[cb1111]

Before we bash irius too much remember that it has a purpose in life - specifically to allow you to listen over long distances without dropping stations.

I think most of us that like Sirius have accepted the mediocre sound quality - those of us that came from XM lamented the slightly better quality and fewer signal drops.

That said, I've just come to realize how truly bad the Sirius sound quality is. My subscription is about to expire so I fired up my trial on the Sirius app on my Blackberry. ombined with the BB BT media hub this combo provides much better sound quality - odd because the streaming signal must be equally compressed.

A direct comparison by switching back and forth between the Sirius signal and the aux input tells volumes.

Bottom line - if your favorite channels are on the mobile version then that is a better (sound quality wise) option than the Sirius module.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by cb1111

Before we bash irius too much remember that it has a purpose in life - specifically to allow you to listen over long distances without dropping stations.

I think most of us that like Sirius have accepted the mediocre sound quality - those of us that came from XM lamented the slightly better quality and fewer signal drops.

That said, I've just come to realize how truly Sirius is. My subscription is about to expire so I fired up my trial on the Sirius app on my Blackberry. ombined with the BB BT media hub this combo provides much better sound quality - odd because the streaming signal must be equally compressed.

A direct comparison by switching back and forth between the Sirius signal and the aux input tells volumes.

Bottom line - if your favorite channels are on the mobile version then that is a better (sound quality wise) option than the Sirius module.

Satellite feed is 32-48kps vs 128kps over 3G/4G...

[2kaccordocoupe]

Originally Posted by Technic

Satellite feed is 32-48kps vs 128kps over 3G/4G...

Thanks for the tech specs, I was not aware of that.

[cb1111]

Originally Posted by Technic

Satellite feed is 32-48kps vs 128kps over 3G/4G...

Well, that certainly explains it. The sound quality difference is quite staggering.

[ergoyo]

Is the satellite feed speed any different depending on the newer or older sirius modules?

[pruettfan]

I have used my iphone plugged into the aux port running the XM app as a comparison. Makes me consider dropping sat radio part.

[gmfm]

After I had my Sirius module installed, I was so shocked by the lack of sound quality (coming from XM the last 8 years) that I ordered another Sirius radio (Stratus 6) to do a side-by-side comparison. The Stratus 6 sounds even worse than the BMW tuner. I found an old XM Roady XT lying around and activated it on my old account to test (AUX jack), and it sounds better than Sirius for sure. Mind you, I'm listening to channels that are available on both sides, and I was flipping back and forth between them. I'm pretty disappointed because I had heard rumblings that Sirius was supposed to have better sound quality than XM but that is clearly not the case. Then there's the issue of dropouts. My commute doesn't require me to go under any overpasses so I don't generally have daily dropout problems. However I recently drove down to where I used to live from work and it dropped under every overpass, no matter how insignificant or how fast I was going (80-95mph). XM only dropped if I went under some massive interchange or through a tunnel.

I wanted to return the Sirius module to change to the moBridge XM adapter but was told it is buggy. I would also prefer to avoid any extra antennas on my roof/trunk. I've already called and complained to Sirius who says "Our sound quality is great. Your equipment must be the problem." Maybe if enough people complain they'll drop some of the lame channels and make more bandwidth available to music.

[ergoyo]

Originally Posted by gmfm

After I had my Sirius module installed, I was so shocked by the lack of sound quality (coming from XM the last 8 years) that I ordered another Sirius radio (Stratus 6) to do a side-by-side comparison. The Stratus 6 sounds even worse than the BMW tuner. I found an old XM Roady XT lying around and activated it on my old account to test (AUX jack), and it sounds better than Sirius for sure. Mind you, I'm listening to channels that are available on both sides, and I was flipping back and forth between them. I'm pretty disappointed because I had heard rumblings that Sirius was supposed to have better sound quality than XM but that is clearly not the case. Then there's the issue of dropouts. My commute doesn't require me to go under any overpasses so I don't generally have daily dropout problems. However I recently drove down to where I used to live from work and it dropped under every overpass, no matter how insignificant or how fast I was going (80-95mph). XM only dropped if I went under some massive interchange or through a tunnel.

I wanted to return the Sirius module to change to the moBridge XM adapter but was told it is buggy. I would also prefer to avoid any extra antennas on my roof/trunk. I've already called and complained to Sirius who says "Our sound quality is great. Your equipment must be the problem." Maybe if enough people complain they'll drop some of the lame channels and make more bandwidth available to music.

Thank you for your thorough response!! That certainly shed some light...