Sirius owners: sound quality question

[atomic punk]

Although I'm quite impressed with the service overall.... does anyone with Sirius think that the sound quality is lacking a little bit?

What I'm referring to is that the audio - specifically the HIGH frequencies and when people talk - sound almost like a compressed .wav or .avi file downloaded from the web? It's tough to explain, but I'm pretty sure you all have heard A/V files before that sounded like that. By the way, I do have a direct link from the tuner into the head unit (no FM modulator).

Any thoughts?

 

[j0mama]

I think all Sirius sounds like that.. Sound's kinda compressed...

j0.

 

[molocono]

Yeah, I like to say is sounds AM-ish.

 

[atomic punk]

oh, ok.... thanks for the replies.... I thought I may have been the only one. I hear things like "CD Quality Digital Sound" and, although the sound is "good", that statement is not accurate.

 

[Scrappy125]

oh, ok.... thanks for the replies.... I thought I may have been the only one. I hear things like "CD Quality Digital Sound" and, although the sound is "good", that statement is not accurate.

Yeah, they need to stop advertising that. It is most definitely not CD quality. FM sounds better at times.

 

[Fro-Runner]

(Quote)Although I'm quite impressed with the service overall.... does anyone with Sirius think that the sound quality is lacking a little bit? (Quote)

The reason your Sirius unit audio sounds compressed is....................because IT IS COMPRESSED. They do this to make up for the sudden small signal losses from little overpasses and tall buildings. If you do not believe me.......while sitting in your driveway---cover your sat antenna for a bit a you will see a 3-5 second delay before the music stops playing.

The Sirius Sat unit components are small but have to do an awful lot. I would still rather have satellite radio than my FM anyday as I travel a LOT.

 

[bigacuralvr]

Sirius and XM both sound crappy when being FM-Modulated. The direct connect does sound a bit better. However, neither XM nor Sirius sound great. Also notice that some stations sound great, and some sound ok. All depends on how compressed they are.

 

[jrs2]

Had to pull my 4Runner's dash apart this weekend to replace my speedo cable so took the opportunity to finally get my Sirius Sportster 4 hooked directly to my Pioneer head unit's aux input. Sounds much better than the FM-modulation, but it's not as loud. Has anyone else noticed this? I have the audio output on the Sportster at max.

 

[2003Can4runner]

I used to have the FM modulator but was not happy at all. i phoned and complained about the horrible sound quality. i've since upgraded to an aftermarket headunit with a direct connection to the Sirius decoder. sound improved quite a bit, but still isn't that great. i spent quite a bit on my stereo in my truck so i want to enjoy the quality, so i mostly listen to cds still.

 

[nserpa9248]

CD'S and DVD's are the ONLY way you will get uncompresses audio..

Sattelite radio has worked well so far, and my XM nexus has perfectly fine sound quality..i can blast it and it keeps right up with a CD...

I am using the direct aux-in on the radio however..

My suggestion, get a radio with aux in, and its the most static-free, and best sound quality you will get out of a sat radio..

If sat radio isnt giving you what you need...get an IPOD and a digital interface into your radio...those will sound like-cd (if you keep the music non-compressed)

there are alot of options, and there are prons / cons to both..

 

[jrs2]

I'm not talking about sound quality, I'm talking about VOLUME. The Sirius directly connected to my aux-in is not as loud as FM or CD. I can comfortably listen to it with the HU volume at max, whereas FM or CDs at max volume are too loud for normal listening.

The Sportster audio out is 1 V and my HU aux-in is 1 V max, so what's the problem?

 

[nserpa9248]

there is a volume control on the sattelite radio..go to menu->settings->volume or sound-> and rotate the knob..

if that isnt helping..id have to see it personally :-(

 

[loner]

Glad I'm not the only one. Just installed Sirius via the DF-TOY interface a couple of days ago. Sounds like someone turned the bass way up and the high and mid ranges all the way to the bottom. I run a MP3 player and my PDA through the DF-TOY and they sound much better than the Sirius.

Gotta say though, Buzzsaw (CH 19) rocks.

 

[jrs2]

I found out my problem. My Pioneer HU has a source level adjustment for the AUX-in. It was set to zero, the default. Changing it to 4, the max setting, made Sirius a lot louder. Still not as loud as FM, but good enough.

As usual, RTFM.

 

[vando45]

I agree about the sound quality, good but not great. Sports is where it really gets bad, AM is almost better and there is quite a delay.

 

[mugatu22]

Some Sirius channels are better than others.

When Stern came on the air the first 2 days of his contract, he complained the entire time about how poor the audio quality was and that he didn't "sound right" in his studio monitor headphones. Within a week, his show sounded exactly like his FM broadcast after lots of tweaking by his engineers.

Sorry for the rambling; the point is, some of the Sirius channels sound very good and very clear. Others suck. Most of the music channels are very clear IMO.

 

[Big J]

I had the "plug n play" unit and if its not modulated the sound quality sucks, w/ the modulator it eliminates static and interference but still isnt cd quality. Now I have a stereo with sirius and the sound quality is excellent. Not sure I would call it cd quality, but it definately on par with HD radio! I love sirius, I hate regular radio!