Burmester 3D High-End Surround Sound System (2026 Porsche Macan Electric) review

Our last experience of Burmester in a Porsche was the excellent audio system offered on the all-electric Taycan. We found it to be a big jump up in quality – indeed, a “night and day difference” was how we described it in our review.

Does the optional Burmester system have a similar impact on our ears in Porsche’s best-selling model, the Macan? We plugged in the newest all-electric variant and pressed play to find out.

Price

Your first rung on the optional sound-system ladder for the Macan is the Bose Surround Sound System, which costs £963.

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If you want to step up to the more expensive Burmester 3D High-End Surround Sound System tested here, you are looking at a higher price tag of £2916.

System

For the money you get 21 speakers, 21 channels of amplification and 1470 Watts of power. In the front of the cabin you’ll find a trio of Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeters, which use ribbon diaphragms.

These are positioned on the top of the dashboard, with one tucked in each corner, and the third partnered with a midrange driver in the middle.

There’s a midrange driver and woofer in each front door and a full-range 3D speaker in the front A-pillars.

Each rear door gets a normal dome-tweeter, midrange driver and woofer, with a pair of surround tweeters and midrange drivers also positioned in the back, towards the rear parcel shelf.

In the boot, under the pull-up floor, is a 400W subwoofer which uses 400 watts of Class D amplification.

The processing modes you get with the system include Sound Enhancer which is designed to improve the sound of compressed music, while Auro 3D processing is there to help with immersiveness.

We would recommend having the sound enhancer turned on – we noticed a small, subtle lift in quality. When it comes to the 3D processing, we wouldn’t stray too far from the first couple of rungs on the ladder when you’re playing with the intensity.

We found it ok having some information coming out of those A-pillar speakers, but any more and it can result in a very messy and confused sound – the speakers start making their presence felt and not in a good way.

There is also an ‘Eco’ mode which crosses over from the Bose system and which we found delivered results that weren’t ideal for sound quality. To summarise, we found using the mode resulted in "a shrinking of scale, diminished dynamics and a more laid-back and less expressive sound".

Sound Modes

While some car systems offer a one-size fits all approach to the sound, with this Burmester option, you choose how to focus the sound in the car. Here you have the option of either ‘symmetrical’ or ‘driver’.

There’s nothing groundbreaking to see here; the former gives you more of an even spread of sound (which is going to be better when you have a car full of passengers) or you can create more of a focused stereo image for the driver, more akin to sitting in front of a pair of speakers.

If you’re the only person in the car, then it’s going to come down to a matter of taste as to which you prefer. Symmetrical gives you a fuller soundstage, pushes the soundfield back towards the windscreen and encourages a greater spread of sound. It sounds a bit more relaxed in its delivery.

Switch to the driver-focused setting and things tighten up. You are aware there is a shift of information from the far left of the cabin to a position much closer to your left ear.

This setting promotes a more up-front, focused sound, and places you more in your own private soundstage. It feels more as though you’re sitting in the sweet spot between a pair of speakers.

Your sound profile choices are Pure, Smooth and Live. Having experienced all three, we think there’s only really one choice. Pure delivers the best sound possible, and doesn't manipulate the signal in any way.

Smooth softens everything, to the point where music becomes less entertaining and more dull and subdued. There’s a real lack of clarity with frequencies at either end of the spectrum sounding rolled off.

Live boosts the top end, and makes music pop more than in Pure mode, but it uspets the balance and highs now sound splashy.

You also have bass and treble adjustment but no mid-range. We left both of these at '0' and left the fade/balance adjustment alone too.

Sound quality

Stick with the Pure setting and you’ll be treated to a hugely entertaining and lively sound. We start with a blast of Orpheus by Ash and the Burmester system gets off to a rock-infused, rhythm-driven start.

The track kicks off with a flurry of drum play and immediately gets you in the mood. The kick drum has impressive impact, and overall, there’s a real sense of energy that springs from the percussion.

Each thwack sounds precise and deliberate, and really helps to convey a sense of pace and speed.

There’s a real sense of drive to the track as it rolls along. Lyrics are delivered with vigour and verve, and there’s plenty of detail extracted.

We switch genres to some old-school soul in the shape of Sam and Dave’s Hold On, I’m Comin’ and the Burmester system does a great job of capturing the song’s funky delivery.

The vibe, detail and texture of the sax as it punches through the sound stage is impressive and showcases the system’s great dynamics. It’s backed up by the solid drum beat, and enthusiastic, expressive vocals which dip and soar in all the right places.

For a quick bass test, we move on to another classic test track of ours: Black Eyed Peas Let’s Get It Started, and the system throws an impressive amount of weight behind the track’s bassline. It’s punchy, powerful and agile. There’s no thick, treacle-like texture here – each note sounds clean and clear but not insubstantial.

During testing, we were fortunate to test it against the standard Bose Surround Sound System, and the Burmester was clearly better all-round. Yes it costs more, but we don’t think you should be in any doubt that opting for the Burmester will get you significantly better sound quality.

There’s much more of a spark to the sound. Music is more invigorating and the step-up system gets your foot tapping from the off. The Bose set-up lacks detail, definition and dynamics when compared with the Burmester, which is more capable and also more configurable.

Verdict

In our experience it can be very hard for a car sound system to sound fun to listen to. It sounds like a relatively simple requirement, but you might be surprised at how many we’ve tested that just fall flat; but not the Burmester 3D High-End Surround Sound System for the Porsche Macan.

Whatever you throw its way, this set-up takes it in its stride. It’s a hugely enjoyable listen worth all five of our stars.

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