KenU

Boys & Girls,

If you haven't already ordered your '17 Panamera my advice would be to A/B both radios. Before I ordered my Pano '14 GTS I did and found the Burmeister to be exactly the same as the Bose - when it came to Satellite radio. I don't listen much to CD's or USB's, etc. I was told then that that was where the Burmeister was superior to the Bose. So, for me, spending another $5,000 for an almost equal radio was a waste - back then and a few months ago!

However, having just taken delivery of my new '17 Pano Turbo Saturday, I already knew the deal between the 2 radios - so I thought. For some unknown reason, THIS version of Bose is inferior to that of my '14 GTS Bose radio/sound, by a lot. Of course, the thought never crossed my mind when ordering the Turbo a few months back and, of course, no '17's existed. Now that there are a few '17 Panos on the ground, I'm afraid to even listen to a '17 Burmeister to see if THAT has changed albeit for the overall better and my making a HUGE mistake! I'm praying the speakers needs some "breaking in" (I keep telling myself anyway). I mostly notice the bottom end to more lacking than my GTS, as I did with the Burmeister also a few years ago.

Do yourselves a big favor and go listen to both '17 radios, before you place your order. I would love to hear ANY and ALL feedback regarding this year's radios/speakers if you've heard them both.

Jonathan Lord

I ordered a Turbo with the Burmester. I just got a 911 C4S - with the Burmester. It was superior to my 2015 C4S with Burmester.
Thanks
J

928 GT R

I have two Porsches (12 911 C4 GTS & 06 Cayenne S Titanium) with the Bose and one (16 Cayenne Turbo S) with the Burmester.

To me there is no comparison, the Burmester wins hands down - (Note: The Burmester equipped vehicle has sound insulated glass and is newer and is a noticeably quieter listening environment).

The most noticeable difference to me is the precision with which the Burmester separates the sound, oftentimes I find myself trying to figure out how the sounds "appeared" in the various "locations" in the vehicle, it's that good!

I had been test driving Cayenne Turbo's and Turbo S's for some time and after listening to the two back to back on several occasions, I put the Burmester on my MUST HAVE option list.

That said, the price differential when ticking the boxes is a bit excessive...

Jonathan Lord

+!

Mark Dreyer

Someone posted that when listening to satellite radio, there wasn't as much difference between Bose and Burmeister. Is this something you can comment on?

Mike Murphy

You can probably replace the speakers for way less than $5000 and it will sound way better. Aftermarket is often better than stock or even optioned up systems.

bmcginn

I don't doubt that the Burmester system sounds better than the Bose system. But it's a $5940 up charge vs the standard Bose system in the 2018 Panamera Turbo that I just ordered and personally, that's way too much money.

Billy Wyatt

That's stupid money and the reason Porsche makes $17,000 on every car you buy.

philipatl

I've got the Burmeister in my turbo and it is night and day compared to the Bose in my 2011 I had. Is it worth the extra 5k..that is personal for sure.

wassy

Great thread. I had 2 prior panameras and consider myself heavy into music and sound quality. In prior models I did not think the Burmester was better then the Bose. In fact, to my ear I thought the Burmester didn't sound quite as good. The 2017 does seem to sound a bit better.

I now have a burmester in my 16 911 and my wife has the very basic system in her 911. Hers sucks no doubt but the burmester in the 911, sound ok but not anywhere near the level of quality some of you make it out to be. Maybe I got a bummer system?

That said, I had a Burmester in my s550 coupe last year and holy ****. Bar none the best system I've ever heard in a car. It was truly incredible but the Porsche systems are nowhere as good in my humble opinion. I've tuned and tuned and tried different settings and again, while it's ok, it's not enveloping me or fascinating me as the one in the MB.

Just my 2 cents.

928 GT R

I mostly use satellite for a source so my comments are directly related to satellite.

Judging from wassy's comment above, there may be substantial differences in the systems from vehicle to vehicle.

In order to assess/tune a sound system in an auto, I like to determine each individual speakers quality, so I isolate each speaker and listen to it's dynamic range, then check connections, upstream components or replace any speaker that is not perfectly replicating sound within it's designated range.

Listening environment is more important than most drivers/audiophles recognize, I hardly ever listen to the Bose surround in the 911 for two reasons: 1. The 911 makes it own soundtrack and I drive it in a sporting environment. 2. The 911 has very little sound deadening and the ambient noise level is just too high for even great stereos to work well when the car is on the move...

Personally I would never order a Burmester in a 911 GT3. I would order it in a 911 Turbo, Panamera, or Cayenne Turbo *WITH* the sound insulated glass option.

Bottom line for listening pleasure in a car stereo is the inherent listening environment provided by the vehicle housing the stereo.

Alex.C.

Hello I have been an audiophile for over 30 years and I had high expectation when I decided to spec my 971 Panamera Turbo with this very expensive option.

Unfortunately aside from being capable to play at incredibly loud volumes the sound quality per se is disappointing.
The sound is unrefined and fatiguing.
All the DSP options produce an unnatural sound but unfortunately when playing bypassing everything the soundstage is poor and the sound gets very flat.
In short there is no way to get this crazy expensive audio system to play decently.

I would definitely suggest to keep the basic audio system and save several $$$

As a side note this audio system doesn't even have an hard drive to save music on.

Ironically the HK audio upgrade on BMW and B&O on Audi offer a much more enjoyable sound for a fraction of the cost.

911Jeff

Satellite radio is a highly compressed format, similar to MP3.
Trying to compare system quality using a "low-fi" source is not a very revealing test of system quality.
The Bass, however, should not suffer as much as mids and highs via satallite.

gtr

Just talking Panamera experience I find the revised 2017 Bose much improved over the previous versions due to the clarity and when the settings are set to my liking. Problem is I never heard the Burmeister on the 2017 Panamera.

I Love the new S class with the Burmeister high end surround. Is the panamera unit comparable? That s class makes satellite radio sounds hd comparing to most normal car stereo.

az audi

I have had BOSE systems in several cars, including an RS5, Q7, and GL550. I was disappoint with BOSE ever time. Ive had two Q7s and two GL550s, one with BOSE and one with out the upgraded system... each time, the standard system was far superior than the upgraded expensive BOSE system. Really, the infiniti system if my minivan and jeep was better than the BOSE system.

Currently, I have a B&O. Not impressed.

Now the Bermeister system in our 2012 Panamera, that was impressive every time. It was really the best part of the car. And listening to CDs did improve it even more. This system was with every penny.

The Burmesiter system in the Panamera is substantial different than in a 911 or other smaller vehicle. The extra space or volume makes a different, as does the wattage.