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Sound Quality question

J

johndavis

Okay, some background so you know where I'm coming from:

I have XM in our family cars and at home.

The majority of listening I've done to Sirius has been while sitting in their TOC listening to the feed before it hits the uplink. I'd like to get one through my contacts there, but I don't have a place I could install it... and now that I'm married I actually have to justify my gadget purchases. :)

So while I'm very familiar with what Sirius is, I'm not as familiar with how it's supposed to sound coming out of the radio.

While my car is in the shop, I have a rental with a factory equipped Sirius radio.

The sound quality really is lacking on the music channels. The highs are artificial, swirly, and sibilant (think Daffy Duck). (on the other hand, the highs are *always* there... last time I rode in a car with a Kenwood Sirius deck the highs acted like they were gated and they'd cut in and out oddly.) The lows aren't very deep, and there's nothing in the middle. The talk stations are better than the last time I heard them and about on par with XM's talk channels.

Is this just the fault of a crappy Chrysler radio, or is this the way it is?

Also, the Chrysler implementation of Sirius leaves lot to be desired. The radio will give you the channel name, but if there's a way to get to the title and artist display I haven't found it yet. I've figured out how to toggle the clock and channel number. The steering wheel controls are nice, though.

My hunch is this is all just the fault of a crappy Chrysler radio, but I wanted your opinion on the Dog's sound quality.<P ID="signature">______________
...co-moderator of the Satellite Radio, Phoenix, and San Diego boards...</P>
 
> Okay, some background so you know where I'm coming from:
>
> I have XM in our family cars and at home.
>
> The majority of listening I've done to Sirius has been while
> sitting in their TOC listening to the feed before it hits
> the uplink. I'd like to get one through my contacts there,
> but I don't have a place I could install it... and now that
> I'm married I actually have to justify my gadget purchases.
> :)
>
> So while I'm very familiar with what Sirius is, I'm not as
> familiar with how it's supposed to sound coming out of the
> radio.
>
> While my car is in the shop, I have a rental with a factory
> equipped Sirius radio.
>
> The sound quality really is lacking on the music channels.
> The highs are artificial, swirly, and sibilant (think Daffy
> Duck). (on the other hand, the highs are *always* there...
> last time I rode in a car with a Kenwood Sirius deck the
> highs acted like they were gated and they'd cut in and out
> oddly.) The lows aren't very deep, and there's nothing in
> the middle. The talk stations are better than the last time
> I heard them and about on par with XM's talk channels.
>
> Is this just the fault of a crappy Chrysler radio, or is
> this the way it is?
>
> Also, the Chrysler implementation of Sirius leaves lot to be
> desired. The radio will give you the channel name, but if
> there's a way to get to the title and artist display I
> haven't found it yet. I've figured out how to toggle the
> clock and channel number. The steering wheel controls are
> nice, though.
>
> My hunch is this is all just the fault of a crappy Chrysler
> radio, but I wanted your opinion on the Dog's sound quality.
>

The sound quality is horrible on the talk stations. The music stations are OK. There is a sound difference if you use the FM transmitter vs tape connector. When the Sirius unit is connected to a tape connector, the quality is almost near CD quality.

I wander if the Chrysler is using some type of FM transmitter vs tape or direct connect.
 
> I wander if the Chrysler is using some type of FM
> transmitter vs tape or direct connect.

It's built into the radio, so it's direct. <P ID="signature">______________
...co-moderator of the Satellite Radio, Phoenix, and San Diego boards...</P>
 
I'm thinking that your poor experience with Sirius' sound quality might have to do with the Chrysler equipment. Being a former XM subscriber and with Sirius for one year, I'd have to disagree with you. I used to have the Audiovox second-generation PNP and now have the Starmate, and the Starmate seems to do a better job decoding the music so the highs and lows are more balanced and there isn't as much of the "swirling" sound compared to the Audiovox.

As far as comparing Sirius SQ to XM's, I still prefer Sirius (to me, even with the SkyFi2, XM seemed to have a lot of artifacting similar to that of a 20k Windows Media stream). But, as they say, it's all in the listener's ear.
 
