Porsche Taycan Turbo S Sport Tourismo with Burmester sound system

Porsche has been designing luxury cars for nearly 80 years; the carmaker is well-known throughout the world for its sports cars with sleek lines and cutting-edge designs. In the quest to ensure customers are experiencing the best quality product, Porsche sought out an established audio company to advise and help with a top-quality system to add for their consumers. In 2009, the legendary Dieter Burmester partnered with them to supply high-end sound systems for some of their models. The first system was introduced with the Panamera at launch, and since then, Burmester has expanded its reach into seven models.

I recall a lovely moment with the late Dieter Burmester at the High-End Munich Show when the company was introducing the Panamera system; he said with glee that there were some 16 speakers in the car, all of which were labelled with the Burmester name, however, Porsche was only written in the logo on the steering wheel!

Porsche Taycan Turbo S Sport Tourismo interior

The first fully electric Porsche was the Taycan, launched in 2019. At a shade under five metres long and two metres wide, it’s more executive class than race class. That being said, the Taycan Turbo S Sport Turismo seen here accelerates 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds despite the 2300 kg weight, which is pretty phenomenal! And with a maximum range of 275 miles (combined) you can travel quite a distance and get through a few albums on a single charge.

Facelift

In 2024, Porsche released a minor update to the Taycan, a facelift, but more like a Botox top-up rather than extensive plastic surgery. The fully electric Taycan features a newly enhanced battery, increasing the range and usable capacity. Rumour has it that a proper surgical enhancement is on its way for 2025.

What hasn’t changed is the remarkable and very robust Burmester in-car entertainment system. As they say, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. The system is optional at a touch over £3,500, including their 3D surround system. I would argue that this is a very reasonable price for a fully-loaded Burmester system and a fraction of the overall car cost. This includes a total system comprising 21 speakers strategically placed around the cabin, and the set-up includes three AMT tweeters buried in the dashboard. This impressive system offers a total output of 150 watts per channel.

In-car systems offer one of the best audio environments for listening. The reason for this is that the audio engineers have a fixed area that doesn’t change except the number of people within that space. Therefore, if you have the privilege to experience a system of this calibre, you are experiencing what the engineering team was imagining in their extensive research and design process.

The vehicle’s fixed space allows them to design for an area which is more accessible and better than a home environment, whereby the designer has no idea where the products will end up or how they will be placed. Will they be in a cavernous, dedicated listening room or in a small, tiny, shared space without the room for the components to completely flourish or do justice to the time spent creating their products?

Signal processing

In addition to the speaker placement, the Burmester system in the Taycan also utilises advanced signal processing technology to enhance the passengers’ listening experience further. As you would expect from a Burmester system, it is incredibly accurate and produces exceptional clarity and precision.

This is all great if you decide not to move your listening room on wheels! The caveat here is, of course, the noise of the road when you are in a car and moving. However, if the car is static, it’s almost an unparalleled listening environment! Once you begin to add engine noise and road noise, slowly, these impressive factors are reduced.

The beauty of the Porsche Taycan is that it is fully electric, so there is no engine noise. (Although there is an engine noise feature for inside or out if you want it!) This is a great start—one of the two main factors is removed!

As with all Burmester in-car audio systems, this system in the Taycan has customisable audio settings, which allow you to tailor the sound according to your personal preferences. It offers Pure, Smooth, Live, Auro 3D, and Auro 3D Intensity. According to Burmester, the Auro 3D ‘creates a soundstage in front of the occupants above the dashboard’. The addition of speakers in the A-pillar helps create this effect.

There is a range of equaliser settings and audio options, from the standard bass, treble, balance, and fade to listening position symmetry and sound conditioning and enhancement. This level of customisation ensures that you can enjoy your music exactly how you like it.

Exciting settings

Playing with the settings revealed some exciting results. Each option offered a different experience as you would expect; however, no setting suited every piece of music. I found myself adjusting the settings as I changed genre and style. For example, ‘Auro 3D’ was excellent for solo live recordings as it placed the voice/instrument directly in front and around you, creating an intimate effect of a small concert venue. These settings for a live orchestral recording did not work so well, as the crucial positioning of the instruments became somewhat muddled. Listening to Gran Partita, Mozart K361 (London Winds and Michael Collins), and upon changing that to a ‘Live’ setting, the blur disappeared, and the musicians moved back into their rightful positions on stage. The oboe of Collins soared through the car in an ethereal manner; the purity of the system even enabled me to hear the tonguing on the reed and the fingering as he followed the beautiful lines of this stunning work.

Wanting to push the system, I chose to listen to Arnesen: TUVAYHUN – Beatitudes. Wounded World. This is a stunning album recently released on 2L, a label arguably more concerned about recording quality and reproduction than any other label worldwide. The first track (‘Poor In Spirit’) starts with cymbals crashing, which reverberated around the whole car, followed by the strategically placed bell, which gave the impression that someone was ringing it by my ear! The opening has ‘cellos and double bass long drone-like notes. This is where the Sub came into its own; whilst the car lacks the seat shakers, which can be found in a Bentley, the Sub is powerful enough to feel deep tremors through the car. Due to the impressive build quality of these cars, that doesn’t mean that door panels and centre consoles start to rattle or that you suddenly experience a whole host of distortion. You experience a very tight bass which the system handles with great ease.

Track 12 (‘Those who Mourn’) includes some beautiful panpipes, and again, the clarity of the system brought through the breathy pipes, which contributed to the eeriness that Arnesen is seeking to create in this must-have album. Some quality was lost as it was streamed, but I suspect that was down more to the user than the platform!

Copes at all levels

At all volume levels, the Burmester system copes exceptionally well; at no point did it feel strained or lacking in power; it takes what you throw at it and delivers with a mature and developed sound. As you would expect, it makes the listening experience very pleasant, and that is no coincidence as Burmester has been developing high-end audio for years and has 15 years of experience offering upgrade solutions in the luxury car market. The most recent addition to its portfolio was the Ferrari with the Purosangue, launched last year. The Burmester system in this comes as standard, which says a lot about the belief that these well-respected car companies have in this very well-respected audio manufacturer.

Overall, the Burmester surround sound system, which, although it is an upgrade, is a standout feature that is highly recommended, and it helps to set the car apart from its competitors. The car, with this system, delivers an exceptional listening experience that is second to none. If you took the system out of the car, it’s the cheapest way to get a whole Burmester system; sadly this isn’t an option, but to get the car without it would be sacrilege!