Porsche electric sport sound YES/NO?

[Mike in CA]

Here is more information from Porsche about the Electric Sport Sound option.

Just to clarify, since there is some conflicting info that has been posted here, Sport Sound is only heard inside the car and can be turned on and off. The Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS), which is heard outside the car, is entirely separate from Sport Sound, is mandated by regulation and cannot be disabled.

The Porsche sound: A special acoustic experience

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[submatrix]

Here is more information from Porsche about the Electric Sport Sound option.

Just to clarify, since there is some conflicting info that has been posted here, Sport Sound is only heard inside the car and can be turned on and off. The Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS), which is heard outside the car, is entirely separate from Sport Sound, is mandated by regulation and cannot be disabled.

The Porsche sound: A special acoustic experience

From your linked article:

" The Porsche Electric Sport Sound makes the vehicle's own drive sound even more emotionally charged and richer with its innovative character both on the outside and inside. "

This is also confirmed by friends who said the idle "rumble" is louder and more noticeable outside the car when I switch sport sound on and off while the car is at a standstill.

 

[TYKHAAAN]

I like it. It also gives a sense of speed. In electric, often missing are the audible queues you normally get with an ICE car to help get a sense of how fast you may be going. This car will get up to speed very quickly, and I find the audio helps realize the speed, without necessarily looking at the speedometer first.

 

[Mike in CA]

From your linked article:

" The Porsche Electric Sport Sound makes the vehicle's own drive sound even more emotionally charged and richer with its innovative character both on the outside and inside. "

This is also confirmed by friends who said the idle "rumble" is louder and more noticeable outside the car when I switch sport sound on and off while the car is at a standstill.

As mentioned later in the same article:

"The Porsche engineers also adapted this sound (AVAS) so that it is as emotive, sporty and powerful as possible within the framework of the legal regulations".

My interpretation of this is that this separate, artificially created exterior sound is also tuned to give sporty feedback as part of the overall concept of electric sport sound and that it's something you get whether you have the sport sound option or not.

If your friends are close to the car and can hear a difference in exterior sound when you turn sport sound on, maybe they are hearing sound sourced from the speakers inside the car, rather than something actually being broadcast on the outside. OTOH, maybe I'm just wrong about how this all works. I'll have to do some experimentation myself.

 

[submatrix]

As mentioned later in the same article:

"The Porsche engineers also adapted this sound (AVAS) so that it is as emotive, sporty and powerful as possible within the framework of the legal regulations".

My interpretation of this is that this separate, artificially created exterior sound is also tuned to give sporty feedback as part of the overall concept of electric sport sound and that it's something you get whether you have the sport sound option or not.

If your friends are close to the car and can hear a difference in exterior sound when you turn sport sound on, maybe they are hearing sound sourced from the speakers inside the car, rather than something actually being broadcast on the outside. OTOH, maybe I'm just wrong about how this all works. I'll have to do some experimentation myself.

Yes, you do get some sound both internally and externally if you dont have sport sound, but having the option just makes both louder and more noticeable.

My friends were standing about 6 feet away so if they were hearing the sound from inside the cabin, the end result is still the same, it sounds louder from the outside I still think the exterior sound itself is louder though.

 

[struther]

As mentioned later in the same article:

"The Porsche engineers also adapted this sound (AVAS) so that it is as emotive, sporty and powerful as possible within the framework of the legal regulations".

My interpretation of this is that this separate, artificially created exterior sound is also tuned to give sporty feedback as part of the overall concept of electric sport sound and that it's something you get whether you have the sport sound option or not.

If your friends are close to the car and can hear a difference in exterior sound when you turn sport sound on, maybe they are hearing sound sourced from the speakers inside the car, rather than something actually being broadcast on the outside. OTOH, maybe I'm just wrong about how this all works. I'll have to do some experimentation myself.

I would be surprised if the Sports Sound option was only on the interior. If that was the case, you would think it could be a FoD and not require additional hardware on cars that were shipped from the factory without it.

