Sirius stinks..

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Yesterday i put sirius radio in my car, Sirius Starmate replay tuner, and a direct connection to my head unit with an rca to mini plug cable.

12 Hours later, i'm uninstalling everything. The quality is just not at all what i expected. It's somewhere between 64k and 96k streaming internet radio. Terrestrial radio just sounds much better to me. Perfect signal and everything, i dont understand. Not to mention, i got terrible alternator whine, I have no idea where it's coming from, and it only happens when listening to sirius through the rca cable.

Anyone else have similar experience with sirius? Whether it be quality issues, or alternator noise (which i'm reading is actually very common after installing sirius).
 
Not sure why, but I have both Sirius and XM in the office (and take them in the car on occasion) and they're not anywhere as bad as you say, and in fact excellent.

Not sure what's up with yours, but it's not the way it is or should be.

Scott
 
That's what i had thought.. I mean, the quality isnt terrible. If i had the average person just sit in my car and listen to it, they'd say its fine. But something is missing, it just doesnt seem very powerful. Maybe its just my antenna or tuner
dunno.gif


*This is the exact problem i had. it sounds like the music is of very low quality, the bit-rate seems very low

http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70765
 
The compression algorithms Sirius utilzes are not good for music. While XM isn't CD-quality as it's also compressed, it's generally agreed upon that the XM quality is consistently higher than Sirius.
 
not sure how old this info is -

"Sirius is using VBR (variable bit-rate) audio encoding. This means that the amount of data moving through, adjusts so that each channel gets only the bandwidth it needs which results in superior audio. XM uses CBR (Constant Bit-Rate) audio, which means that even when there is dead silence, it is still taking up just as much bandwidth as a loud blasting rock song. In addition, CBR does not "give" channels more bandwidth whenever the audio needs it, resulting in a more dull, less impressive sound. Sirius may be behind as far as launching service nationwide, but on the technology and programming front, Sirius is ahead of XM. (p.s. it probably can't shatter glass) "

either way 64k sucks, even ripping a cd 128k is the lowest anyone would go... i like the way terrestrial radio sounds, it's very full and well equalized from the station itself... never heard sat radio so couldn't tell you how it compares but bitrate wise, ewww...
 
My wife has sirius in her truck. The music sound quality is acceptible and there are no dropoffs in reception unless we're under a bridge. The sound quality on voice-only channels is terrible, like old audio cassette on a crummy tape player sound.
 
I don't know any specifics, but I do know they're working on ways to get more bandwidth for those services. I know that in XM's case, they're also considering video service, but perhaps some of that bandwidth will make it to the music channels.

About that info The One posted, I'd suspect it's pretty old. Sirius is definitely not behind XM anymore in terms of programming, especially with Howard Stern and all the sports they're broadcasting. I've never had a concern about XM's sound quality, either, but I've never heard Sirius for myself.
 
quote:
Originally posted by GeaugaFletcher:
The sound quality on voice-only channels is terrible, like old audio cassette on a crummy tape player sound.
Click to expand...
That's because they allocate less bandwidth to voice channels so there's more for music channels.

Doesn't bother me--Sirius traffic and weather doesn't have to sound hi-fi for me to know that I95 is a parking lot.

Regarding the problem above, I would have tried plugging some headphones into the tuner to see if the signal sounded OK there...it should have a headphone output with a volume control and this should be a good way to isolate the cause of the poor audio quality. Ie, if it sounds ok right out of the tuner...then you have to look elsewhere for the cause of the problem...

(My Sirius sounds fine, if you were wondering).
 
Don't know all the technical specifications on the receivers, but I got the cheapie Xact modulator (50 dollar special from Best Buy) and it sounds fine. Has held up in the brutal environment of an 18 wheeler since early December. Maybe it's just that specific receiver that's a problem. BTW I really enjoy the Howard Stern show.
 
quote:
BTW I really enjoy the Howard Stern show.
Click to expand...
hey now....hey now... this guy is usually the polarizing deal breaker when people decide to choose SR.... hate him? they go with xm, like him? go with sirius, don't care? maybe sirius with the sports etc
 
You have an interface problem between your Sirius unit and radio. I us an FM modulator built into my Sirius reciver to get the signal o my head OEM head unit and I have perfect sound quality that grossly earth based FM radio sound quality. Did you buy some Sirius reciever that does not have a built in FM modulator??? If so why?? Right now RadioShack has a Starmate reciever like my Fathers with a built in FM modulator for $99 plus they give you $40 off as a mail in rebate I belive.

I have a 1st generation brix streamer brand of Sirius reciver wich is about the size of three cans of coke or about the size of a cantalope mellon. My Dad's Starmate is about the 1/2 the size of a pack of smokes.

Sirius has better programing for talk radio and music.Plus if you are into it Sirius has Catholic EWTN,FoxNews,Playboy and Maxium radio. The only thing XM has going for it is Nascar radio.
 
After listening to my friends sirius tonight, and reading online reviews on sirius, i'm convinced its just the way sirius is. Everything on my install was perfect, zero connection issues. Listening through fm modulation was unbearable, the quality was horrible. Through my rca cable it was better, but still.. No matter how good of content sirius offers, if the sound quality isnt good, then it isnt for me.

If you listen to a cd, or an fm radio station that gets good reception, then listen to sirius.. The difference will be night and day. I've just been spoiled by cd's and high quality mp3's, anything less than the best just wont cut it.

The unit i used, Sirius Starmate ST2
-
 
Someday, someone has to tell me the compelling need for a remote to control something literally within arms reach. I mean, I use one for my television and my Mitsubishi strero has an interactive remote that has some functions that aren't available from the unit ..and the remote makes balancing your surround sound easy enough without going back and forth to the unit ........

..but in the driver seat ..just where are you going to go between it and the receiver
confused.gif
 
xm has the beter progaming, they have beter sounding music channels,and they have glenn beck.
 
I've been an XM subscriber for over three years now and they reached their quality peak about a year ago. Recently XM has adopted a quantity vs quality policy and reduced the allocated bitrate (per channel) to an all time low. It's so bad now some of the music channels are in simulated stereo which requires less bandwidth then a full dual channel feed. (it's the old reflection on the left channel trick) In addition, the talk channels were almost "studio quality"...now it's worse than a good terrestrial AM radio. Some people either don't notice the artifacts or it's a fair trade off between programming and audio quality.

Sirius sounds about the same as XM even with fewer channels due to their less advanced CODEC.

Just as soon as my long term 9.95 contract ends I'm dumping all three of my XM subs. Personally, I'll be using iTunes and have MUCH better quality and I'll own the music (sorta) instead of very marginal vaporware full of gurgles and lisps.

My 2 cents,
 
I don't agree about Mr Boston's assessment on the talk channels. They all sound great. In fact, it's so clear that Glenn Beck sounds different on the clean XM signal when compared to an AM signal. From WLW to WSIX to Dr Laura to Fox News and to (gasp) Rhandi Rhodes, they all sound clean and clear.

The Weather and Traffic stations are so compressed that they sound tinty. That's fine by me. Why use too much bandwith on a traffic report?

The quality of the bitrate of the music? I tend to agree, it's slipped a bit.

XM's talk selection is second to none. They're going to be adding 6 or 7 more talk stations in the 130-139 range very soon. Sirius doesn't come close to the variety of talk options.
 
^^^ If you pay for 2 years at a time you get 3 months for free (Sirius). You have to make the determination if it's worth the money for you. Since I'm a truck driver and listen 8-10 hours a day, it's worth it for me. If I didn't drive for a living, the Richmond, VA area has good FM stations anyway so I wouldn't spend the extra $$$.
 
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