L76

Haven’t come to really appreciate the Burmester in my 992. Yet. Have Bose in my 958.2 Cayenne S… and (gulp) everything from tonal balance, sound stage, stereo imaging, etc. sounds better in the Cayenne. My primary source is amazon music (HD downloads/streaming on phone), but I’ll listen to Sirius XM (with reduced expectations) from time to time. Been messing around with the settings in the 992, but juuuuust can’t get it where I consistently like it. I’m a set it and forget it guy… so I really wish I had finer granular control over the ENTIRE system. I would remap the soundstage.

Anyway… just to make sure I’m dealing with same/best source material… what is the setting in PCM to ensure Burmester is playing my downloaded/streaming HD music from phone (via fire wire usb connection in armrest) vs. from Bluetooth (compressed)? I don’t want to turn Bluetooth off on my phone (or as a connection in the car) but I think I see PCM defaulting to Bluetooth source (compressed music) even when phone is plugged into armrest.



cheers,
L76

Staffie Guy

The difference between Bose and Burmester is significant. If everything sounds better with the Bose, I would see an audiologist.

To answer your question, there is a menu under Burmester with the following choices:

smooth
pure
live
surround

Listen to each choice and select the one that sounds the best.

and check that hearing.......

L76

Hearing is fine. It’s the listening that isn’t. 🤣 Aware of those choices. They’re all “meh”. I’m a bit of an audiophile. Does anyone know how to ensure that the music file/source is coming from the wire and not Bluetooth?

thx!

remington

yes, turn off your phone bluetooth

I have Burmester in my C2 and it sounds amazing while not moving. The faster you go, the less great it sounds. I had Bose in a 981, different platform I know, but Burmester is significantly better than that but the 992 is significantly louder than the 981. I've had all 3 sound options at various times, the only one that is a dealbreaker unless it's a track car is the base.

L76

Understand. But turning off Bluetooth on phone disconnects it for hands free phone calls… Right?

P.S. perhaps there’s something wrong with my Burmester? I have had 4 different people sit in the 992 and my cayenne and listen to the same source from my phone and all have agreed with my OP assessment. I’m just trying to eliminate variances in my testing before concluding Burmester is a waste of $ or… if there’s something wrong in my vehicle or music source. I’ll disconnect the BT on my phone for tests, but I don’t think it satisfies my “set it and forget it” desire to use my phone hands free at same time with an “optimized” car stereo.

L76

V999

Cayenne is a vastly better acoustic environment than a 911. I would think music will sound better in the Cayenne than anny 911 unless the source material or equipment is truly awful.

Bose in my 991.2 wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful. I’d bet the same exact Bose equipment in a cayenne would sound vastly better than the 911. And I expect the Burmester in my incoming Cayenne S to sound that much better due to acoustics and sound deadening not present in my 991.2 GTS.

yrralis1

I have Burmester in my new Macan GTS . I have Bose in my 992 GTS . I would not bother putting it in a 911 . The only reason I have it in my Macan is there was a stop sale on Bose at the time . I think its insane to pay 6K for a radio but I did it. Now that I have it I do feel its very nice with HD music . Its not worth 6K .. but still very nice .

zachr

Haven't heard the Bose in a Cayenne, but I quite like the Burmester in my 992. The soundstage advantage of a Cayenne is pretty unfair; a 911 cockpit is not an amphitheater, that's for sure. I use carplay, wired, because it transmits lossless audio from Apple Music. But if you're using the same source and source material back to back, and you've connected the phone to the car the same way, you might just dislike the way the Burmester sounds. Maybe your preferred music sounds better with the bass-heavy, thumpy sound profile that is Bose's signature.

doug_999

Damn
It is as if nobody wants to answer your question, instead they want to tell you how great it is, how bad it is, and/or how bad your hearing is - it is as if they just want to type a response, even if it is not helpful. I'm sorry.

@L76 , I did download to an SD card but even then, I will say the music can be inconsistent - sometimes perfect, sometimes not. Very strange. I do think you need to do two different things
1. Turn off Bluetooth - just to test what is going on. If still bad then
2. Find another Burm 992 to test with - I agree, if that bad, it could be something wrong.

I'm trying to remember, there was a post on the bimmerpost.com forums re the X3 - for them the Amazon HD music worked best using the Amazon HD app, not CarPlay... I think that was it?

L76

Thx doug_999.

Yeah. Social media. ;} So... what I have found... ongoing...

1. Turned BT off on phone and physically connected iPhone in armest via an Apple OEM USB C - firewire.
2. Made sure music downloaded to phone was HD/FLAC for playback. Source = Amazon Music Prime (HD).
3. Engine off. Parked. Listen.

OK. Sounds much better. BUT...

I still find controls lacking... and (perhaps due to the better acoustics of my Cayenne vs. the 911)... still not as balanced as the BOSE in my Cayenne.

A) Burmester controls for fade/balance + treble/bass are far short of the full equalizer I'd like. (Ha! Ha!)
B) None of Burmester's pre-programmed sound stages (Pure/Surround/etc.) work for "set it and forget it" for me.
C) I do not like any of them (mostly because they all seem to focus the sound stage to the center speaker/s... and it sounds like my sport chrono is barking (rather tweeting) at me... instead of a proper music ensemble (20Hz - 20Mhz) with stereo/surround separation with instrumentality coming geo-spatially from the areas the recordings intended.

