Bose vs Sound Package Plus
Discussion
Hi All,
thinking of swapping my Gen 2 Boxster (with Bose) for a Gen 2 Cayman with Sound Package Plus. Will I notice a big drop in sound quality? The Bose stereo in my Boxster is pretty good, not amazing, but I'm happy with it. I like my music and like it quite loud with zero distortion/door card rattles.
Is SPP adequate in the Gen2 Cayman?
Dave
thinking of swapping my Gen 2 Boxster (with Bose) for a Gen 2 Cayman with Sound Package Plus. Will I notice a big drop in sound quality? The Bose stereo in my Boxster is pretty good, not amazing, but I'm happy with it. I like my music and like it quite loud with zero distortion/door card rattles.
Is SPP adequate in the Gen2 Cayman?
Dave
Hi Dave,
Sorry if this ends up confusing you, but I have a different opinion to ORD. I was thinking the same as you, so I did a back to back test at a Porsche dealer. My notes:
1) Basic stereo speakers. Terrible. Really terrible. Basically don't bother. Only really of use for listening to an incoming telephone call (if you have the mobile preparation) or the radio news. Otherwise turn off and listen to the engine.
2) Sound Package Plus. Big improvement. Decent volume and small cabin anyways means easily sufficient. Nice sound balance. Very good value for money.
3) Bose. More volume, but more volume wasted / not needed in the 981 cabin. Well, maybe in a Boxster with the roof off, but I doubt it / not if you don't want to be anti social and look like an idiot. Very bass heavy /boomy sound quality. Far too bass heavy to my taste. I think if you like rhythm and bass music, hip hop and such it could be worth spending the extra. But for the type of think that I like (singer songwriter, guitars, jazz...) I had to turn down the bass, make sure the digital processing was adjusted to turn "loudness" off. I was able to adjust to something more neutral, but it required lots of fiddling with settings and didn't offer much over SP+. It is not a huge extra expense, but I would not bother unless the car already comes with it.
4) Burmester. I didn't listen to, but then I did not want to spend over 2k on an upgrade over the cost of Bose.
At home I have Naim hifi and high end Bower & Wilkins speakers, so I do enjoy listening to music and have spent some money on good hifi. All of my music files are lossless file formats, rather than compressed downloads. So having decent speakers in my car was important to me, but it was secondary to the engine tone.
Sorry if this confuses your decision! My best advice is to do a back to back test at a dealer like I did because so much of this is subjective.
Simon.
Sorry if this ends up confusing you, but I have a different opinion to ORD. I was thinking the same as you, so I did a back to back test at a Porsche dealer. My notes:
1) Basic stereo speakers. Terrible. Really terrible. Basically don't bother. Only really of use for listening to an incoming telephone call (if you have the mobile preparation) or the radio news. Otherwise turn off and listen to the engine.
2) Sound Package Plus. Big improvement. Decent volume and small cabin anyways means easily sufficient. Nice sound balance. Very good value for money.
3) Bose. More volume, but more volume wasted / not needed in the 981 cabin. Well, maybe in a Boxster with the roof off, but I doubt it / not if you don't want to be anti social and look like an idiot. Very bass heavy /boomy sound quality. Far too bass heavy to my taste. I think if you like rhythm and bass music, hip hop and such it could be worth spending the extra. But for the type of think that I like (singer songwriter, guitars, jazz...) I had to turn down the bass, make sure the digital processing was adjusted to turn "loudness" off. I was able to adjust to something more neutral, but it required lots of fiddling with settings and didn't offer much over SP+. It is not a huge extra expense, but I would not bother unless the car already comes with it.
4) Burmester. I didn't listen to, but then I did not want to spend over 2k on an upgrade over the cost of Bose.
At home I have Naim hifi and high end Bower & Wilkins speakers, so I do enjoy listening to music and have spent some money on good hifi. All of my music files are lossless file formats, rather than compressed downloads. So having decent speakers in my car was important to me, but it was secondary to the engine tone.
Sorry if this confuses your decision! My best advice is to do a back to back test at a dealer like I did because so much of this is subjective.
Simon.
SPP is competent for a car stereo. It's not brilliant, but it creates an entirely listenable sound. I find it amusing that the speakers that came standard in my MX-5 to this day have never been surpassed on sound from a stock car stereo. Then again I had a drive of a Yeti recently and was impressed by just how much nicer specced (again as standard) it was than my Cayman. But that's just the way that Porsche roll.
