W
westlife
Guest
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.opengeek.org/>OpenGeek</a> has some audio samples of Sirius (in uncompressed .WAV format) on their "HD Radio Samples" page, and since I've never heard Sirius outside of in-store demos, this offers an interesting close-up view of what it would sound like through my own choice of sound systems.
Also, a spectrum analysis of the Sirius audio samples with Cool Edit Pro shows that if you think the depth of Sirius's stereo sound-stage is a bit lacking, you're right... it does not offer any true stereo separation above 1.6 kHz. Luckily, most of the important cues for left-to-right separation are in the lower frequencies, but the higher harmonics are important for being able to precisely locate individual instruments and voices across the sound-stage -- and since Sirius merges all of these higher frequencies to mono, the overall audio ends up sounding like "semi-stereo".
Also, the total audio bandwidth of the Sirius music channels is 12 kHz, which is quite a bit less than the 15 kHz which analog FM radio offers and the 22.05 kHz which true CD audio offers. 12 kHz is still enough for a subjectively "clear" sound, but the lack of very high frequencies will appear as a loss of crispness and brightness, even compared to analog FM radio.
Meanwhile, the talk channels offer an audio bandwidth of 8 kHz with a gradual roll-off above 4 kHz, which gives the same kind of sound as a good mid-fidelity AM table radio, or of an FM radio with a tiny low-fidelity speaker (such as a small clock radio). The talk channels on Sirius are, of course, completely mono.
<P ID="signature">______________
It's a common mistake to not use punctuation in its proper form.
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/its.html>Be kind to your friend, the apostrophe.</a></P>
Also, a spectrum analysis of the Sirius audio samples with Cool Edit Pro shows that if you think the depth of Sirius's stereo sound-stage is a bit lacking, you're right... it does not offer any true stereo separation above 1.6 kHz. Luckily, most of the important cues for left-to-right separation are in the lower frequencies, but the higher harmonics are important for being able to precisely locate individual instruments and voices across the sound-stage -- and since Sirius merges all of these higher frequencies to mono, the overall audio ends up sounding like "semi-stereo".
Also, the total audio bandwidth of the Sirius music channels is 12 kHz, which is quite a bit less than the 15 kHz which analog FM radio offers and the 22.05 kHz which true CD audio offers. 12 kHz is still enough for a subjectively "clear" sound, but the lack of very high frequencies will appear as a loss of crispness and brightness, even compared to analog FM radio.
Meanwhile, the talk channels offer an audio bandwidth of 8 kHz with a gradual roll-off above 4 kHz, which gives the same kind of sound as a good mid-fidelity AM table radio, or of an FM radio with a tiny low-fidelity speaker (such as a small clock radio). The talk channels on Sirius are, of course, completely mono.
<P ID="signature">______________
It's a common mistake to not use punctuation in its proper form.
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/its.html>Be kind to your friend, the apostrophe.</a></P>
