First impressions of standard audio system (compared to Bose system)

[tigerbalm]

No graphic equaliser.

Not missing out here: neither does the BOSE or Burmeister options on the Taycan.

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[f1eng]

Not missing out here: neither does the BOSE or Burmeister options on the Taycan.

OK.
I remember more menu choices on the Bose than standard but don't remember much detail other than surround mode(s?)

 

[tigerbalm]

OK.
I remember more menu choices on the Bose than standard but don't remember much detail other than surround mode(s?)

It has:

• Something they call "SoundTrue" that is supposed to enhance compressed music formats.
• You can also turn on "surround" mode which introduces more reverb
• And "linear" mode which seems to chop off the highs and lows.
• Additionally it has "AudioPilot" which it describes as "driving-noise dependent tone adaption".

So quite a lot of DSP options. All likely reduce accuracy but I've found – and this surprised me – that when I demo'd BOSE, I found the "surround mode" did enhance the audio positively.

 

[f1eng]

when I demo'd BOSE, I found the "surround mode" did enhance the audio positively.

I did too.
The biggest limitation of the standard system, for me, isn't colouration or distortion but the lack of any DSP to mask the effect of the speaker to listener distance in a car being rubbish for good stereo. The sound, uncoloured though it is, comes from low down and mainly the driver's door.

 

[Dee]

Like color it's impossible to rate audio.
I rarely look for reviews of audio systems or make one myself cuz sound is different for everybody.
If sound is important to you, you should go listen yourself.
Sometimes there's no car available but really, if it's important to you you'll find that car.
But I'm glad the base system is ok for you and I'm not surprised either.
People that choose Burmester will probably have a different opinion but that's only logical.
For me, a high end audio system in a car is ridiculous anyway.
You are in the wrong spot all of the time and there's road, traffic and city noise (and "family noise" of course...).
My Bose works just fine and I'm sure the base system does too.
I hope the car was worth the long wait! ???

 

[f1eng]

Like color it's impossible to rate audio.
I rarely look for reviews of audio systems or make one myself cuz sound is different for everybody.
If sound is important to you, you should go listen yourself.
Sometimes there's no car available but really, if it's important to you you'll find that car.
But I'm glad the base system is ok for you and I'm not surprised either.
People that choose Burmester will probably have a different opinion but that's only logical.
For me, a high end audio system in a car is ridiculous anyway.
You are in the wrong spot all of the time and there's road, traffic and city noise (and "family noise" of course...).
My Bose works just fine and I'm sure the base system does too.
I hope the car was worth the long wait! ???

I agree to an extent but it is possible to judge accuracy but not personal taste.
Some people just turn the bass up on everything!

For me the limitations of a car are as you write but certainly using DSP to generate an impressive sound stage is probably where the fancier systems gain. I will miss that, but not the bass boom which aflicts many car systems...

Just power output says little of course.

The car is just as great as I was expecting.

 

[Fish Fingers]

The car is just as great as I was expecting.

That's the most important thing.
?

 

[Mr Bill]

The standard system in my Taycan certainly isn’t tinny.

I haven’t tried Hot Rats at high volume yet though…

Frank would likely disagree with you - I guess hanging around those F1 cars must have seriously damaged your hearing. ;-)

There should be a proper punishment for the 'designer' of the base system - it literally hurts my ears. Tinny, harsh, anemic, grating mids and highs, and a lack of lows.

Strangely enough, it is a little less painful than it used to be... maybe there is some speaker break in going on. But still woefully inadequate.

 

[kempez]

Part of the problem is that people get used to very bright, forward audio on a lot of the systems I've listened to nowadays. And then they pile on far too much base and even midrange which I've found hugely muddies the sounds.

I have heard some of the high end Audi, Mercedes, BMW systems and both the default and user-configured settings are far too distorted for my taste. The Burmeister system in my last car needed a lot of fiddling to get it to sound better. I'm expecting I will be doing the same in the Taycan Bose system when my car comes.

 

[f1eng]

Frank would likely disagree with you - I guess hanging around those F1 cars must have seriously damaged your hearing. ;-)

There should be a proper punishment for the 'designer' of the base system - it literally hurts my ears. Tinny, harsh, anemic, grating mids and highs, and a lack of lows.

Strangely enough, it is a little less painful than it used to be... maybe there is some speaker break in going on. But still woefully inadequate.

It isn’t fair because I have spent my life in motor racing and have unusually acute hearing for my age and my wife, who is a professional musician, is going deaf.

