Technical > Satellite Radio > [Bit Rate]Sound is getting worse.

[Bit Rate]Sound is getting worse.

AQ must be really bad now days. I canceled all four of my radios three years ago mainly due to poor audio quality with frequent signal dropouts (outdoors and unobstructed) being a close second. Talk and sports may be okay but the quality slid down into terrible territory on the music channels. Even playing through an el-cheapo DeWalt radio, the distortion was very noticeable. Listening in the vehicle or through decent home audio equipment was nearly painful at times.

reply to J E F F
XM told me on the phone yesterday that nothing is wrong with XM radio. They aren't turning off transmitters and they are not cutting the quality down.

Oh yeah and they have 20 Million customer and are growing. lol

and that idiot Stern think it's all because of him.
fyi: i have 2 XM radios + streaming and i don't subscribe to Best of Sirius on any of it. i don't have the ability to listen to the idiot and i didn't get my first XM radio back in 2005 because of him.
--
"Linux is only free if your time has no value" - Jamie Zawinski

reply to J E F F
I agree the audio is bad! This is def the last year I am keeping them. I connected my ipod and was amazed at the difference of the audio. Even my Cassette tape sounded better.

reply to J E F F
Yeah I've noticed the crappy over compressed sound as well. Amazing my iphone can pull better quality audio over a crowded cell tower using Slacker or Pandora radio. I'm paid up for the year, but most likely not renewing in December when my time is up.

Same thing here. Even the free slacker and pandora sounds much better.

reply to J E F F
I've noticed that I've been using the EQ settings much more often on my car radio now when listening to certain XM stations, because of the tinniness.

Got worse this week, must have been something to do with the channel change. It's not just the tinniness, but sound has gone downhill significantly. I also noticed that a lot of the channels are no longer broadcasting in 'stereo'. I thought there was something wrong with my system then I realized that it was XM itself. (not that 'talk' shows like CNN or MLB matter)
--
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. - Albert Einstein

reply to J E F F
I'll have to throw in with a "me too" here. They are definitely doing something, the quality on certain channels is all over the place.
--
"Don't steal. The government hates competition."
Beyond AM. Beyond FM. XM

reply to J E F F
i have also noticed a decline in the audio quality but its mainly on the talk channels. The music channels i listen to sound great, though that may just be because of how bad the talk stations sound.

I suggest this if in car, go to another audio source right away, listen to a CD or even tape and you will notice it.

reply to J E F F
Is this sound quality issue only on XM? I have Sirius, and it sounds perfectly fine to me. I've had Sirius since shortly after it first went live. At one point a few years ago I noticed the quality dropped on some of the talk stations, but have never noticed a quality drop on any of the music stations.

reply to scots
I have Sirius and I think the sound quality is not that great.

Pandora streaming off of some podunk cell phone tower sounds better. Amazingly better actually. I can't believe it.

I agree, Slacker and Pandora sounds better and I am using the same mini jack that I plug my Sirius Radio into.

Yeah I'm surprised that cell phone towers load up with phone calls, Internet data, mms and SMS, 2-way, have the bandwidth to deliver CUSTOM ON DEMAND high quality radio stations to a small iPhone or android device. Theres something to be said for the lack of bandwidth on satellite, which only provides linear channels.

Switched networks are obviously vastly more efficient than broadcast networks.

I'd put up with the 5-10 second gaps between songs vs stupid inane DJs.

reply to J E F F
Ooh another thing, pandora and slacker don't constantly skip or cut out when I'm driving in a wooded area.