Swedish digital audio specialist Dirac and Swiss loudspeaker manufacturer PIEGA have announced a partnership to jointly develop highly complex in-car sound systems. The premiere will take place at the IAA Mobility 2025 in Munich – in the form of a specially equipped BMW iX, which houses a 45-channel demo system with Dolby Atmos.
Swedish software meets Swiss acoustics
The demo installation shows how high-precision hardware and scalable software solutions complement each other.
With AudioIQ, Dirac delivers its most powerful cabin optimization, designed for systems with more than 30 channels. It corrects frequency and impulse responses, manages active crossovers and ensures a coherent sound field in all seats.
This is complemented by Dirac Dimensions, a patented spatial upmixing system that creates immersive multi-channel playback from stereo content.
On the hardware side, PIEGA is bringing its well-known ribbon technology to the automobile for the first time: a 19-channel configuration in the project vehicle demonstrates the use of magnetostatic tweeters. We were already impressed by one of the Piega ribbons in the review of the Premium 301 Wireless Generation 2 active loudspeakers made of aluminum.
In an extended 28-channel version, the in-house COAX mid-range tweeters are used – a combination of magnetostat and coaxial point sound source.
45 channels at maximum
The demo system is modular: It ranges from a comparatively “slim” 19-channel setup to a 40-channel COAX configuration with full multichannel tuning. Installed in the BMW iX, visitors can experience how much the sound space changes with different setups.
Dirac relies on its MIMO impulse response management to connect all speakers in the vehicle to create a consistent, balanced sound image – a challenge with so many channels.
Exclusive listening experience at the IAA Mobility
The concept car will be presented at the IAA Mobility 2025 from September 9 to 11 at MSM Studios, Munich. Invited guests can book exclusive listening sessions there.
For PIEGA, this is the first time that its in-house transducer technology has made the step from the listening room to the road. And for Dirac, it is a showcase of how far software-defined audio architectures can be scaled in the vehicle.
Our assessment
The collaboration is an example of how high-end loudspeaker technologies and digital signal processing can be mutually beneficial. Whether the demo will result in a series product remains to be seen – but the project already illustrates how Dolby Atmos and high-channel systems with genuine multi-channel audio productions from streaming services such as Tidal, Apple Music or Amazon Music Unlimited are rapidly establishing themselves in the automotive world. BMW, known as a force to be reckoned with in the left-hand lane, has so far only seen the tail lights of Porsche, Audi and Mercedes. The Zuffenhausen-based sports car manufacturer announced at the beginning of April that it would be integrating Dolby Atmos into its Bose and Burmester systems via a PCM software update(we reported).
In June, we were able to get a first impression of Dolby Atmos across the Mercedes range. Shortly afterwards, Audi announced the implementation of Dolby Atmos in its vehicles. And the Swedish brands Volvo and Polestar have already put the EX90 and Polestar 3 to the test and have been at the top of the STEREO GUIDE leaderboard ever since. In this respect, it should only be a matter of time before the Munich-based company also steps on the gas in this area with “official” Dolby Atmos sound. The extent to which the Munich-based car manufacturer is involved in the Dirac and Piega iX project remains to be seen.
We will take the opportunity to subject the project vehicle to an initial sound test next week at the IAA in Munich. After all, we had already subjected the electric BMW iX with the high-end sound system from Bowers & Wilkins to a detailed review in February 2022, so we have something to compare it to.
