Poor Sirius Sound Quality  

Try XM. I know that BuggyBoy and all those Sirius people will come here and tell me how wrong I am etc. etc. but XM sounds much, much better. Many people share that opinion. I know that if you were to say that XM sound is yuckie the Sirius folks would tell you to try theirs out.

So. Let's just say the two services have different technologies and sound different. You may well prefer the sound of one to the other. My XM sounds close to CD on a very good system and most definitely better than FM.

Sirius and XM use deferent codecs, but they both sound about the same (just above poor). It is almost good enough for background car listening, but will not work in the HT environment. They both have the same amount of bandwidth and about the same number of channels. I think it comes out to about 48kbps per music channel. This is way to low to convey anything close to CD quality. I wish one of them would make the decision to go near HI FI and drop to about 50 streams and then it could be passable sound and would have my $s. I want one of them and get excited until I go and listen with headphones and then the tinny sound makes my teeth hurt.

I dont just say that it sounds good because I love Sirius, but it really does sound better to ME.

What type of system and how have you connected it?
An improperly installed system, bad components, or even a bad EQ setting (DSP Processing especially) can make a huge difference in perceived audio quality. A good system with Sirius sounds incredible, and IMO way better than anything that i've heard out of my old SKYFi Home unit.

Each compression technology has its own group of fans, and I am one of Perceptual audio. It sounds alot better to me than codecs that just chop off audio, which is what I hear in AAC+. If there were more mids and highs I would love XM's sound quality too.. but it doesn't fit me, Sirius does.

BTW, Sirius encodes music streams at around 60 Kbps for streams like "The Pulse", and up to around 85 Kbps for streams like "The Vortex" or "The Rave". Sirius also has more workable bandwidth than XM does because of how they have their 12.5 MHz sorted out (3 vs. 5 carriers).. but if you don't like the codec used and sound produce, by all means, get something different. Assuming that this isn't a technical error on your receiving equipment.

Greg_Smith

In every store I went to they had Sirius or XM for that matter hooked up thru FM modulator. These modulators suck to high heaven. I believe they cut FR to like 10-12Khz. I just got Sirius hooked up thru FM mod and it sounds poor. I did some checking and ran very long RCA cables from my tuner to home stereo. The sound was much better and very close to any audio channels I get thru Dish Network. I am going to rip out factory radio this weekend and replace it with aftermarket system so I can go directly in.

let me just add that every once in a while at xmfan.com someone comes along and complains of horrendous poor bitrate style sound quality. in virtually all cases, it turns out the person did not firmly plug in the audio cable and they come back and give a big "duh."

Wow. I am not sure what factory sound systems to which you are referring. I have yet to hear a satisfactory stock sound system and have heard plenty of 'supposedly' premium stock sound systems. In practically every instance I have been aware of a QUALITY aftermarket receiver is a significant step up in audio quality over a stock radio. And let's not even begin to talk about the stock speakers most OEMs use.

SIRIUS will sound the way it is supposed to sound if is installed via direct line to a Sirius capable receiver. FM mods have never sounded good even for CD quality sound. Keep in mind that a FM modulator is limited to the frequency band of FM, therefore any source that comes through your FM radio will sound like FM radio.

Also, the next time any of us hear someone criticizing Sirius radio's sound quality let's make sure to ask how they are receiving their signal.

djb

Yes, if sound quality is a concern (the same goes for XM). An actual cable connection is significantly better than a tape adapter. Kenwood is a good choice for Sirius enabled head units.

I agree! especially the exceleon series.

The reason why FM Modulator systems are so popular with XM and Sirius is because the majority of consumers want an easy solution to connect it to their factory systems. They don't want a headunit replacement, that's why OEM deals are so significant for each company. They will drive sales later on, the aftermarket will only account for a small number of overall sales.

I have a Kenwood KTC-SR901 Tuner, and a KDC-319 (2002) Headunit.

THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I AM SAYING.

FM Mods are for folks that want an easy way to connect to a system that is not Satellite Ready. They in no way represent what the signal actually sounds like. As I stated above, in my opinion FM Mods do not sound good. They are convenient for folks that do not have a discerning ear and want a simple install.

Also, I do not feel that the FM Mods degrade the sound quality as much as they are not capable of transmitting the full bandwith that is available if one has a direct connection. I mean if push came to shove I would use a FM Mod. However, I would not expect to have the sound quality that Sirius is capable of.

My system is the following:

Kenwood Excelon 817 receiver
Kenwood Excelon 10 Disc CD Changer
Kenwood Sirius Satellite Receiver with Terk Antenna
AudioControl 3.1 Line Driver/Equalizer
Kenwood 6" P601 components with 1" tweeters for front stage
Kenwood HQ 691 6x9 for rear fill
2 Kicker Comp VR 12" dual voice coil 8 ohm subwoofers
MTX 2300 amp for subwoofers
MTX 4320 for interior cab audio
Lightning Audio 1 farad Capacitor
Optima Red Top battery
Monster Cable all around (i know, i know. please no monster flames)

gammite