How good is the audio on Sirius or XM? Hope it's not an overcompressed mp3

It sounds awfully compressed to my ears. I also noticed that songs on the 60's channel (XM 6) that have noticeable stereo separation on CD sound almost as though they're in mono on XM.
 
I find it pretty much unlistenable because of the compression, especially the voice channels like the comedy stuff. I've installed it in a number of high-end AV systems, and also inherited a few free XM receivers from a client that was an XM invester...couldn't stand the quality & gave them away.

I could deal with it as background or distributed music, but it'd still be irritating me.

je
 
IMO it sounds like crap but the great variety makes up for it. You won't get reception in your basement without an external antenna unfortunately.

I would rather listen to Pandora IMO.

Evan
 
As far as your reception question, the antenna has to be facing south, like through a window. It will not go through walls, although attic mounting will work. Height is not an issue, I have one on my window sill in the basement and the reception meter is pegged.
 
I think the sound quality of Sirius/XM has gotten worse since the merger. Most channels sound very compressed especially the decade channels. I'm getting better audio quality from free internet radio stations right now.
 
The quality has degraded slightly since the merger...here's why.

Before when they were seperate, they weren't cramming as many channels in to the same bandwidth and everyone had a little more breathing room..but you're still talkin 64kbps AAC-SBR at best. (SBR, in case you don't know, is Spectral Band Recreation...only a "fingerprint" of the high-frequencies is sent...the actual audio spectral bandwidth is much less)

Since the merger, every one's been squeezed even tighter. The quality of Sirius/XM is fine for your car....however, I will NOT listen to the actual service on any kind of hi-fi equipment. The only way I'll listen to sirius/XM on a good hi-fi is through the rebroadcast on DirecTV/Dish which, while the same audio, comes from a much higher bitrate mpeg stream than what they're pumping to the dedicated units.

Ok, as far as antenna aiming...I do not have Sirius..but let me explain XM.

They both work in the L band....this band CAN penetrate thin layers of plywood and roofing materials. Clyde is half right....however I will tell you my XM radio has worked...indoors...with the antenna in the middle of the room not even close to any windows. It will penetrate better than you think, but not as well as say FM reception. Windows are good...attic is good...but sometimes, you can get a good signal if you "aim" it south. This does not include terresterial repeaters you may/may not live near. I happen to live a few miles from a MASSIVE repeater used to cover a wooded area (last spec I read on the thing said 50k watts)...so as long as i'm facing the general direction of south, i get reception in my bathroom! XM sats are in geo-sync orbit.

Sirius...I don't now much about...does it have a repeater network? can't tell ya...what i do know is thier three satellites are in a LEO (low earth orbit), so they're not stationary...they move...and for the most part unlike the geosyncs that are typically around 40 degrees above the horizon...these suckers pass right over top of your head.

there is no radio on the market that uses both systems at once..i believe they have some planned..but it'll be probably a major software/hardware overhaul. they might have decided not to...they might have decided to do it. I don't know...but when they get those units out...reception will be much more reliable for a crappy audio stream to begin with.

It's a shame we don't have DAB over here...DAB actually uses I believe either layer 2 or layer 3, but, still, they too are slightly overcompressed.
 
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I listen to XM/seroius via directv/HT audio. sound is ok but some selections have low volume. Not a huge listener mostly old stuff and not for great lenghts of time. I'm glad it's there tho.
 
i run sirius in my car.. wired direct, no fm modulator. the sound is cd quality.. no compressed sound at all.. xm on the other hand is tinny and compressed.. always consider your set-up and source...
 
don't bother

I had a Sirius radio in my car for a while, which has a pretty decent stereo. Satellite radio is tinny, compressed crap, the fact that there is more of it only makes it worse. Great way to have the soul sucked out of your favorite music and the listening experience in general
 
i run sirius in my car.. wired direct, no fm modulator. the sound is cd quality.. no compressed sound at all.. xm on the other hand is tinny and compressed.. always consider your set-up and source...

what's interesting is when I had both sirius and XM to compare them...the XM signals...while crap, were less crap than Sirius. A spectral readout on Sirius showed more SBR bandwidth than actual audio bandwidth.

XM paid more for thier codecs than Sirius did...yet both of them were $89mil in the hole from the get-go becuase that's how much the broadcasting slots cost.
 
It's the most compressed sound I've ever heard. I cancelled my subscription and was especially pissed when I listened on the way home from work, the same song I heard on the way to work....unbelievable.
 
Wow! There's almost as much love/hate for satellite as there is for HPM 100's!!

I just hooked up my Sirius Home Kit today to my Yamaha CA-1000 tuner inputs, and with the antenna just sitting there in the middle of the house (I was planning on running it from the peak of the roof down thru the attic), I am getting GREAT reception and perfectly acceptable sound. Sure, there is nowhere near the stereo separation and detail of my best LP's, but I never intend to use it for pure/critical listening. For low level background listening, I love The CoffeeHouse (channel 30), as my system (CA-1000/Epicure Model 4) brings out the best in the vocals.

Dar Williams' version of "Comfortably Numb" just played, and really kind of surprised me. I am very happy with this "modern" source integrated into my vintage gear!
 
It's all about content, content, content. I love it. I Have three units including my original Sony XM pod from 2002, A Polk XM reference tuner in my bedroom, and the newer Pioneer XM Inno which has the recording feature.

I use a small CCrane FM broadcast unit with the Sony to send the signal to FM tuners all around my house, garage, and yard.

When I travel, I take the Inno and check into south facing rooms in hotels.

Here's an example of how great the service can be: I have a vacation condo facing the gulf in Gulf Shores, AL. It is a fourth floor condo in a concrete and steel hurricane-standards highrise. When we first moved in I could pick up one religous FM channel and WWL AM from across the Gulf. Otherwise it was radio hell. When they first came out, I plopped my Sony antenna pod out on the patio deck and suddenly the whole world was opened up to me.

Of course XM sounds like crap on the traffic channels, and sports channels when a game is not on etc, but the music is pretty darned good. And I'm hooked on late-night talk shows to sleep.
:music::boring:
 
get it "free" on directv. for my music, 50s, sound is mostly good sept when on some songs the vol. is down. I dont sub as I have buncha cds w/50s/doowop and other music I like. But as a brake from all the tv dribble and comercials I go to 802 and am back in hischool. But compression is the name of the game in that business so we gotta take it or leave it.
 
Yes same with Bell sat. expressview, listening to CBC Radio on it, instead of my tuner FM since I had a bit of hiss on it, reception problems, so I tryed CBC on expressview, I noticed it right away "crap tin box" went back to my FM tuner with the hiss, read an artical later that it is only 48kbps, CD quality is 128kbps up to 320Kbps.
 
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