To most car enthusiasts, the signature sound of a finely tuned engine is music to the ears. To the hard core, even turning on the stereo while winding it out on a great stretch of road is considered heresy, when the only option is to hear the sweet song of a high-performance powerplant.

So you can imagine the accusations of sacrilege when BMW added what it calls Active Sound Design to the 2012 M5 to enhance the exhaust note of the car’s V8 engine.

So if you're sitting in the M5 at speed, you hear the engine sound coming from outside -- though not much, as the interior is remarkably quiet -- as well as on the inside, via a soundtrack of what the engine should sound like based on throttle input, speed and engine revs, played subtly through the speakers. It also lets owners modulate the sound level inside based on their driving behavior -- and tolerance for in-cabin noise -- since the audio-augmented engine sound system gets louder and more intense in different driving modes.

Would it be better to just let the car speak for itself? Thanks to the folks over at Bimmerpost, you can be the judge.

A member of the BMW fan forum posted a video of a 2012 M5 supposedly doing the same run with the Active Sound Design on and then with the system disabled after pulling a fuse.

Roll the clip and let your ears decide which sounds best.