E-Class (W213) 2016 - 2023

The Burmester audio system is truly awesome

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Old 08-02-2017, 10:05 PM
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The Burmester audio system is truly awesome

After years of diddering on ripping my entire CD collection, MB finally finally forced my hand with the non availability of a disc player. After almost 4 straight days of work I finally re-digitized my entire collection into a portable SSD ending up with almost 5000 tracks and 130 megs of flac files. After a little editing, since the largest microthumb drive available is 128 mb, and more than an hour of copying through USB 3.0 my in-car music library was ready!
I plugged it in to one of the USB ports in the center armrest storage area and voila! Instant concert hall!
As far as car stereo is concerned the Burmester is almost flawless in pitch accuracy and range. Its not thunderously loud though its more than loud enough to be enthusiastically sonorous at half the volume range.
It also happens to be utterly distortion free at that level and even beyond.
Amazing performance for an OEM system. Note that this is the "basic" Burmester. Im a long time audiophile with a collection of McIntosh and 800 series B&W speakers and Im happy to say that the Burmester doesnt sound too shabby in in comparison, given that my home setup is basicly Abby Road worthy. High praise indeed

Last edited by c4004matic; 08-02-2017 at 10:08 PM.
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Old 08-03-2017, 08:09 AM
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Interestingly, I felt that the base Burmester system in the new E sounded far better than the same (similar?) system in the new C. Not sure what, if anything, changed.
Old 08-03-2017, 09:19 AM
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Have to agree, I was pleasantly surprised, considering the speakers are made by Harmon. The system is like any other good home setup in terms of file quality, it needs FLAC files to really sing.

I've been listening in surround mode, it does a good job of elevating the soundstage.
Old 08-03-2017, 01:48 PM
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Originally Posted by BlackjackM
Interestingly, I felt that the base Burmester system in the new E sounded far better than the same (similar?) system in the new C. Not sure what, if anything, changed.

Had the Burmester in my former W205, the W213 blows it away without competition.
Old 08-03-2017, 02:16 PM
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Originally Posted by vic viper
Had the Burmester in my former W205, the W213 blows it away without competition.

What's different between the two?
Old 08-03-2017, 02:56 PM
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Originally Posted by BlackjackM
What's different between the two?
I wonder too since, as far as I know, its the same electronics. From a user point of view the only obvious difference is that the new version has a volume meter, something that was left out of the 205 radio for an inscrutable reason. I think one big difference is how silent the background of the car is thus providing superb and realistic dynamic range. I wonder if a more refined electronic noise reducer algorithm or simply better "tailoring" to the car acoustics is responsible. I have no qualms labeling it among the best, if not the best, OEM system on the market.
Old 08-03-2017, 03:59 PM
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A good sound system in a car has always been one of my top priorities. I'm waiting for my new E350e in 4 weeks and I can't wait to try the Burmester and very happy to see it getting great reviews ����
Old 08-03-2017, 04:25 PM
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Several speakers are the same as the 205 but the amplifier is entirely different.
Old 08-03-2017, 05:58 PM
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Originally Posted by c4004matic
After years of diddering on ripping my entire CD collection, MB finally finally forced my hand with the non availability of a disc player. After almost 4 straight days of work I finally re-digitized my entire collection into a portable SSD ending up with almost 5000 tracks and 130 megs of flac files. After a little editing, since the largest microthumb drive available is 128 mb, and more than an hour of copying through USB 3.0 my in-car music library was ready!
I plugged it in to one of the USB ports in the center armrest storage area and voila! Instant concert hall!
As far as car stereo is concerned the Burmester is almost flawless in pitch accuracy and range. Its not thunderously loud though its more than loud enough to be enthusiastically sonorous at half the volume range.
It also happens to be utterly distortion free at that level and even beyond.
Amazing performance for an OEM system. Note that this is the "basic" Burmester. Im a long time audiophile with a collection of McIntosh and 800 series B&W speakers and Im happy to say that the Burmester doesnt sound too shabby in in comparison, given that my home setup is basicly Abby Road worthy. High praise indeed
Well it better sound great after all that work. Glad to hear they improved the sound in the W213 as my W212 leaves me wanting more.

Also, I assume you meant 128gb, not mb, but is that a size limitation of the car? I thought I've read that folks have used portable drives that are larger.
Old 08-03-2017, 07:12 PM
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It took the 128gig drive just fine. The only issue is how I arranged the drive. I have 4800 individual tracks. Im going to redo it transferring the main file to see if it will organize the files by album.. Ill let you know.
Old 08-26-2017, 07:29 PM
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FLAC files

Originally Posted by c4004matic
After years of diddering on ripping my entire CD collection, MB finally finally forced my hand with the non availability of a disc player. After almost 4 straight days of work I finally re-digitized my entire collection into a portable SSD ending up with almost 5000 tracks and 130 megs of flac files. After a little editing, since the largest microthumb drive available is 128 mb, and more than an hour of copying through USB 3.0 my in-car music library was ready!
I plugged it in to one of the USB ports in the center armrest storage area and voila! Instant concert hall!
As far as car stereo is concerned the Burmester is almost flawless in pitch accuracy and range. Its not thunderously loud though its more than loud enough to be enthusiastically sonorous at half the volume range.
It also happens to be utterly distortion free at that level and even beyond.
Amazing performance for an OEM system. Note that this is the "basic" Burmester. Im a long time audiophile with a collection of McIntosh and 800 series B&W speakers and Im happy to say that the Burmester doesnt sound too shabby in in comparison, given that my home setup is basicly Abby Road worthy. High praise indeed
Hello from another audiophile. Have not begun the process of ripping, but just wanted to clarify if your car read flac files or did you have to down-convert them to MP3? The manual says only MP3, WMA and AAC formats are supported, all of which are lossy compressed, as opposed to higher quality FLAC. I was concerned when I read this in the manual (p276)
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Old 08-26-2017, 09:33 PM
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FLAC files play perfectly.
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Old 09-01-2017, 10:00 AM
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Audiobooks on Burmesters

Hi all

New at this site but like to share and ask some stuff.

My wife claimed the standard sound system S212 was crap (I agreed) so we added the extra. We are listening a lot on audio books and podcasts and I have to agree with the rest of you that the sound playing music is very good for sure BUT voices are awesome, crisp and clear. The surround makes it come from dash board without any rumbling bass

Well spent money

Sudden
Old 09-02-2017, 03:47 AM
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Hi

It is good value for money since the standard system is crappy (at least in 212 series). The sound quality playing music is very good BUT the quality listening to audio books, podcasts and such is really awesome. Its like old days where you had one speaker in the dashboard without any rumbeling bass.

This is a good combo for both music and speech


Sudden

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