SIRIUS VS XM - SOUND QUALITY

[acheron82]

Got a question for you guys and this may have been touched on before.

Sirius vs XM?

Which one has better sound quality?

Will reciever device impact sound quality?  If so, which do you recommend? (phone is out of the question due to data charges).

Do you forsee improvements in sound quality for any of these providers?

[Robert F Corbin]

I thought XM (in a Escalade) sounded better than Sirius (in a Range Rover)...  With no data caps, I use Sirius IR...

[JohnnyElectron]

Factory Chrysler Sirius (2012) radio sounds like crap with swirly twangy music; old XM plug and play sounds a lot better than the in-dash POS Sirius, in my ears opinion.

[Casey]

Both Sirius and XM sound pretty terrible to be honest.

Even the web stream doesn't sound that great when you think about how much a person has to pay for it.

[WJPYFM]

There was a time that the music channels had cd quality or close to it. But now almost all of the Siruis channels are of poor audio quality. I notice the biggest difference when I switch to FM. The FM is so full and natural sounding. Sat radio had a poor Internet sound. The only reason I get it is because it is a free trial with a new car. I never will pay for it because I paid for upgraded speakers in the car and putting crap audio on good speakers does not make the audio sound better!!!

[ai4i]

...twangy music...

Like channels fifty six, sixty one, and sometimes sixty

[faaradar]

Now that Sirius and XM have merged; their combined number of channels have exceeded the satellite's capability to provide CD-like quality.  There is just not enough bandwidth to house the number of channels that they do and still provide quality audio.

[ai4i]

Now that Sirius and XM have merged; their combined number of channels have exceeded the satellite's capability to provide CD-like quality.  There is just not enough bandwidth to house the number of channels that they do and still provide quality audio.

You are confused. The company airs many of the channels on two networks.
This is what Satrad 2.0 is about, combining both 12½MHz wide spectrum slices into a single 25MHz wide chunk.

[Darth_vader]

"This is what SDARS '2.0' is about, combining both 12 1/2 MHz spectrum slices into a single 25 MHz chunk."

Which they will still figure out a way to overload, like they've done with the existing 12.5 MHz bands, so even with the wider spectrum everything'll still come out overly-compressed and bit-starved. I guarantee that'll happen. Where there's a will, there's a way. After all, these days it's quantity, not quality, that counts.

Makes me glad I'll never give the SDARS monopoly any of my money.

[OldNumber7]

There was a time that the music channels had cd quality or close to it. But now almost all of the Siruis channels are of poor audio quality. I notice the biggest difference when I switch to FM. The FM is so full and natural sounding. Sat radio had a poor Internet sound. The only reason I get it is because it is a free trial with a new car. I never will pay for it because I paid for upgraded speakers in the car and putting crap audio on good speakers does not make the audio sound better!!!

There was NEVER a time the channels were close to CD quality. I've been on board with Sirius since 2004, and the audio at first on many music channels was splashy, rumbly  -- all over the place. Over time it got a lot better (still not CD quality) then it got a little worse -- where it is now. I listen at work online with earbuds and at home in the bedroom with a custom boombox for the old Audiovox PNP3 and it's good enough. The online stream isn't bad, and streaming in the car sounds better than the car dock for the PNP3.
Don't get me wrong; I like good sound. For most purposes, this is not great but it's good enough for casual listening. I have my home stereo and music library for the real hi fi fun. :-)