not a French PR firm.
Hmm?