You may well disagree, that is up to you, my frame of reference is live concerts of mainly unamplified music, orchestras and choirs and so forth plus a home stereo system which cost more than my Taycan - not other car stereos.

In my car, with the default settings, it isn’t tinny at all, it does lack the top audible octave but that is unavoidable because of the laws of physics and the position of the drive units.
OTOH it isn’t harsh at all, nothing grates and the bass goes far deeper than I had expected but isn’t exaggerated or overblown.

The only thing which it isn’t good at is stereo imagery which, in the absence of the signal processing available from Bose, Burmester and others, is strongly influenced by the distance from ears to speakers with the one in the nearby door so close it naturally dominates.

So most of the shortcomings I notice in car audio aren’t bad in the standard system in my car.
Where it comes up short it is the laws of physics and absence of digital signal manipulation which are to blame.


Overall I am really pleased with it which is a bonus since. I expected meh.

 

[timc3]

Part of the problem is that people get used to very bright, forward audio on a lot of the systems I've listened to nowadays. And then they pile on far too much base and even midrange which I've found hugely muddies the sounds.

I have heard some of the high end Audi, Mercedes, BMW systems and both the default and user-configured settings are far too distorted for my taste. The Burmeister system in my last car needed a lot of fiddling to get it to sound better. I'm expecting I will be doing the same in the Taycan Bose system when my car comes.

Luckily there isn't that much to fiddle with and half the options clearly make it sound worse than before so can be turned off. As I said to my sales person, if I want really good audio I will listen at home in my professional designed (by an acoustician) studio.

The Bose is good enough for me just to listen to some tunes whilst driving, but our cheaper BMW's is clearly better. I hate both Bose and Harmon Karden as audio equipment manufacturers anyway so I wasn't expecting much, and cars are not great environments for fantastic audio.

 

[kempez]

Luckily there isn't that much to fiddle with and half the options clearly make it sound worse than before so can be turned off. As I said to my sales person, if I want really good audio I will listen at home in my professional designed (by an acoustician) studio.

The Bose is good enough for me just to listen to some tunes whilst driving, but our cheaper BMW's is clearly better. I hate both Bose and Harmon Karden as audio equipment manufacturers anyway so I wasn't expecting much, and cars are not great environments for fantastic audio.

Exactly. Hate is a bit strong for me, but I avoid Bose at home. I find the delivery to be a bit bright and clinical. Personal taste though.

 

[TDinDC]

I view this like wine. I can't stand wine snobs, but wine is a passion of mine. I have never met anyone who really loves something who is snobby about it. Despite being passionate about everything about wine, from production to consumption, I personally am not a super taster. And I'm thrilled that I am not. Super tasters likely do not enjoy wine as much as I do because their palates are able to detect bitterness and faults that will sail right past me.

I think it is somewhat similar when it comes to audio. Those who have more sensitive hearing -- or even just more refined tastes -- can detect "faults" and other issues that the average listener does not detect. I'm not a super-hearer and I'm happy about that.

I really like my Burmester. It sounds great while I'm driving, and that's all that counts to me. It has enough adjustments that I can tailor it to my mood at the moment or type of music (my taste is quite diverse).

https://www.burmester.de/en/Automotive/Taycan/

https://www.burmester.de/en/Automotive/Porsche-Soundsystem/

I have Bose in my 911 from before Burmester was available. It is great for me too (although the Burmester is better).

I had a stock system in a 911 once, and I hated it. Not sure what the Taycan base system sounds like (I've never heard one), but my experience with previous base systems taught me a lesson.

 

[tigerbalm]

The Burmeister (on my 4S) was the easiest option for me to drop when trying to build my Turbo S to a target price.

Generally, I find that BOSE has an over-processed sound – where as the Burmeister is striving to reproduce the original recording as accurately as possible (so long as you don't turn on its "3D" bullshit option).

However, I feel that the suboptimal car environment actually plays into BOSE's hand. Their "processing" of the sound actually helps and though we may think we want the "purest" sound – this isn't a listening room – and maybe we don't.

We want something to overcome the outside noise, to work around the unoptimised car interior and balance clarity of audio with not becoming dangerously distracting.

A car is also an environment where spoken word – either via DAB, audiobooks or streamed podcasts (Apple/Spotify) – are likely to be enjoyed. That certainly doesn't require too much audio sophistication.

 

[f1eng]

Listening to music is my main leisure activity since I retired.
Not in a car though, usually so disappointing I mainly listen to spoken word.

We are off on a longer journey later this week, it will be interesting to hear if the Taycan is a better environment for music than all the other disappointing cars for the last 50 years!

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