Is the Taycan quieter than the Boxster, for road noise especially?

[xyeahtony]

I mean one is a convertible and one is an enclosed sedan. By design the taycan is quieter already. Spec the insulated glass and that’s a bonus

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[DanK]

The noise insulated glass makes a difference. Opening vs closing windows is amazing. I haven't bothered to program my HomeLink yet and I'm so enjoying the fact that I can't hear my Chamberlain beeping when I close it via CarPlay.

That being said, there's still road noise from the tires / wheels, esp on Northern Californian quality roads. It's _so_ much quieter than my other cars still that it's interesting. But the body rapidly adjusts to different sound floors and you'll still notice it, even if it is objectively quieter.

I'd recommend keeping the 981S that you're in love with and popping in some AirPod Pros. That's the way I enjoy my Exige when I'm driving it long distances.

 

[magnitude]

It's _so_ much quieter than my other cars still that it's interesting.

Thanks, that's again encouraging.

But the body rapidly adjusts to different sound floors and you'll still notice it, even if it is objectively quieter.

Maybe so, but it still means that the Signal to Noise Ratio for music/podcast listening and phone calls for example is significantly lower, so those things becomes plain more possible in addition to just more pleasant.

And a low SNR means that even relatively quiet music would drown the noise out, if it should really start bothering me. (It probably won't, the issue with my Boxster is not that the noise itself is unpleasant, but that it makes the other things infeasible--at least without turning the volume up so high that it stresses me out.)

and popping in some AirPod Pros.

Unfortunately, that's a no-go for me for many different reasons, even though I own and use AirPods Pro.

 

[DanK]

Yes, the SNR is definitely much better even with the road noise. What I think is interesting is that I almost find the gray concrete here more annoying in the Porsche because it's so much more silent the rest of the time. But you're still talking about a much lower noise flor even over things like 85.

Re: Airpod Pros - sure, many reasons to not want them (Apple, in-ear, etc), but in the Lotus everything is so loud that it works great, and when cycling transparency mode works great to hear things around. Sorry it's not a good option for you!

 

[magnitude]

Yes, the SNR is definitely much better even with the road noise. What I think is interesting is that I almost find the gray concrete here more annoying in the Porsche because it's so much more silent the rest of the time. But you're still talking about a much lower noise flor even over things like 85.

Yeah, I can imagine!

Thanks again for telling me your experience, I'm really looking forward to it now.

Re: Airpod Pros - sure, many reasons to not want them (Apple, in-ear, etc)

Oh, I do own, use, and love them, but I would only use them while driving a car (or on a bike) while in transparency mode, if at all, and then that does not solve the issue.

 

[Taycan2020]

I found tyre roar quite bad with the 21” wheels. So I would go for 20s at most. The wind noise is very low with the acoustic glass pack at least, so go for the smallest wheels you are happy with visually for a smoother ride and quieter cabin!


I have not tried the Burmester system as the £ uplift was too much on a new order, but the Bose system is fine I think.

 

[f1eng]

I never really considered upgrading the stereo (except for Bose as I heard the standard stereo is awful)

I compared standard audio and Bose before I ordered and apart from the DSP surround effect of the Bose which gave better imaging (if faux) the sound quality was similar.
When I had to drop Bose because it was unavailable for a while I wasn't that bothered until I saw internet posts slagging off the standard system and began to worry (I am a music lover and listen at home in a dedicated room through kit costing more than the Taycan).

In fact the standard system is loud enough for me and has a reasonably even frequency response and low colouration, so I have been relieved, and adequately satisfied. The low colouration and even frequency response give quite good intelligibility on speech, often a problem in a car with boosted chesty bass.
The stereo imaging is typical car-limited though because the speaker to ear distance is so vastly different from one channel to the other.

I haven't heard the Burmester system and it wasn't worth it for me, as a car isn't a principle "listening room" for me, but if your car is your main listening space maybe it is worth it.

 

[f1eng]

I wish they had put in some more engineering to make those two bits a few more bits in order to control some multiband EQ from the PCM on the Burmester at least. That R&D should be covered by the many thousand dollars of difference the Burmester makes...

In principle if the R&D is well done even bass and treble control should be redundant because the sound will be accurate and properly balanced

 

[Crazymind]

i think road noise is the weakest spot of the Taycan. My Jag I-pace is far more quiet Than the Taycan. And the Jag is not great at road noise either
.