I have no experience of the Bose setup in the later cars but I was able to substantially reduce the boomy bass problem in my gen 1 Cayman by stuffing the Bose sub woofer enclosure with wadding. This is a really simple, quick, cheap and very worthwhile improvement and seems to be a common DIY modification on the US Porsche forums.
rob.kellock said:
I'm with ORD.
I have SSP in my Spyder. It is adequate. Just.
I used to have Bose in my 996 and that was better although the observations above regarding it being bass heavy are bang on the money.
I've got Sound Package Plus in my Spyder. I find it quite alright to be honest. I have SSP in my Spyder. It is adequate. Just.
I used to have Bose in my 996 and that was better although the observations above regarding it being bass heavy are bang on the money.
I had Bose in a Cayman S and was never blown away by it. I did find it very bass heavy to the point I turned the bass right down.
I am quite a dance music fan so bass is something i normally don't mind. However I did find the cayman cabin had weird acoustics and quite boomy.
458 Italia said:
Basic system is unacceptable, really poor on a premium car.
Sound package plus should be standard and as that it would be acceptable.
BOSE is a bit better, but somehow it isn't quite right at higher volumes and boomy.
Burmester is priced out of the equation.
None of them come anywhere near to the systems from Audi with B&O, Land Rover with Meridian etc. You can really wind the volume up and enjoy those.
I've ordered Burmester, it seems like I'm the only person to have ever done so in a Cayman. Did you listen to a Cayman Burmester system? I take delivery in a couple of weeks. Sound package plus should be standard and as that it would be acceptable.
BOSE is a bit better, but somehow it isn't quite right at higher volumes and boomy.
Burmester is priced out of the equation.
None of them come anywhere near to the systems from Audi with B&O, Land Rover with Meridian etc. You can really wind the volume up and enjoy those.
I would go down the premium sound option and then have speakers upgraded by a competent high end shop. Without going crazy with amps and other crazy suns a decent set of speakers to replace the crappy standard ones should already go a loooooong way to get some decent sounds without adding too much wait/drilling.
And honestly a set of upgraded speakers if done well should be completely invisible and hence not affect warranty. Unless for a RMS issue they start opening door cards..
And honestly a set of upgraded speakers if done well should be completely invisible and hence not affect warranty. Unless for a RMS issue they start opening door cards..
All the factory fit options are dreadful (I have not tried Burmeister though). I got so fed up with Bose in the end I spent £2.5k on a new system. Where to start with why the standard systems are rubbish - PCM is terrible in every way, just a margin driver for Porsche. The wiring is all poor quality. The speakers are OK. The sub is poor. The amp is a cheap piece of rubbish. Most importantly the doors are not well soundproofed. The install I had is a Pioneer head unit that is light years ahead of PCM, much better amp & speakers, and loads of deadening in the doors. Night and day better than Bose.
Hmmm, so it sounds like SPP may be sufficient in a Cayman (which should be quieter than my Boxster anyway given its a hard top). I tend to listen to my ipod most of the time, but do like to crank up the volume so don't want lots of door card rattles/distortion. The stereo I used to have in my old BMW was much better than the Bose in my Boxster, but the Bose is adequate and I don't really want to lose stereo quality if I do plump for the SPP in the Cayman I'm looking at. Arrrgh, dilemma!
SimonOcean said:
Hi Dave,
Sorry if this ends up confusing you, but I have a different opinion to ORD. I was thinking the same as you, so I did a back to back test at a Porsche dealer. My notes:
1) Basic stereo speakers. Terrible. Really terrible. Basically don't bother. Only really of use for listening to an incoming telephone call (if you have the mobile preparation) or the radio news. Otherwise turn off and listen to the engine.
2) Sound Package Plus. Big improvement. Decent volume and small cabin anyways means easily sufficient. Nice sound balance. Very good value for money.
3) Bose. More volume, but more volume wasted / not needed in the 981 cabin. Well, maybe in a Boxster with the roof off, but I doubt it / not if you don't want to be anti social and look like an idiot. Very bass heavy /boomy sound quality. Far too bass heavy to my taste. I think if you like rhythm and bass music, hip hop and such it could be worth spending the extra. But for the type of think that I like (singer songwriter, guitars, jazz...) I had to turn down the bass, make sure the digital processing was adjusted to turn "loudness" off. I was able to adjust to something more neutral, but it required lots of fiddling with settings and didn't offer much over SP+. It is not a huge extra expense, but I would not bother unless the car already comes with it.
