Originally Posted by Hacked 987

A good friend of mine (one of the guys I buy my hand-me-downs from) used to run a high-end audio shop. They took a Bose speaker and cut it open and put it on display. Cheap, cheap driver. Literally cardboard inside the speaker cabinet that acted as wave guides or whatever. Frankly, I think what's impressive about Bose, is how good their stuff sounds given how CHEAP their components are. We were all impressed. Makes me wonder how good they COULD sound if they actually tried with better components.

Originally Posted by Hacked 987

I'll toss in my 2 cents as locating a CD with Burmester is the straw that broke the camel's back and caused me to trade in my beloved 2014 CD on a stop-sale-release 2015 CD.

I'm an audiophile... within some budgetary constraints.

I have a very nice (IMO) sounding home system. PSB Platinum speakers, Marantz receiver w/Audyssey room correction, Emotiva amplifier, wired into a Mac Mini playing Lossless+ audio via fiber and PureMusic3 software. All of the components purchased used (save for the Marantz) as hand-me-downs from friends with bigger budgets. I've also built a few car systems - my current setup in my (hah!) track rat: 2ch 90wx2 Alpine amplifier, AudioFrog 6.5 coaxials (too lazy to deal with components), Alpine deck with my own developed EQ to match the pink noise wave I get out of my home system.

I, generally... think Bose sounds terrible. Weird low end, usually glaring midrange, and weak up top. Crank the treble to get some upper end and the mids just glare more. In fact in home stereo stores, I can usually "tell" a Bose system playing somewhere. To somebody who's never heard anything beyond their TV speakers, sure, it sounds better.... but... ugh.

THAT said - Bose in Porsche seems to be hit or miss. I had the Bose in my wife's 2nd Boxster (981), and have heard it in multiple 991 service loaners - and it sounds horrible. My wife's 1st Boxster (also a 981) had the base-level 2 speaker system, which sounded better than the Bose.

My first Cayenne had Bose - and it wasn't horrible. It wasn't the best but it was enough that I was able to live with it.

My **current** Cayenne has Burmester. To me? It sounds pretty damned good. I can't say I'd pony up for the premium (what is it... $7k??) when buying new, but it would be a bonus if I found a car already equipped with it... like I did with my current CD. Frankly if I were buying new and was comfortable dropping $7k for the Burm - I'd take that $7k and go to a good audio shop instead and have a pro put something in. I was fortunate that the CD I'd found, right when the stop-sale was listed, wasn't really priced at any kind of premium over other "Premium Plus" CD's the dealer had... so it was essentially "Free".

That said, like anything audio - source material is KEY.

MP3 or streaming - it's going to depend on the quality. The 320k stream from Spotify is listenable. XM sounds bad no matter what you do. A CD will sound better (assuming it's a good recording) and to really make EITHER system (Burm or Bose) shine - toss in a high-resolution DVD-A disc. If I had to recommend one it would be the Dire Straits anniversary disc - this even made the Bose sound impressive. But with the Burm - it really is FANTASTIC.

When I found a CD with Burm... I brought my Dire Straits disc with me on the test drive. I listened to it on my Bose on the way to the dealer so I was freshly familiar before climbing into the Burm vehicle.... and that comparison, it was like fresh ears. The punch, the clarity. The highs are smooth and delicate but present. No glare. Sub is very tight, lows are smooth. While the Bose still sounded good on the DVD-A - the Burm was just another level. That sold me.

So, TLDR; - if you put time/effort into only using GOOD source material (Lossless downloads or rips, or a collection of CD's/DVD-As) then you will enjoy and appreciate the Burm. If you mostly listen to radio/XM, basic free streaming services, or generally don't pay attention to the fact that your MP3s are all ripped at 128k.... you likely wouldn't notice much of a difference.

My 2 bucks anyways

Originally Posted by mafpolo

I almost bought a 2015 CD silver and agate with Burm, I just didn't think I would like the agate with silver. A neighbor recently got a new Macan with Agate.....it's beautiful. Congrats on yours. You make a very good point about source material. No different than if you have a great pre-amp, mono block amplifiers, and killer speakers....but you have a lousy turntable or CD player with no DAC. Source material matters.