 

[whan]

Agree with others, taycan is very quiet, but road noise probably the biggest contributor to cabin noise. Depends on pavement conditions - over moderate to good pavement, the cabin is very quiet, but on bad pavement the road noise becomes pretty noticeable. At least in comparison to our GX460, the GX has significantly more wind noise and ambient noise from the city at low speed, but similar/less road noise.

Part of it may just be because it’s a sports sedan on performance tires (I have 20s). I’d guess in order to have a tighter suspension it probably transmits more through the suspension components into the chassis. That and being a sedan less space for noise to transmit vs an SUV

 

[diononiz]

I compared standard audio and Bose before I ordered and apart from the DSP surround effect of the Bose which gave better imaging (if faux) the sound quality was similar.
When I had to drop Bose because it was unavailable for a while I wasn't that bothered until I saw internet posts slagging off the standard system and began to worry (I am a music lover and listen at home in a dedicated room through kit costing more than the Taycan).

In fact the standard system is loud enough for me and has a reasonably even frequency response and low colouration, so I have been relieved, and adequately satisfied. The low colouration and even frequency response give quite good intelligibility on speech, often a problem in a car with boosted chesty bass.
The stereo imaging is typical car-limited though because the speaker to ear distance is so vastly different from one channel to the other.

I haven't heard the Burmester system and it wasn't worth it for me, as a car isn't a principle "listening room" for me, but if your car is your main listening space maybe it is worth it.

Thanks for this info, it will definitely help if I get another Taycan after the refresh. For me the transition from soft to loud and the perception of the instruments "being in the room" are the most important. At home I have a B&W Diamond D4 system with Mcintosh C2700, MC312 and MC8207 with a Marantz processor (Atmos 7.1.2) for my main room. Unfortunately, I don't have a dedicated room so I had to make due with soundproofing the living room the best I could.

Would love to hear if any audiophiles have compared the Bose and Burmeister in the Taycan.

 

[diononiz]

Thanks for this info, it will definitely help if I get another Taycan after the refresh. For me the transition from soft to loud and the perception of the instruments "being in the room" are the most important. At home I have a B&W Diamond D4 (804 and matching center) system with Mcintosh C2700, MC312 and MC8207 with a Marantz processor (Atmos 7.1.2) for my main room. Unfortunately, I don't have a dedicated room so I had to make due with soundproofing the living room the best I could.

Would love to hear if any audiophiles have compared the Bose and Burmeister in the Taycan.

 

[f1eng]

For me the transition from soft to loud and the perception of the instruments "being in the room" are the most important

The dynamic range is pretty reasonable, I listen to a lot of classical music and the dynamic range is usually too great for a car - either the quiet sections are lost in the background noise or, if turned up to avoid this, the loud bits are more than I like - the fundamental problem is that the background noise of a Taycan isn’t as bad as a normal car but still 30 to 40dB louder than where I listen at home very much limiting the ability to accurately go quiet to loud, in fact recordings with compressed dynamic range which sound dire on a good Hi-Fi often sound better in a car than good recordings.

If the imaging is important to you I am not sure you would be satisfied by the standard system - it has the usual inevitable problem of distance between listener and speakers being absolutely terrible for accurate stereo - impossible even - so some sort of DSP can create something more convincing.

My requirement is for an even frequency response and low colouration and the standard system is good for speech - which is always a good test since we are a familiar with what a voice sounds like.

IMO any audio system which doesn’t reproduce voices convincingly isn’t accurate.

 

[f1eng]

At home I have a B&W Diamond D4 system with Mcintosh C2700, MC312 and MC8207 with a Marantz processor (Atmos 7.1.2) for my main room.

I am lucky to have a dedicated room, I know.

I am a music lover and have many thousands of recordings most of which are stereo so I have not bothered to invest the same sort of money in multi channel I did in stereo. I just have 3 additional pro monitors to make a 5.1 system (I have a Marantz processor for this too but just use it for films and TV).

My amps are Devialet Original d’Atelier or Goldmund and my speakers Goldmund Epilogs or Tune Audio Anima horns - depending on what I am feeling like!
The Goldmund is most accurate so best in principle but the horns are 109dB/watt and very dynamic

 

[Replika]

i think road noise is the weakest spot of the Taycan. My Jag I-pace is far more quiet Than the Taycan. And the Jag is not great at road noise either
.

This is what stuck out to me in the 3 hours or so I've had behind the wheel of Taycans.

A Boxster is a loud car in general. Tons of road noise, tons of wind noise, tons of engine noise. Any sedan is quieter.

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