twilightround

I'd like to hear from those of you who have the Buhrmester 3d sound system. How good is it? Does it take up any room (in trunk or otherwise) compared to the standard system? Would you buy it again?

Katie22

I would buy it again in a heartbeat ANY DAY OF THE WEEK. My MAYBACH has nearly all the options you can get on an S Class and I can say the 3d System is bar none the best feature of the car. I spent several K on my home system and it cant even compare to the quality sound you get out of the 3d system. I liked it so much that when I was buying a AMG GTC I checked for the top Burmeister on that car as well, which is not 3d but still sounds good.

Does it take up space in the trunk well there is a subwoofer in the side panel and probably amps as well but crap the trunk is not that big anyways and with the fridge in there its even smaller.

I have written an article on what I would call the best options you can get on a S class in my opinion.
the top three are the 3d sound system, magic body control, and finally the distronic.

PS if your someone that does not care about audio quality then disregard the 3d system.

RockSalt

I listened to the standard system when I test drove an S and was underwhelmed. The 3D system is pretty great for a factory system. Even at max volume, the mids and highs are clear. The front bass system is pretty impressive to the point where rear sub is lacking, but if your music doesn't really require a high amount of bass, it definitely is enough. The myriad of sound profiles can give you the sensation that you're being enveloped by your music or give you a basic stereo feel. An aftermarket system would completely outclass this or any other factory system for the cost, but I'm not too keen on having my car ripped apart when the 3D system is basically 90% there. I may add a small sub to complement 3D system, but that's about it. I will say that to temper your expectations especially if you are going to order it without listening to it first. A comparably priced home system will also be in a completely different league from this system and probably every factory audio system. That is to be expected, though, as it is incredibly difficult to make a car sound system sound great compared to a home system even with the rolling living room that is an S class (especially since I got rid of those garbage runflat tires for conventional tires and a spare that makes the tiny trunk even more so).

Final verdict is that the system is basically no distortion and clear highs and mids with decent bass and I wouldn't have another S without it, but don't expect mind-blowing sound if you're used to a high end home audio system. Basically like all audio gear, let your ears decide.

Katie22

I disagree with the home audio. I spend a lot of my home system and even with two subs and 7.2 surround I cant compare it to the 3d in the car EXCEPT for Bass as you did point out.

Quadrobenz

Agree with comments above. I bought it in both our S65 and E63S. The left rear corner of the trunk (behind the wheel well) is lost to the subwoofer.

RockSalt

I won't argue something as subjective as sound as everyone has their preferences. I'm also not trying to put down the 3D system since it is the best factory system I've heard, but if twilightround or anyone else is wondering if the 3D system is worth it (and I believe it is) and expects high end home audio sound in a car, they'll be disappointed because I know I would be if that's how it was described to me based on my home system.

Once again, I will say I'd pick it every time. I agree with Katie22 that my top options are the 3D sound and Driver Assistance Package. I'm a big fan of the surround view cameras as well.

twilightround

Thank you all. That is what I wanted to know.

Speednet

The 3D system is awesome. Just wait until you try it with setting your seat as the "VIP seat". WOW.

OnlyGerman

Be careful to take others option for sound. Others say the base sounds amazing, I think it is the worst ever, and a Camry sounds better. But then again, I hate every audio system that was in each of my Mercedes including the HK. I doubt I would be impressed with the 3D. On the other hand every BMW sound system has left me speechless, even their base ones....

2012 merc amg

My Base system seems to sound the best on DVD's especially in DTS and also sounds great on the built in Internet Radio. Most cannot get this working on the pre 2018 models but I kept at it and it works perfectly at this point. $18 extra dollars per month but worth it to me as I really like a lot of the stations and it sounds a lot better than if I'm streaming from my cell phone. I was trying to find a used S550 with the 3d but had no luck, it's a rare option and trying to find a used one is like finding a needle in the haystack. I'm pretty happy with the base system plus I really do need the extra trunk space.

miltownhpt

Test drove a S550 without the 3D and was kinda disappointed. Lucked up and bought one with it and sounds amazing. Definitely a must have. Have to turn it way up before you start to get any distortion.. and thats if you get any, which you won't on most songs.

OnlyGerman

Yeah the base sucks, every time I hear it I just want to sell the car. Really done with Mercedes. Your F10, if equipped with the HIFI Pro sounds better..BMW has great a system. I think it is based on demographics of these cars though...I do not fit your typical S class buyer LOL.

skeelo

If you enjoy high quality audio, it's worth every single penny. That was the first requirement when I bought my 2016 S63 2 years ago. Everything else was optional....

superpop

Really the only issue with the standard Burmester system is the lack of bass. Merc put the two 8" subs in the front footwells and they are shallow mount subs so there is really no way for the system to make up for the lack of proper sub drivers that can deliver any kind of bass. I solved this by installing a single 10" JL Audio 10W7AE3 sub in the trunk and drove it with a JL VX1000/1i. Signal comes off the sub feed to the front subs. System now rocks, I am not sure how JL Audio does it but but I have never heard so much strong, punchy bass from a single 10" sub in the sealed box. Contemplating going to a Toslink adapter now and removing the existing amp and adding another JL Audio amp for the mids and highs. PAC makes a black box that taps into the fiber optic for the audio and converts it into Toslink so you can remove all of the post processing and noise.

