Porsche is bringing a production-ready high-end automotive audio system featuring gallium nitride (GaN) technology to market. GaN is undergoing widespread adoption in electric vehicles. It offers significantly enhanced efficiency and power density compared to conventional silicon, enabling electronic systems to achieve higher performance in a smaller, lighter package. The new Burmester High-End Sound System for Porsche will now be the first to feature GaN semiconductors.
Porsche is bringing a production-ready high-end automotive audio system featuring gallium nitride (GaN) technology to market. GaN is undergoing widespread adoption in electric vehicles. It offers significantly enhanced efficiency and power density compared to conventional silicon, enabling electronic systems to achieve higher performance in a smaller, lighter package. The new Burmester High-End Sound System for Porsche will now be the first to feature GaN semiconductors.
Since spring 2024, a team of audio, semiconductor, and sustainability experts at Porsche worked together with the Institute for Robust Power Semiconductor Systems at the University of Stuttgart to develop the first prototype of a GaN-based subwoofer amplifier. The project resulted from an earlier collaboration with the university initiated in 2023 to harness the advantages of gallium nitride for use under the demanding conditions of a sports car.
Porsche now confirmed its first automotive audio application with GaN in the Burmester 3D High-End Surround Sound System. According to Porsche, a GaN-based high-performance chip handles the voltage conversion required to power the 400-watt subwoofer amplifier. The technology that will make the amplifier lighter, more compact, and more efficient is scheduled to make its production debut in a future Porsche vehicle in 2027.
Burmester’s partnership with Porsche has long served the brand’s factory-audio designs, with the Burmester High-End Surround Sound System positioned as a benchmark in the premium OEM segment. The system currently deployed across Porsche model lines such as Cayenne, Panamera, Taycan, and Macan Electric typically combines 21 speakers, 21 amplifier channels, and 1,455 to 1,470 watts of output, depending on the vehicle. That architecture already established Burmester as one of the most technically ambitious names in in-car audio, with features such as Dolby Atmos spatial processing.
GaN technology enables higher switching frequencies and lower switching losses than comparable silicon devices, which cuts heat generation and allows smaller passive parts, reduced cooling needs, and a lighter heat sink — claimed to be about 20 percent lighter in this application. This allows Porsche to reduce the 400-watt subwoofer amplifier footprint and mass, and the company also frames the move as a sustainability gain, since less aluminum is needed for the heat sink and less energy is consumed in production.
“A powerful bass foundation is part of the emotive experience our customers expect from a Porsche. The power reserves of our systems enable confident and dynamic sound reproduction, which is perfectly in keeping with the character of our sports cars,” says Steffen Burosch, who is responsible for audio system innovations at Porsche’s Weissach Development Centre. “Sound in a Porsche is about pure emotion. By using GaN, we can enhance that experience even further. Our customers will be able to enjoy the outstanding sound quality of the Burmester® High-End Sound System while also experiencing state-of-the-art engineering.”
To protect the innovations developed as part of the project, Porsche says it already filed several patent applications. “We focused on the fundamental technical challenges of efficient voltage conversion. In a sports car, efficiency and weight are crucial factors,” adds Lars Heuken, who is responsible for Strategic Semiconductor Management at Porsche. “The fact that Porsche actively drives innovations itself is a prime example of how we see our role as a technology leader.” Working closely with a leading international chip manufacturer and an audio development partner, the team ultimately succeeded in creating a production-ready subwoofer amplifier.
“The potential is huge – and this is just the beginning. GaN is ideal wherever power is converted,” reinforces Heuken. “We see further opportunities particularly in the field of automotive audio and are already defining the next areas of application.”
Burmester Audiosysteme was founded in Berlin in 1977 by Dieter Burmester, a musician and engineer whose dissatisfaction with available audio gear led him to build his own preamplifier, the 777. The company quickly became known for high-end, handcrafted electronics and a string of engineering firsts, including the world’s first modular preamplifier and early innovations in balanced and DC-coupled signal paths.
Porsche and Burmester’s partnership began as a development collaboration in the mid-2000s and reached the market with the original Panamera in 2009, where Burmester introduced a factory-integrated high-end sound system that immediately set a new benchmark in the luxury-car audio segment. Since then, the relationship has expanded to other Porsche models, including the Cayenne, 911 Carrera, Boxster, Cayman, 918 Spyder, and later the Taycan and Macan Electric.
www.porsche.com
www.burmester.de