I have listened to recordings that I know VERY well in my tests. Music that I have used to purchase reference home audio equipment by... and with Burmester in the 992 I find that I want to change the settings for each song/recording ... problem B. I drive my cars. Don't want to spend time fiddling with the audio system. Perhaps I need to just shut the system off... and listen to the best soundtrack in the car... ;}

P.S. I will be turning BT off on my phone every time I use it in my 992. When connected in the armrest all of the Apple Carplay features (including hands-free calling and Siri) all still work... and I am getting clean/pure music from my phone. If I want to I can still listen to Sirius XM or other sources (at lower/compressed quality).

Cheers,
L76

doug_999

@L76 - I hate to say it, I agree. I think the Burmester is so much better than the Bose, but yes, it is one of the few stereos where one song will sound perfect and the next one not so much. I think you hit the nail on the head - it needs an EQ.

I was under the impression that CarPlay used Wifi, not Bluetooth (uses BT to initially connect), but it sounds like the Amazon music is coming through BT - that's not cool. No settings on the app to change that?

fantom557

I am done with Sirius. Which streaming service gives the best quality sound?

L76

Ok. Going down the rabbit hole a little here…( my following comments are based on my OBSERVATIONS and ANALYSIS… so corroboration to determine the facts = caveat emptor).

basis for my observations/analysis
my brother is a lifelong professional musician and has advised extensively over the last 2.5 decades how money is made in the industry
I have personally been in and had good conversations with studio engineers who have recorded and mastered music we have all listened to ( my brother introduced me and has taken me to recording sessions)
I have experimented with numerous streaming services, file formats, players, devices, high end home and (custom and OEM) car audio
the internet / blogs

1. The technology is changing. Constantly. With any downloadable music (live streaming as well as downloading the music file) the licensing/encryption for the rights to that music is encoded in the file.
2. The real money in music used to be made selling albums and merchandise. Today it is made in licensing rights (eg your song as a title track to a show or in a commercial), live performance/concerts, small fee each time it is played/downloaded, and merchandise. This is one of the reasons for #1.
3.The “player” (eg Spotify, Amazon Music, whatever) will not play the source file unless it detects #1… even if you have the music file downloaded to your phone.
4. The equipment and instruments available today allow garage bands to “record” studio quality music… literally in their garage. HOWEVER… much of the music today is being recorded (and streamed) for earbuds as a primary medium for playback. The tonal range is literally intentionally tapered/engineered off (not a compressed file… yet) because bass and midrange recreation for earbuds is different than your studio monitors in your home theater system… and the millennials who comprise most music $ spend aren’t listening on traditional stereo systems (let alone on Burmesters in their 992s). Supply. Meet demand. If you’re reading this post, you’re like me… on the wrong side of the demand curve for quality music recordings.

OK.. so my observations:
A. your player will attempt to connect to the internet to validate #1. Even if you paid for… and have the file downloaded to your phone. Don’t believe me? Ever try to play an old playlist from a few years ago and found one of the songs cannot be played back, or is no longer available? Or …try to play a downloaded file from one service outside of that service’s “player” (app)?
B. You can avoid A and 1 above by buying CDs (yeah, I just said that) and converting the music into FLAC files, then playing these files from a storage device or music server (not a player/app).
C. All streaming services stink in some capacity or another for people with our discernment. CDs were the height of quality portable music… but they’re not as portable/flexible/easy to distribute/profitable as compressed internet files (mp3s etc). CDs are also hard to “re-monetize” (eg music as a service has a monthly fee, the CD is a one and done purchase)

Personally… I use Amazon Music (not the free Prime version) because:
1. They tend to (more often than all others) have the content. Even esoteric versions of songs, etc that aren’t on Spotify, Pandora, etc.
2. they have HD and UHD versions of the music, and you can set your music streaming as well as downloads to restrict to these.
3. When I buy a cd on amazon.com… they give me the download file formats in my amazon music app as well. (I have yet to compare CD music file to what amazon provides here)

With all that… I am listening in my Porsches via physical connection (Bluetooth off, but internet on) to get the best that I can. Now if I can just get control over the Burmester so that it doesn’t sound like sound ricocheting from my sport chrono and the windshield! 🤣🤣🤣

cheers,
L76



Reproducing music over any system as it was originally

chong0

i had a 958.1 cayenne with bose and my 992 has burmester.

perhaps you found a sweet spot with the bose in cayenne but i thought it was way too boomy, oversaturated in the low frequencies and almost inaudible the louder you turn up the system.

the majority of my music is flac that is streamed over BT, the really good stuff is on an SD card but i don't find a substantial difference with engine on. agree, it would be nice if burmester gave you at least an equalizer to adjust but pick the least of the caustic 4 modes and hopefully forget it

all of this became secondary after having tune with flaps open. may be a phase, but really enjoying exhaust with flaps open at all times. At this point, i'm just happy i can turn the burmester volume higher than exhaust when i want to listen to music without distortion. all the nuances of proper timbre and tone quality go out the window in preference to the turbo whistles and a more proper exhaust tone.

colnagoG60

Is there any way to adjust BT settings so its used for "calls only"?