I’m very excited to say that I officially ordered my new ‘21 Defender X-Dynamic HSE today. I am coming out of a ‘14 Mercedes S550 sedan. I love that car, and the stock Burmester sound system it came with.

I made sure to order the upgraded sound in my new Defender. My question is, does anybody here have any opinions regarding it? Is it a good sound system? I’ve heard both good and bad things regarding the stock Meridian, and not much about the upgraded one. I’m just curious.

Thank you!

-Dave

 

It's a really good system overall. The cool party trick (Meridian Surround, which is the way I leave it in all the time) sounds really natural and spacious, yet still punchy. Although the system is plenty loud, like most stock units it can get kinda boomy at high volumes. And I wish the graphic equalizer offered a bit more control than just "bass, treble, sub" at this level. The HK Logic 7 of my 2013 LR4 was still a superior sound system overall, but I really like the Meridian Surround. I am definitely no audiophile, but love listening to music at all genres, from prog rock and EDM to new age and classical, and for just a few hundred bucks more than the standard Meridian system this upgrade was an easy choice fo me, and I'm glad I made it.

 

I have the Meridian Surround system in my 2020 P400 HSE and I love it. The bass can get a bit boomy on some music, but overall, I love being able to turn it up loud when I'm by myself and be in my own little world. It was a worthwhile upgrade for me.

I doubt it is quite as comparable as the Burmeister system in Mercedes, but it's pretty good in my opinion. I've not been disappointed, even when streaming Spotify or AppleMusic. On that thought, it would be great if SiriusXM would broadcast at a higher rate, but that's a minor complaint that isn't an issue of the sound system.

 

i would consider myself an audiophile and it was very important that found a HSE with the upgraded surround system on the lot. for the small difference in additional cost i believe it’s worth the money. Is it best oem system out there? Not at all but it’s sufficient and didn’t have to pay thousands like my BMW’s. my B&W system in my M8 hands down the best oem car system i have heard but it was an additional 5k i believe.

Other options are going with an aftermarket system say Audison which is intended to intergrate into the stock system

getting too old to pull door panels off so at this point happy with what i have

 

I have to agree with all the previous posts. Not quite as good as the HK Logic 7 in our LR4s and certainly not even close to a German high end sound system. (MB Burmeister/BMW B&W or Audi B&O) Then again those systems are a $5K option and the Meridian upgrade is a mere $450.

As Umberto noted above, in the sound settings screen, select "Meridian" instead of "Stereo" for better surround sound.

 

After dynomatting my doors my stereo is one of the better systems I've ever had in a vehicle. I highly recommend putting some deadener in the doors though. World of difference.

 

also wanted to add your source is prob the most important in hifi audio. mp3 will also sounds average.

couple of hifi streaming services out there. i Use Tidal which is CD quality. Also how you connect to the system a huge part of this. so going through bluetooth versus directly connecting wired

 

Deezer HiFi is also excellent as far as sound quality, 16-bit FLAC, and it's one of just a handful of apps - the others being Spotify and TuneIn - built into Pivi Pro, if you have the data w/ wi-fi plan, so you don't even need a phone to get good audio streaming quality.. It would be nice if they added more apps: Tidal, Apple Music, Pandora would be nice.

One of the reasons I liked the Harman Kardon Logic7 system in my old LR4 is that it had a CD/DVD slot and a 5.1 DD//DTS decoder that allowed me to enjoy high-def, multi-channel CDs or music DVDs, of which I have a fairly good collection from artists I love. Unfortunately, true hi-fi seems to be on its way out from the systems of most car manufacturers, for the sake of convenience.

 

That explains the excellent sound quality of CD's played in the LR4. I was always amazed how good CD's sounded compared to XM radio,

 

Did this really make a big difference? What about with road noise? I look at the interior Defender doors
and see a lot of exposed metal, so I wonder how good the noise dampening from the factory really is…

Also, there are two Meridian systems the Defender. (400w vs 700w). How do I know which one is in which Defender? (I am picking up a 2021 110 X-Dynamic HSE on Sunday).