porsche9xx

Its been around two months since I picked up my 991S Cab - been having so much fun that I haven't had a chance to really visit or post - pictures coming soon.

Since this forum is a very helpful place I thought I post my review for something that has come up quite a bit.

I ended up ordering a base stereo car - I flip flopped on my order but when I went back to add in Bose my car already could not be changed. I was concerned but having had the car for 2 months I can tell you that the sound system is fine. I posted here that I mostly listen to talk radio via Sirius app but I have spent a lot of time listening to music via usb (Pandora, Songza, Deezer apps) .

Music sounds fine better than most car stereos and much better than my aftermarket stereo in my 2000 Porsche Boxster.

Everyone is different and has different priorities and I am not an audiophile but I do have a high end home theater system so i do enjoy good sound. For me I realized I was getting a "noisy" car (PSE!) with horrible acoustic settings (I have a Cab and drive top down 95% of the time) and I was not going to put the effort into listening to lossless audio so I don't know if I would really experience the benefits of the Bose or Burm systems.

The hardest part about making this decision was finding a base stereo car in LA to test.

Key Left

We tried the Bose versus base stereos and found little difference. Pete Stout from PCA magazine later reported the same finding in his 50th anniversary model test.

neurotic

I tried the base system, BOSE, and the Burmeister. By a country mile, the Burmeister was better. I couldn't find a noticeable difference between the base system and the BOSE. And considering my loathness for everything BOSE, I selected the base system.

Galion

I'm no audiophile but I consider Bose and Base stereos the same cra@p with no highs and lows, only difference is that the Base sounds weaker, cant crank the volume up without distortion, Burmester sounds good but I couldnt justify the extra cost, still its nowhere near of my Lexus LX base stereo.

Grunty

I can confirm that the base on my 50th sounds as good as my wife's bose on her boxster. I am content with it.

porsche9xx

I think I read your posts on the base here before but I think from my perspective the volume on the base stereo can go fairly high - probably higher than most people that buy a 911 would want it. I'm in a Cab so the volume is pretty high when driving and often in city streets the volume limitation is more dependent on the environment than the stereos limitations.

I think someone else here made a post about the "room" acoustics not being ideal in these cars. I haven't spent much time with the Bur - but I can't imagine it has great sound at 90mph with the top down.

pap2828

Having experienced bose and basic I find little difference between them.

Does anyone else have trouble getting the iPod to kick in sometimes? It can take up to 10 mins for the system to recognise the iPod??

Galion

Well that might be me, sorry for the rant but I am not happy with neither of them, I agree that the inside acoustics are not the best, specially with the Sound Symposer and tire roar, also true that this is the best sound system Porsche had installed in a 911, but for a car this expensive I expected a lot more from Porsche engineers, its not at par with this fantastic car.
I once had a Mini JCW and that is a really loud car with horrible acoustics but the no cost Harman Kardon stereo delivered very crisp sound with a lot of punch. You made the right choice selecting the Base stereo, its not good IMO, but not worth the upgrade to Bose.

shaytun

People seem to think the Burmester sound system is much better than the Bose. I have no reason to dispute this. However the one question I had is is the difference noticeable if you're not playing lossless music. For example I play almost all my music from Spotify.

RIndy

I have the base system and on rare occasion it has lost connection with the ipod. The system will frequently take up to a min to connect. Never takes more than a min.

c_Gio

Bose gets no love in the car world. Interesting. In aviation they are *the* headset to buy for the GA crowd. I love mine. Very happy the day I could afford mine. (Not all pilots are millionaires--in fact most aren't!).

In other news I am typing this in bed next to a Bose Wave radio clock--which I think is still considered the final word in small footprint/big sound. Nothing from B&O withstanding...

But in cars... No love!

maxpowers

That's been my experience as well. I'm definitely not an audiophile, but I listened to the Bose and to my unsophisticated ears I couldn't tell the difference. I've listened to more music than I was expecting and have been very pleased with the audio quality.

If there's not much difference why are do many cars at the dealership have the Bose?

chuck911

Of course it is. When people say you need a good source to really appreciate what the best systems can do, what they're really saying is given the finest recordings they will faithfully reproduce them. They will also faithfully reproduce everything that's on the crappiest recordings! Lesser systems however simply cannot play back anything really well. Generally speaking crappy compressed recordings still sound better on a fine audiophile system than a lesser system that basically piles crap on top of crap.

By the way, this works both ways. The superior quality of the finest recordings can still be appreciated even on really cheap systems. In fact it is very educational to do so. A gem like Janis Ian Breaking Silence will make the base system sing. Just don't turn it up very loud. There's limits to everything, you know!

Tapeworm

Honestly, I could hear very little difference between any of them - and I tried really hard. A friend recently got an Audi RS7 with it's $7,000 B&O stereo - after hearing how amazing that was I took a USB to the local Porsche dealer and spent some time sitting in a Turbo S with the Burmeister. Honestly, it did 't sound good at all after the Audi. In think the RS7 has raised my bar forever and nothing Porsche makes will live up to this :-(

I was disappointed with the Burmeister compared to the Bose system I have - it had a little more base and a few more preset modes (which I never like what they do to the audio) - but at regular levels, on the music I listen to a lot, I didn't notice a significant difference. My previous Boxster Spyder had the base system and for mostly talk XM, it was just fine. I do wish Porsche had a proper high end option, but maybe it's out of place in a sports car....

berkeley

With all the ambient noise in the car, engine and tire especially, a high end stereo just doesn't make sense. Testing the sou d system has to be done on the road, the freeway preferably, not at the parking lot at idle speed.