4) Burmester. I didn't listen to, but then I did not want to spend over 2k on an upgrade over the cost of Bose.
At home I have Naim hifi and high end Bower & Wilkins speakers, so I do enjoy listening to music and have spent some money on good hifi. All of my music files are lossless file formats, rather than compressed downloads. So having decent speakers in my car was important to me, but it was secondary to the engine tone.
Sorry if this confuses your decision! My best advice is to do a back to back test at a dealer like I did because so much of this is subjective.
Simon.
I think this is a fair appraisal of the two, in particular "it required lots of fiddling with settings and didn't offer much over SP+."Sorry if this ends up confusing you, but I have a different opinion to ORD. I was thinking the same as you, so I did a back to back test at a Porsche dealer. My notes:
1) Basic stereo speakers. Terrible. Really terrible. Basically don't bother. Only really of use for listening to an incoming telephone call (if you have the mobile preparation) or the radio news. Otherwise turn off and listen to the engine.
2) Sound Package Plus. Big improvement. Decent volume and small cabin anyways means easily sufficient. Nice sound balance. Very good value for money.
3) Bose. More volume, but more volume wasted / not needed in the 981 cabin. Well, maybe in a Boxster with the roof off, but I doubt it / not if you don't want to be anti social and look like an idiot. Very bass heavy /boomy sound quality. Far too bass heavy to my taste. I think if you like rhythm and bass music, hip hop and such it could be worth spending the extra. But for the type of think that I like (singer songwriter, guitars, jazz...) I had to turn down the bass, make sure the digital processing was adjusted to turn "loudness" off. I was able to adjust to something more neutral, but it required lots of fiddling with settings and didn't offer much over SP+. It is not a huge extra expense, but I would not bother unless the car already comes with it.
4) Burmester. I didn't listen to, but then I did not want to spend over 2k on an upgrade over the cost of Bose.
At home I have Naim hifi and high end Bower & Wilkins speakers, so I do enjoy listening to music and have spent some money on good hifi. All of my music files are lossless file formats, rather than compressed downloads. So having decent speakers in my car was important to me, but it was secondary to the engine tone.
Sorry if this confuses your decision! My best advice is to do a back to back test at a dealer like I did because so much of this is subjective.
Simon.
I have SPP in my 981 - I ducked out of Bose due to a Bose system on a previous non-P vehicle (boom-tizz-boom-tizz). Having said that I've had a some loaners with Bose and done a few hundred miles listening to it. Lots of fiddling requried and I thought all Bose processing needed to be turned off, and the bass and treble turned down, in order to get a neutral sound. At that point I thought it was very slightly better than SPP. But slight, and not £400 better IMO.
It's not that I think SPP is amazing, but just trying to explain what I think the difference is between SPP and Bose.
I've heard the Burmester in a Cayman and it was very good indeed, although that was in a stationary vehicle. I would have considered it at half the cost, but at £2.5k or whatever it is I think it's nuts.
JLR seem to have struck the right balance with the cost and performance of the Meridian systems. I use Meridian at home at it's a very different tech and philosophy to Bose.
Hope this helps.
S
Edited by stevod on Monday 31st March 10:59
paralla said:
I've ordered Burmester, it seems like I'm the only person to have ever done so in a Cayman. Did you listen to a Cayman Burmester system? I take delivery in a couple of weeks.
Could I ask you to 'report back' on that when delivered? I'm in the process of speccing up a Cayman, but was unimpressed by the Bose option, so was thinking of taking the plunge and ordering the Burmester kit.Thanks,
ian.
Krobar said:
Id also be really interested in the Burmester setup in the Cayman. Bose has no midrange to my ears and SPP although tonally better was poor. Heard the Burmester in a 911 cab and it was an improvement but still seems to have been EQd by a teenage drum and bass fan.
Most car systems are over-processed/crappy to be honest. I would love to see ATC or someone like that enter the car audio market.Krobar said:
Id also be really interested in the Burmester setup in the Cayman. Bose has no midrange to my ears and SPP although tonally better was poor. Heard the Burmester in a 911 cab and it was an improvement but still seems to have been EQd by a teenage drum and bass fan.
Given the amount of background noise I really can't see the point of spending much on a sound system - Bose certainly leaves a lot to be desired (clean bass to my ears) , so it's difficult to recommend it over SPP. Gassing Station | Boxster/Cayman | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff