Fixing the audio quality on Burmester (with Android auto)

[darrenfx]

I just got (new to me) Taycan Turbo 2 days ago and I'm loving the way it drives.

Disclaimer: First post here, mind my mistakes.

I'm very picky with audio. I've KEF (R7 meta, LS50 Meta) audio system with a nice DAC/amp as my daily home audio setup.

Coming from Tesla model 3P and I miss having an amazing sound turning. Taycan burmester audio (IMHO) is compromised in four key areas:

1. Vocal harshness: Vocals (especially higher pitch vocals) get very harsh and don't sound natural.
2. Lack of clarity/detail in high frequencies
3. Lack of sub frequencies from woofer - while the woofer is strong in 60-80hz, it doesnt have the low rumble that is present in teslas especially comapred to 2024 model 3p.
4. Audio feels lower quality on Android auto (while playing tidal lossless) compared to FLAC on usb drive.

so far I've been able to fix the most annoying part #1: vocal harshness. I think hardware in Taycan's burmester is fairly capable and limited by the lack of equalizer and good DSP tuning.

Here's what I did to fix vocal harshness:

1. Mode: Use pure mode (this is the best mode), minimal to no DSP engagement.
2. Bass Treble: I prefer +4 bass and -1 treble (Yes I like bass higher)
3. Equalizer: Wavelet (Android). Wavelet is perhaps the only equalizer app that has no resampling artifacts on android. I had to reduce 1K to 4k Hz frequencies by about -2db. This eliminated most of the harshness in the vocals.
Note: Make sure you enabled DUMP and other permissions to make it work with AA.

Fixing the lower quality:
1. Enable Android auto > developers options > Audio codec > prefer PCM
This makes sure that audio streamed from phone to PCM is lossless.
While some may argue that we don't need lossless codec, I disagree. Even when streaming YT music in "High", I can notice less audio artifacts when lossless transmission is used.

p.s. Android auto wired or wireless uses same codec, so that doesn't affect audio quality. Perhaps Apple CarPlay needs to be wired for lossless audio codec.


I'm still looking to improve other areas like tweeter and subwoofer replacement at some point but at least now the music feels very tolerable.

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[f1eng]

I'm very picky with audio. I've KEF (R7 meta, LS50 Meta) audio system with a nice DAC/amp as my daily home audio setup.

I am an old bloke and also picky with audio and after decades of trying gave up getting clear low colouration sound and acceptable stereo in a car!

I also have LS50 in my study but my main systems are bigger, Goldmund Epilog in one system and Tune Audio Anima in the other.

I only listen to music seriously at home, in the car I don't have high expectations and have it switched off most of the time

 

[d00d]

On iPhone at least, my local ALAC library plays lossless through Wi-Fi.

Similar here Frank, usually just listen to podcasts, or risk being disappointed compared to home.
If I really want music, I use an iPad Mini into a Chord Mojo 2 DAC, into Beyerdynamic T1 open ear headphones.
Since the DAC has dual outputs, may include a JBL BassPro Go in subwoofer mode.

 

[Bao1303]

In order to even start fixing the sound, BOSE or Burmester, you need to check if the door drivers are touching the mounting frames. Apparently a common design fault, creating horrible distortion. If thats fixed, next up are dampening the doors, dampening the door cards, dampen and fixate the subwoofer enclosure (it is insanely resonant and not fixed properly) and the lid over the subwoofer transfer vibrations into adjacent structure. When done it doesnt vibrate too much anymore (still not perfect but a really significant improvement - cheap and DIY). A bonus is that general door rattle is eliminated as well! Then you can start wondering where the 7K (burmester) went - as the drivers seem to be typ. 50 Euro OEM units with micro magnets. Also the door woofers are paper and the baskets collect water from the windows. No drain. Water and paper is not a good combo... Will ask them to fix that when closer to warranty end. Dont see the point in High res music in a car, at least not on the move with the actual noise floor. Quite sure noone would hear any improvement over typ 320kbps (spotify) in a taycan, and definitely not if the above issues are not fixed

 

[KLHubb]

Like others here, I am an audio fanatic with a 16 channel Dolby Atmos, McIntosh, Wilson system.
I find that using Tidal on the Burmester helps with all the issues mentioned here.

