Dissatisfaction / tuning the Burmester setup

[Prosus]

Since early last month, I have been the happy owner of a Taycan GTS sedan. Although the range is underwhelming (but you don't buy a Porsche for economy ), the car drives absolutely great. Actually the best driving car I have ever owned.

Since I use the car for business and therefore spend a lot of time in the car, I opted for the Burmester audio setup. Not that I am an audiophile, but I do like listening to music.

I just struggle to get the sound really good (to my taste). As you know the setting options in the Burmester menu are quite limited. For the record; I both tried listening to music via Spotiy as well as FLAC files via USB.

The first thing I did was to move the fader a little more to the back since, in my opinion, the sound was coming a little too much from the front (I like not being able to tell exactly when the sound is coming from the front or the back). I disabled the 'sound enhancers' options (both for 'uncompressed music' optimisation and for the 'driving compensation' optimisation).

In overall I find the sound rather 'shrill'. I find the Auro3D setting too much in the (distorting) treble and sounding quite unnatural, while the 'Pure' is just a bit too flat. The 'Live' option is slightly richer, but even there it quickly sounds shrill. My best setup right now is the Pure option with the bass at +2. (normally I would opt for the flat EQ setting).

For comparison; in my home I have a fairly extensive Sonos setup (swearing in church for the audiophile), but the music there sounds much more balanced/fuller than in my car, in my opinion.

Am I the only one who is not 'blown away' by the Burmester configuration? Or do I just still need to look for the right setting? If so, who has tips?

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[RAHRCR]

Burmester is said to be better than Bose but still not great. Your feedback aligns with reviews I have seen on YT.

That said, if it wouldn’t have jammed up my order, I would have optioned it….because better is well…better.

 

[Prosus]

Burmester is said to be better than Bose but still not great. Your feedback aligns with reviews I have seen on YT.

That said, if it wouldn’t have jammed up my order, I would have optioned it….because better is well…better.

For my image; does the Burmester option delay your ordering in the United States? Here in Europe (The Netherlands), I don't think it had any impact. In the end, I did have to wait for about a year, but the problem with me was in a part for the heat exchanger.

 

[RAHRCR]

For my image; does the Burmester option delay your ordering in the United States? Here in Europe (The Netherlands), I don't think it had any impact. In the end, I did have to wait for about a year, but the problem with me was in a part for the heat exchanger.

It would have last year when I ordered my car. There were many shortages at that time.

 

[OzzieT]

My GTS is a couple of weeks away, looks to be identical colour/wheels and I have selected Burmester too. Will monitor this thread and will report when I have a car.

 

[mystermykee]

I pretty much leave it on Pure all the time. Lossless audio sounds great via Apple Music with a wired connection. I'm so used to the system that when I have a loaner with Bose, it's very underwhelming.

If I originally had Bose and spent sometime in a Taycan equipped with Burmester, I'd probably think 5k wouldn't be worth it for the upgrade.

edit: bass +2, treble 0

 

[TDinDC]

Maybe I'm a basic b@tch but I like Burmester. I need to experiment more with the setting. But for an auto, I really like it. My 911 has Bose (Burmester wasn't an option then), but I like Burmester better than Bose, but my ICE soundtrack is so delicious that I don't sweat it too much in that car.

 

[Jancha]

Since early last month, I have been the happy owner of a Taycan GTS sedan. Although the range is underwhelming (but you don't buy a Porsche for economy ), the car drives absolutely great. Actually the best driving car I have ever owned.

Since I use the car for business and therefore spend a lot of time in the car, I opted for the Burmester audio setup. Not that I am an audiophile, but I do like listening to music.

I just struggle to get the sound really good (to my taste). As you know the setting options in the Burmester menu are quite limited. For the record; I both tried listening to music via Spotiy as well as FLAC files via USB.

The first thing I did was to move the fader a little more to the back since, in my opinion, the sound was coming a little too much from the front (I like not being able to tell exactly when the sound is coming from the front or the back). I disabled the 'sound enhancers' options (both for 'uncompressed music' optimisation and for the 'driving compensation' optimisation).

In overall I find the sound rather 'shrill'. I find the Auro3D setting too much in the (distorting) treble and sounding quite unnatural, while the 'Pure' is just a bit too flat. The 'Live' option is slightly richer, but even there it quickly sounds shrill. My best setup right now is the Pure option with the bass at +2. (normally I would opt for the flat EQ setting).

For comparison; in my home I have a fairly extensive Sonos setup (swearing in church for the audiophile), but the music there sounds much more balanced/fuller than in my car, in my opinion.

Am I the only one who is not 'blown away' by the Burmester configuration? Or do I just still need to look for the right setting? If so, who has tips?

by far the biggest problem is the rattling. Burmester is so powerful, that once you go above 20 or so, inevitably door panels, and what else not start to resonate. So, to really enjoy burmester, you need to apply vibration reduction materials. When I took the car in to the dealer and illustrated the vibrations using tone generator, they said that this is normal and there is nothing they can do about it as for frequencies, it was quite fine and Live mode was generally the most optimal mode for daily driving.

 

[okkotonushi]

Guys, to be honest. If you are using Sonos at home and your ear is not trained for music you don’t hear a difference.
But Burmester is great and yes to have the full potential of the system it makes sense to additional dampen the doors. I did it and it’s awesome now

 

[Raphie]

I think the Burmester is really good, on pure and everything else default.
The Burmester is ruthless in detail, so everything in a recording, or compression will be revealed, good or bad. Sonos has a fake bass sauce which masks everything in the midrange. With the right sources the BM is anything, but flat.

 

[mikezhang31]

I agree. Compared to the 825W meridian system in my prior Range Rover the burmester sounds very meh. The same songs sounded so rich in the Range Rover and it feels very flat and plastic-y in the Porsche

 

[Crick]

I love my Bermester.
My reference is Meridian Audio at home with HD audio served from a Room server.

In the Taycan, I listen to my home server using Roon ARC streaming HD audio, or streaming Tidal HD tracks.

the Bermester fidelity is tremendous (compared with auto alternatives). I use different settings for different audio. Talk such as NPR is best in pure for my ear. Classical is best in Live. Reggae and pop music come alive with 3D spatial.

it’s all about what you like - I would suggest that the Burmester is not designed with the spectrum enhancements that are characteristic of a Sonus system (I.e., I one is looking for Sonus audi-like audio, there are better options then Burmester) Lastly, the fidelity of compressed sources (Spotify etc) will underwhelm the Burmester listener.

 

[BRZtoTaycan]

Is it possible to apply the EQ settings from the phone?

 

[utsteve98]

Have you tried Apple Music directly from the head unit (not through your phone). I believe all Apple Music subscription include lossless audio. I found it to sound better than wireless CarPlay. Also try tidal with master quality or Dolby Atmos. Definitely makes a difference. Burmester philosophy is one of clear accurate notes. They don’t do deep bass so I don’t recommend trying to crank up bass. I found in my MB which had an upgraded Burmester to sound best in 3D or live settings depending on the song. I think I kept my eq settings close to zero. May have done +1 treble 0 mid and maybe -1 bass. That allowed for louder playing without distortion from bass. You can tweak to your liking. But don’t recommend deviating too far from zero in any setting.

 

[Raphie]

Carplay sounds like shit. Your first upgrade should indeed be to configure the streaming apps in PCM

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