Bose Sound Pack - Opinions

[MaccyT]

Sound is a personal thing but I’m wondering if something is wrong with yours @pm4s and @KLMRCLL because it’s also not the best sound system I ever had in a car but also definitely not the worst. I Will check my current settings.​

Maybe try and listen to it in another Macan with the same source and music just to verify if there is maybe something wrong ?​

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Got my low/base at 1​

And my treble at 1​

Balance in the center between front and back and left and right.​

SoundTrue off​

AudioPilot off​

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Playing Smooth Criminal from MJ sounds good from CarPlay at 320kbps AAC or Phil Collins from CarPlay and 320kbps AAC​

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Not as immersive like at a dolby atmos theater but really sounds good taking it’s price also into account. It’s “relatively” a cheap upgrade to spec.​

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[pm4s]

I do know a few people that work at Bose. Their headquarters is a couple towns over. I'll ask if they know which design team it was.

Unbelievable thank you, although I would not want to show my face if I designed that

 

[actuario]

Happy Christmas !
If everyone agrees the sound system is rubbish, why do we keep choosing it as an extra on the EV?
Is there any chance the system will be improved in my Macan, which arrives in March?

 

[AlexJ]

Happy Christmas !
If everyone agrees the sound system is rubbish, why do we keep choosing it as an extra on the EV?
Is there any chance the system will be improved in my Macan, which arrives in March?

It still better than the base one.
I just received mine, it’s already a MY26 so it’s unlikely to be improved in March

 

[AlexJ]

Sound is a personal thing but I’m wondering if something is wrong with yours @pm4s and @KLMRCLL because it’s also not the best sound system I ever had in a car but also definitely not the worst. I Will check my current settings.​

Maybe try and listen to it in another Macan with the same source and music just to verify if there is maybe something wrong ?​

​

Got my low/base at 1​

And my treble at 1​

Balance in the center between front and back and left and right.​

SoundTrue off​

AudioPilot off​

​

Playing Smooth Criminal from MJ sounds good from CarPlay at 320kbps AAC or Phil Collins from CarPlay and 320kbps AAC​

​

Not as immersive like at a dolby atmos theater but really sounds good taking it’s price also into account. It’s “relatively” a cheap upgrade to spec.​

​

I listen through Qobuz which is lossless, so it’s clearly not the source.

It’s a cheap upgrade, but it’s still on a Porsche.
I think when people say it’s bad/trash, it should be taken in this context.
And for instance, it shouldn’t be outperformed by an HK system on a 10-year old BMW. And I don’t think the upgrade was much more expensive on it than the Bose.
It’s still far better than most cars.

Only advice I’d give, is to put the profile to Surround mode, and not Stereo.
This kind of option has always been utter garbage in all cars I’ve tried.. except this one.
And knowing Bose, they probably designed the speakers with this in mind.

 

[AndrewH]

Nothing has ever come close to the HK system I once had on a JCW Mini Hatch though, even the Burmeister system in our EQA.

Totally with you on that one! The HK system in my LCI R53 Cooper S was so bloody good The system in my 2020 Tesla Model S was pretty close but not quite as good.

The Bose in the Macan is ok. As someone else has pointed out somewhere else on this forum, it’s reasonable at volumes at or above 23. Below that, i just find the bass falls off way too quickly even when you max it out.

I reckon a good system is one where you only need to set the bass at about 6 out of 10 for it to be loud enough most of the time. That way, you have somewhere to go if you are in the mood and really want to feel it.

 

[CHP]

If you stream music and like to listen to music at higher volumes with more bass, Bose is a reasonable option. I also prefer Surround sound setting, EQ is a joke. I didn’t notice a wow factor in Taycan or Panamera either.

Bose appears to be the sweet point in terms of price and this is done deliberately. Make the top range significantly more expensive and customers think they got good value for money with mid tier option.

 

[pm4s]

Happy Christmas !
If everyone agrees the sound system is rubbish, why do we keep choosing it as an extra on the EV?
Is there any chance the system will be improved in my Macan, which arrives in March?

The base is 150w vs. 710w Bose, Burmester is 1470w.
Common sense says all things being equal more is better.
I went with the Bose as I could not afford the Burmester and relying on my Bose Boxster experience I was stupid enough not to test it during the test drive, dealer obvious to the shortcomings of the Bose had maxed out the bass & tremble for that boom boom tiss sound, I turned it off immediately (sounded awful) and just (wrongly) assumed if I put everything back to flat/stereo it would sound normal.
I could have never imagined it could sound so crap (life lesson; don’t assume, check everything).
Now about these numbers, these mean absolutely nothing, unless you’re ignorant/teenager/at a bar/etc. although not like for like my 360w HK in my F56 with less speakers blows the Macan EV Bose into the ground.

 

[jm1883]

Looks like I’m not alone in my love for the sound systems in the Minis, all generations up to the F56 were great!

 

[pm4s]

I have owned for many years Bose, HK & B&O.
I have auditioned but not owned Meridian & ML.
For reference the ML system was the best but even though every system sounds completely different I could live with all of them and be 100% happy.
The Bose in the Macan EV only betters one of my cars for sound quality, one that due to age had both paper cones torn, only 2 speakers in that car so above a certain level it would distort and you had to lower the volume, Macan EV does not have this issue and it’s the only praise I can give it.

 

[Stuart]

I agree with the above, I find the Bose in the Macan EV shockingly bad, it is easily the worst optioned system I have heard I my life.
Although systems from HK, B&O, Meridian, ML sounded better than the Bose in my Boxster, I loved that system and was satisfied 100% with it.
Satisfaction with Bose in the Macan is 0%, the sound is terrible, a lot worse than stock systems.
I have tried every setting & every source, it sounds as listening under water.
Without ripping the system out to study it, as I know Bose can sound good from experience & Macan or Macan sized cars can sound good, again from experience, I am happy to blame Android for the truly awful sound, not because I can prove it but because I simply cannot think of anything else.
I like to think the AAOS mixer resamples everything to 8 kbps mono as that's what I can best describe the sound as.
I may have lost half of my hearing but I'm not deaf and can certainly tell the difference between every system. No 2 systems sound alike.

I don't understand 2 things:
1) Why is the sound so terrible?
2) Why some people don't mind the sound, think the sound is ok or even like the sound, are we not hearing the same thing?

My advice if you like sound systems:
1) Do not get a Macan EV
2) If you have to have a MAcan EV untick every possible option just to tick the 5K (6K now?) Burmester* option
*Disclaimer I have not heard the Burmester in the Macan EV as I would probably kill my self for not specing it

In the 1 in a trillion probability somebody knows someone at Bose I would ask them the question how they managed to create a system that sounds completely crap. Unless they just made the BOSE badges and Porsche used some speaker supplier that uses wet paper for the cones?

If it's just the speakers (I doubt it; how bad can they be) I am assuming a company would pick up on this and offer plug & play speaker replacement kits with adapters/harnesses/instructions, etc.

good point with are we not hearing the same thing, probably not and for many reasons, the music you listen to is probaby not the same as mine, as you said you have a hearing impairment so do I but what frequencies are we both impaired with, what is the source of the music.

All these things have a huge impact and also what are we used to listening to, I used be an audio file, before I got married , and spent 10's of thousands on home audio back in the late 90's, so nothing ever sounded good enough, constantly looking for the next improvement. car audio is difficult as you are in a funny shaped box with limited place toposition speakers for good imaging plus you are not sat in the middle but off to one side.

The other point is what sounds good to you, thats all that counts.

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