2012 merc amg

Ya, JL audio makes amazing stuff. I have same JL sub amp and a kicker subwoofer in my pickup truck and the bass is amazing. I don't really see the need to do it in my base system in my S550 though as I'm pretty happy with it, yet I do enjoy good sound systems. I really do find the source is about the most important thing for good sound. I pay 18 dollars to MB every month for internet radio. As long as the station is over 100KPS to me it sounds great. I listen to the 1960's station Cleansing music some, there are ads but not too bad. Hundreds of other stations too. Then I also listen to music streaming via my iPhone 11 over Amazon Prime as to me it sounds better than apple music which I actually pay 10 bucks a month so I don't loose my 1000's of stored songs on that. I have a fairly high end home system with Parasound and NAD amps and DCM time window speakers (now I'm really dating myself, lol) and ya it does sound better than the benz but no big deal. I'm sure the 3D would sounds a lot more comparable to my home system but sometimes in the car I just prefer to drive in silence anyhow, especially with how quiet and smooth my S550 drives.

hyperion667

Granted mine was a '14.....I thought the system was great!

schack

I have the 3D audio and hate to say that I am disappointed. For all its speakers and power it doesn't seem to be an "immersive" experience. All the vocals and instruments always seem localized and not surrounding. Maybe its my settings. Would anyone care to share their favorite settings for balance, fader, bass, surround field etc. that I could try?

Heisenberg

Like most good home and mobile systems, the Burmester 3D is very source dependent - garbage in, garbage out. It is amazing with high quality multichannel or most 2-ch stereo (FLAC/ALAC) recordings. Good quality M4A/MP3 rips ~ 320 kbps can be okay too. But it sounds like crap with distortion from the roof speaker (near the RVM in my coupe) with lower quality mp3 files, particularly anything downloaded from YouTube, which is ~ 128 kps at best. This makes sense because the system is trying to calculate sound for the extra speakers on the fly and spurious noises are introduced if the bits aren't there... So make sure to take it out of 3D mode with lower quality sources.

If you haven't already download the Burmester app on your phone and use it to test some properly recorded material in the various modes.

Quadrobenz

The music I usually listen to is .WAV format on USB's. These USB files were professionally made from about 200 original CD's. Not all CD's sound the same because some were made from old source recordings. Well made original recordings transferred to USB's in .WAV format sound fantastic in the car. When I switch the source to Sirius satellite radio the difference is apparent. To my ears even satellite radio sounds better in the 3D mode than with it turned off.

schack

Most of the music I listen to in my car is on my i-pod which I connect to the cars 3D audio system via a USB cord. The songs on my i-pod basically come from CDs that I have burned to i-tunes on my Mac, or that I have purchased from i-tunes. These songs have then been synced to my i-pod. It sounds like none of these songs would likely be the high quality loss-less audio referred to by some of the above posters, and indeed it is likely that my songs would be very low quality recordings. It that correct?

Warehouser

I do the same, I use a iPod classic 160GB. ALL my music is either bought or ripped from personal CD's. but the difference is I always covert them to Apple Lossless before transferring them to my iPod.

HUGE difference in sound quality...

MTrauman

The 3D system is worth every penny!

My '14 and '16 S550 4matics did not have the 3D system since I did not want the $6400 price tag. Then I decided to give it a shot on my '19 S63 AMG. Man what a difference. If one enjoys music it is a must have. I kick myself for buying two W222s without the 3D system after now owning the S63 with it. But I will say that the above comments are right on regarding the source of music and sound quality. I figured out early on in the '14 that with the right source/quality the standard system was absolutely amazing so I did not spring for the $6400 option on the second W222. Now with the 3D system I can simply tell a huge difference with the 3D system. Absolutely worth every penny if one loves great sounding systems (IMHO).

Speednet

To have the best quality, you would rip a CD to a lossless format -- either FLAC or ALAC. (Check the multimedia section in your model year manual to be sure it supports these formats -- my 2020 does.) Then, instead of syncing them to an iPod or phone, transfer them to an SD card or USB stick and plug that into the car's console (under the arm rest).

If your car does not support a lossless format (FLAC or ALAC) you can rip to a high-quality MP3 format, preferably 320 kbps.

schack

Boy, it looks like I have a lot of CD’s that I might have to “re-rip”.

Speednet

Give a couple/few a try and see if you notice a difference before re-ripping everything.