 

[darrenfx]

In order to even start fixing the sound, BOSE or Burmester, you need to check if the door drivers are touching the mounting frames. Apparently a common design fault, creating horrible distortion. If thats fixed, next up are dampening the doors, dampening the door cards, dampen and fixate the subwoofer enclosure (it is insanely resonant and not fixed properly) and the lid over the subwoofer transfer vibrations into adjacent structure. When done it doesnt vibrate too much anymore (still not perfect but a really significant improvement - cheap and DIY). A bonus is that general door rattle is eliminated as well! Then you can start wondering where the 7K (burmester) went - as the drivers seem to be typ. 50 Euro OEM units with micro magnets. Also the door woofers are paper and the baskets collect water from the windows. No drain. Water and paper is not a good combo... Will ask them to fix that when closer to warranty end. Dont see the point in High res music in a car, at least not on the move with the actual noise floor. Quite sure noone would hear any improvement over typ 320kbps (spotify) in a taycan, and definitely not if the above issues are not fixed

right. Forgot to mention i took all doors apart and added butyl sheets (40% coverage) on all doors. Luckily I didn't have any rattles in my car, but this did help with mids a little bit. I've dampened (butyl sheets) and insulated (MLV) every car I've ever owned but Taycan had the least noticeable difference with dampening.

I also noticed door woofer enclosure was glued to the metal. I took screws off the speaker eclosure and it just wont come off. I guess previous owner complained and got these fixed from porsche. I wish I took picture of it. To dampen external door sheet, I had to remove the black plastic cover since woofer won't come off.

Re: speaker quality: yes they looked really cheap. I'm guessing any off the shelf $100/speaker would be miles ahead of this. need to find the right one that matches power/impedance and size.

Re: Road noise: road noise is one of the lowest in any car I've owned (including 540i). Maybe the thermally and noise insulating glass is doing its wonders.

 

[darrenfx]

I am an old bloke and also picky with audio and after decades of trying gave up getting clear low colouration sound and acceptable stereo in a car!

I also have LS50 in my study but my main systems are bigger, Goldmund Epilog in one system and Tune Audio Anima in the other.

I only listen to music seriously at home, in the car I don't have high expectations and have it switched off most of the time

wow, I've LS50meta at my workstation too. and R7 for music/HT.
I used to not expect much out of car audio but Teslas spoiled me. Audio on 2024 Model3P is amazing. Nothing comes close: burmester on MB, B&W on BMW X7, Volvo xc90.

 

[Bao1303]

right. Forgot to mention i took all doors apart and added butyl sheets (40% coverage) on all doors. Luckily I didn't have any rattles in my car, but this did help with mids a little bit. I've dampened (butyl sheets) and insulated (MLV) every car I've ever owned but Taycan had the least noticeable difference with dampening.

I also noticed door woofer enclosure was glued to the metal. I took screws off the speaker eclosure and it just wont come off. I guess previous owner complained and got these fixed from porsche. I wish I took picture of it. To dampen external door sheet, I had to remove the black plastic cover since woofer won't come off.

Re: speaker quality: yes they looked really cheap. I'm guessing any off the shelf $100/speaker would be miles ahead of this. need to find the right one that matches power/impedance and size.

Re: Road noise: road noise is one of the lowest in any car I've owned (including 540i). Maybe the thermally and noise insulating glass is doing its wonders.

Doorwoofers should have blue gasket. Sticks quite hard but possible to get them out. If they have glued them its a shame. Best benefit I had (apart from the sub enclosure) was dampening the doorcards with butyl and addng soft foam so they become pretensioned when installed. You didnt have an issue with door mids suspension touching the door framing? Talked to a stereoshop and they said they had to grind down on every car they've worked on, so not only me.

 

[darrenfx]

Doorwoofers should have blue gasket. Sticks quite hard but possible to get them out. If they have glued them its a shame. Best benefit I had (apart from the sub enclosure) was dampening the doorcards with butyl and addng soft foam so they become pretensioned when installed. You didnt have an issue with door mids suspension touching the door framing? Talked to a stereoshop and they said they had to grind down on every car they've worked on, so not only me.

doorwoofer plastic enclosure is glued to metal door with transparent glue. woofer is screwed to plastic enclosure. when i took grill off, I couldnt get woofer to come off.
Also door card had the soft recycled wool material on it already which is used for sound absorption. I'll take a picture of it next time. It looked factory installed to me as it was cut precisely. Is it not so on other cars?

My mid speaker doesn't rattle even at high volumes so i didnt touch it.

uh: other cars also have the wool

 

[darrenfx]

Doorwoofers should have blue gasket. Sticks quite hard but possible to get them out. If they have glued them its a shame. Best benefit I had (apart from the sub enclosure) was dampening the doorcards with butyl and addng soft foam so they become pretensioned when installed. You didnt have an issue with door mids suspension touching the door framing? Talked to a stereoshop and they said they had to grind down on every car they've worked on, so not only me.

so the rear passenger door mid speaker started to rattle at higher volumes. I added adhesive foam (of about 7mm thickness) strip around the speaker circumference which added additional distance for speaker travel. No need to shave plastics. no more distortion.

 

[Tay Chi]

I think those settings are excellent! Thx for the tips. Something in those allows unlocking lossless communication. Tracks from Tidal sound phenomenal on my Burmester now.

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