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Audio quality

J

JH_Radio

Okay i'm posting this to both boards, since I have both services.
one thing i don't like about Serius is the audio quality. It plain sucks next to AM Stereo on a wide-band receiver or FM Stereo.
Hell mp3's (while a lossy format) sounds better! That's just sad to me. Of coarse I prefer CD (if its gonna be digital), or vinyl and cassette for analog)
Do the new 2.0 receivers have any better sound quality?
For the record I'm using a Serius Steleto.
 
John, I went from an XM SkyFi2 which sounded 'okay' to a free one-year built-in Chrysler Sirius headunit - and "holy earbleeds Batman" the Sirius audio is horrid on music. More strange, is that the audio 'quality' varies from day to day from almost acceptable to "I can't stand it". I don't know if it's the Sirius audio codec, or if they have a VBR encode/decode that changes the 'quality' based on available bandwidth or what?
What I'm experiencing is going to a channel like Willie's Roadhouse, and a relatively recent (1985 Willie) recording comes on, any stringed instrument - has a wavering sound like an old off-center LP or shoebox cassette player with low batteries and a 'wow & flutter' sound to it.
Has anyone else noticed this? That's the best way I can describe it - bad wow & flutter to a constant musical note - a mandolin sounds just horrible. I get it on almost all the music channels. Is this just a Sirius thing? XM audio has gone way down since 2004, but not to the point of sounding like a 20k dial-up music feed from a radio station?
Do I have a defective Chrysler Sirius radio, or do others have this same issue of wow/flutter of music?
 
In my opinion, the Serius radio has a worse sound then the XM. Both highs sound chopped off, but with Serius the low end literally turns off on ocasional beats. Both have mid-range that sounds like... i dunno how to describe it. wavery perhaps.

Lexis RX360 sounds good enough on XM, and somebody else I know that has an older Jeap it sounds okay. The RX is 2012, the Jeep is 2007. but when you switch either radio to FM it sounds so much more crisper in the highs and the mids sound oh so much better!
Speaking for home units for myself, which I use ShureIEM's (you dont notice bad sound as much in cars IMO due to noise from the road, AC etc...) On the Serius radio, the sound i'm talking about is after putting up an outdoor antenna. Before when I had the indoor, i was lucky to get reception at all. Keep in mind both of these radio's are from 2007.
I thought someone had said something on one of these boards (cannot remember which one) about somebody going to AAC+ but that would be only on newer radio's, and that compression was suppose to give you better audio.
I was thinkin maybe the new 2.0 would do that.
 
So the AAC+ for XM work for older radio's or jusst the newer ones?
I'd actually get a different radio for better sound. for me, Its not even about the few extra channels you can receive.
 
A few years back, I looked at all the Sirius music channels with an audio spectrum analyzer. Essentially, the best of them 'rolled off' sharply at 12 kHz. Sirius is no doubt aware that 12 kHz. can sound fine to most ears. Limiting the high end that way could help the marginal PAC codec they use since it's not busy encoding stuff that many customers don't appreciate. The talk and entertainment channels tended to roll off at 8 or 10 kHz, which is more like AM radio.

PAC apparently does not use AAC+'s technique of reconstructing high frequencies (SBR)...AAC+ sounds better to my ears.

Perhaps technically savvy current subscribers can provide current results.
 
Sirius music channels are so hard to listen to. Luckily I listen mainly to Howard Stern and don't have worry about the quality. When I want something else I try listening to Faction or Lithium or Alt-Nation, but the quality is so poor, I'd rather listen to FM.
 
I notice it on XM, CD's, and MP3s. Plus a lack of bass.
Nothing compares to vinyl, maybe a good cassette recorded off vinyl.
Guess I got those radar ears. ;D
 
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