> As far as comparing Sirius SQ to XM's, I still prefer Sirius
> (to me, even with the SkyFi2, XM seemed to have a lot of
> artifacting similar to that of a 20k Windows Media stream).
> But, as they say, it's all in the listener's ear.

There are a few XM channels that seem to get the short end of the bandwith stick, but most of the ones I listen to sound pretty good in my car.

Programming-wise, I can't stand the Big 80's (but love Bruce's 80's on 8). The Sirius 70's channel is much better than 70's on 7, although I'd prefer that Magic Matt not puke all over the intros.

Dropout-wise, the same 2 spots on my way to work that briefly can't see XM can't see Sirius either. It must be the terrain. <P ID="signature">______________
...co-moderator of the Satellite Radio, Phoenix, and San Diego boards...</P>
 
> > I wander if the Chrysler is using some type of FM
> > transmitter vs tape or direct connect.
>
> It's built into the radio, so it's direct.
>
I'm new to Sirius, but just completed a 2500 mile road trip with a new Starmate receiver. I have to agree that the talk channels sound pretty bad, but they are listenable. I did not have any problem with the audio quality on music, although my first impression was that there is an artificial high end pre-emphasis about 6-8 KHz that I found slightly annoying. I got used to it rather quickly though.

Currently, the unit is running through a modulator, which was the biggest problem. In some cities like Chicago, finding an open channel was a real problem. Now that many stations are broadcasting in IBOC, the resulting interference was a big problem. I found it easier to over-ride a weak local station than I did to make the unit work on an adjacent IBOC channel.

Over-all, I'm quite happy. I've had XM in several rental cars and simply did not like the programming enough to pay for it. So far, I'm happy with what Sirius has to offer.
 
> > As far as comparing Sirius SQ to XM's, I still prefer
> Sirius
> > (to me, even with the SkyFi2, XM seemed to have a lot of
> > artifacting similar to that of a 20k Windows Media
> stream).
> > But, as they say, it's all in the listener's ear.
>
> There are a few XM channels that seem to get the short end
> of the bandwith stick, but most of the ones I listen to
> sound pretty good in my car.
>

XM sounds better in car stereos and non-audiophile equipment with "bass boost." On the Tivoli Audio Model Two table radio, it's tinny and full of artifacts.

> Programming-wise, I can't stand the Big 80's (but love
> Bruce's 80's on 8). The Sirius 70's channel is much better
> than 70's on 7, although I'd prefer that Magic Matt not puke
> all over the intros.

I'd have to agree with you on XM '80s and Sirius '70s. If Big '80s had the playlist of XM's '80s on 8, that would be the perfect station. The Bridge would also be one of my favorites if they had a larger playlist (tight playlists are Sirius's worst problem, and I think they should listen to their subscribers better than they currently do).
 
I listen to Sirius on Dish Network through my home audio system and it sounds pretty good-though not as clean as the Dish CD Muzak channels. I don't hear too much of 'swishy' sounds that folks are mentioning. The one thing that I wonder about is how Sirius programming is delivered to the Echostar uplink. If it was compressed too much it seems like it would sound really awful after being compressed again for the Echostar uplink. Any tech types got an idea how they deliver it with it still sounding decent?
 
> I listen to Sirius on Dish Network through my home audio
> system and it sounds pretty good-though not as clean as the
> Dish CD Muzak channels. I don't hear too much of 'swishy'
> sounds that folks are mentioning. The one thing that I
> wonder about is how Sirius programming is delivered to the
> Echostar uplink. If it was compressed too much it seems
> like it would sound really awful after being compressed
> again for the Echostar uplink. Any tech types got an idea
> how they deliver it with it still sounding decent?
>
I work for Echostar Technologies, toured the uplink facility and still don't know that answer lol. I just got Sirius for my car and love it!<P ID="signature">______________
"Every thought I repent, there's another chip you haven't spent, and you're cashing them all in."

http://www.MadAltRadio.com - The World's First and Only Mad Alternative</P>
 
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