 

[B61]

when i asked my dealer, if it’s sound for outside, he confirmed.
i wanted to be heard by animals in some part of my routes, so i checked in.

 

[Mike in CA]

Yes, you do get some sound both internally and externally if you dont have sport sound, but having the option just makes both louder and more noticeable.

My friends were standing about 6 feet away so if they were hearing the sound from inside the cabin, the end result is still the same, it sounds louder from the outside I still think the exterior sound itself is louder though.

Your point is well made. I just listened from outside the car with my wife behind the wheel. With sport sound engaged there is a low bass rumble heard on the exterior that is clearly coming from the rear of the car; I'm 99% sure it's coming from the subwoofer which is located beneath the floor of the trunk. Whether it's intended to be heard on the exterior or not (it probably is), it definitely can be so the difference is kind of irrelevant.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[struther]

Your point is well made. I just listened from outside the car with my wife behind the wheel. With sport sound engaged there is a low bass rumble heard on the exterior that is clearly coming from the rear of the car; I'm 99% sure it's coming from the subwoofer which is located beneath the floor of the trunk. Whether it's intended to be heard on the exterior or not (it probably is), it definitely can be so the difference is kind of irrelevant.

Thanks for the clarification.

@Dee posted a picture on Facebook with the rear exposed (of the car!!) and there clearly was a downward facing speaker there.

 

[Mike in CA]

@Dee posted a picture on Facebook with the rear exposed (of the car!!) and there clearly was a downward facing speaker there.

I don't do Facebook. Any possibility of reproducing that photo here?

 

[QA4A]

I don't do Facebook. Any possibility of reproducing that photo here?

An additional speaker is fitted beneath the rear bumper for the sports sound. I've pinched this off another post elsewhere on the forum so this is not my own photo

 

[Mike in CA]

An additional speaker is fitted beneath the rear bumper for the sports sound. I've pinched this off another post elsewhere on the forum so this is not my own photo

Thanks! I have been educated.

 

[SWORDER]

That particular sound effect defaults to ON in the Sport Plus mode of the Turbo S so I've had a chance to mess with it.

I'm clearly in the minority here but I simply don't see any value in having the car generate a fake noise. So no, I'd nix that option.

For me, the noise a car makes is a necessary evil, not a feature. I've been driving various 911s for a long time prior to the Taycan and had always assumed that engine noise is nothing more than an unfortunate byproduct of having a powerful engine. It's a trade off. More powerful engine => more noise.

The idea that any driver would miss that "exhaust note" while driving an electric was totally foreign to me until I started researching the Taycan. That electric cars are almost completely silent (aside from the minimal noise required by law at low speeds) is one of their greatest strengths! Why ruin it by generating a fake noise? It'd be like having your keyboard generate a fake typewriter sound when you type, or having YouTube generate a fake tape recorder button sound when you click play.

As you may have discovered and has probably already been mentioned in this thread, the noise it makes isn't even a car noise. It's a industrial vacuum cleaner noise. I only point it out because those who are tempted to order the fake noise option may assume it'll sound like a traditional car. It doesn't.

Again, mine is definitely the minority report on this one. Most people prefer the noise to be turned on. Just giving you an alternate viewpoint.

 

[Silveral]

I believe I have read somewhere that it’s the real Taycan noise on Dyno, just amplified. Not a fake sound

 

[Mike in CA]

I believe I have read somewhere that it’s the real Taycan noise on Dyno, just amplified. Not a fake sound

I've read the same thing; it's a recreated, enhanced version of the actual sound of the electric drivetrain. After learning more about how sport sound actually works, and all of the piece parts involved, I would be more inclined to order it for $500 assuming it wasn't already part of the performance package.

However, I also see @SWORDER's point, and for the $1000 USD the OP said Sport Sound will cost as an option in Dubai, I'd really have to think twice.

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