[[email protected]_US]

I'm wondering what you other folks think about the quality of the Sirius radio service that we get in our cars? I took delivery of my JSW about a week ago and other than what an awesome machine the JSW is, I'm really dissapointed with the Sirius radio. I've had XM in the past and thought is was fair as far as audio quality but man the Sirius in the JSW sounds awful.

I can listen to any other input on factory radio and think, for a factory unit it sounds pretty decent. When I switch to Sirius input there is this slight echo quality (almost like reverb) where it seems like Sirius is over compressing there channels. I'm not sure if I'll sign up for the service after the trial is over.

What do you others think? I remember in the original Sat Radio commercials there was a tag line
"CD Quality Audio". Ahhh not so much.

 

[BarryT82]

A lot of people complain about it, but mine sounds great with the Dynaudio. You just need to mess with the settings on the stereo some. It sounds like crap if you don't change anything. I think I turned the bass up to around 5 or so, the treble is up pretty high, faded 2 to the rear, balance if centered. I changed a few other things also, but I'd have to look at it.

 

[absoluteczech]

certain radio stations sound better then others. but they definitely are not cd quality. im not a audiophile so it doesnt really bother me.

 

[urhlre]

I took delivery of my JSW about a week ago and other than what an awesome machine the JSW is, I'm really dissapointed with the Sirius radio. I've had XM in the past and thought is was fair as far as audio quality but man the Sirius in the JSW sounds awful.

I can listen to any other input on factory radio and think, for a factory unit it sounds pretty decent. When I switch to Sirius input there is this slight echo quality (almost like reverb) where it seems like Sirius is over compressing there channels. I'm not sure if I'll sign up for the service after the trial is over."

I realize I am responding to this late, but I just got a JSW. I too am experiencing issues with the Sirius radio. Not any of the other choices. I also have had XM radios for years and never experienced any issues. The problems sound like digital and compression artifacts. Did you do anything about the problem, other then not activating the account?

 

[VAG0]

As soon as the fee trial ended I canceled it.

Don't miss it one bit.

 

[Code3VW]

"² The sound quality with both satellite radio providers and DTR providers varies with each channel. Some channels have near CD-quality audio, and others use low-bandwidth audio suitable only for speech. Since only a certain amount of bandwidth is available within the licenses available, adding more channels means that the quality on some channels must be reduced. Both the frequency response and the dynamic range of satellite channels can be superior to most, but not all AM or FM radio stations, as most AM and FM stations clip the audio peaks to sound louder; even the worst channels are still superior to most AM radios, but a very few AM tuners are equal to or better than the best FM or satellite broadcasts when tuned to a local station, even if not capable of stereo. AM does not suffer from multipath distortion or flutter in a moving vehicle like FM, nor does it become silent as you go behind a big hill like satellite radio."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_radio

 

[rfortson]

Yeah, I've noticed this as well. Given that I have HD radio and pretty much every other audio source imaginable with the RCD-510, I'm not sure I'll keep Sirius when the trial is up. I was wanting satellite radio, but the audio quality on the music channels is terrible and too compressed. I'm not that picky either.

 

[leroyal]

Who cares about audio quality. Check out SPICE, what a hoot !!

 

[nhbubba]

I hate sirius.

My three biggest complaints, in order:

1) Their customer service blows, blows, blows. They fubar'ed my billing more times than I can count and were HORRIBLE to deal with when trying to straighten it out. Every year I'd get billed twice for each receiver and spend hours trying to straighten it out, only to be threatened with cancellation charges

2) It isn't "ad free". They advertise for themselves, and they do it a lot. Far more than I can be tolerant of. Fire up pandora on your smart phone sometime. That's just as "ad free", in my opinion

3) The quality is substandard. Per the OP's point, yes, the audio quality isn't that great. Digital audio eh? Well, here's your cookie. You've digitized the audio to the point where it sounds worse than my local FM stations. Was seriously BLOWN AWAY the first time I got my i-toy wired up to the JSW's audio system and switched over from the demo sirius content

I had sirius starting in ~'03. Was a subscriber for years, then added a second receiver for the missus. After the 3rd or 4th fubar'ed bill, I canceled. We kept the missus' account (she's addicted) for a few more years and just recently canceled it. Lemme tell you, canceling wasn't trivial easier (see point 1 above). I was once again threatened with cancellation fees just because I didn't want to renew. I had to ask for a manager twice before I finally got some common sense.

And get a case or reference number EVERY time you talk to those ass-hats.

 

[cwescapexlt4x4]

Well yes the audio may not be perfect, but i can tell you on our drive from Phoenix to well east of El Paso, TX it was a life and marriage saver. Yes we used the SD card some, and no way could Pandora been used (sheesh there were too many stretches with NO cell signal at all).

 

[[email protected] USA]

I've noticed no issues in mine.

I hate on air "talent" talking when the show isn't a talk one, I hate commercials, and even more so I hate constantly changing channels to avoid the two former ones. Even though sirius has both they are significantly less than standard over the air stations. Local HD stations are nice though and I like the quality but that doesn't eliminate what annoys me about regular stations.

I have a lifetime subscription on a portable unit which has paid for itself by now, it is great to have to slap into a rental on road trips to save from constantly scanning for local channels. Handy too when I am visiting my parents and borrow one of their cars both my dads 996 and miata have the dock so I just bring it and slap it in.

Will be paying for a sub in the jsw once the trial expires, I did cancel one tuner I took out of my A3 (and put a differnent one in) so they keep sending me offers for discounts to turn that one back on. Will try and apply it to the jsw.

 

[Varjohaltia]

"² The sound quality with both satellite radio providers and DTR providers varies with each channel. Some channels have near CD-quality audio, and others use low-bandwidth audio suitable only for speech. ]

I certainly listen to my NPR on FM whenever I can as opposed to Satellite; even for talk Sirius quality on those channels is audibly atrocious.

I actually think the RCS510 (I think, the touch-screen non-nav) also has some issues with MP3s. I've had to dial down treble a lot to make it bearable with a lot of them. I wish the audio settings were source specific. Generally, though, I really like the sound of it and have started to listen to a lot more music in the car.

 

[Code3VW]

I certainly listen to my NPR on FM whenever I can as opposed to Satellite; even for talk Sirius quality on those channels is audibly atrocious.

I actually think the RCS510 (I think, the touch-screen non-nav) also has some issues with MP3s. I've had to dial down treble a lot to make it bearable with a lot of them. I wish the audio settings were source specific. Generally, though, I really like the sound of it and have started to listen to a lot more music in the car.

Non Navigation
RCD310

RCD510

Navigation
RNS315

RNS510

 

[Varjohaltia]

Cool, thanks for the visuals! RCD510 is what I think meant... though I'm not sure how you mix FM and sirius channels on a screen, and I think mine's more blue than red? Whatever came with the 2011 Sportwagen SE in the US.

 

[VdubBry]

I have been with XM since it first came out, like to have the variety, options etc. The JSW came with the trial of Sirius and I planned to keep the subscription, thought I would add it to my XM as a "family plan" but they said they are not at that point yet where they can merge the XM / Sirius etc.

The sound quality with some tweaking in the JSW sounds pretty good IMO. I have the RCD510 unit. Adding the subwoofer and amp really kicked it up a notch.

If you do plan to keep it, mention the $77/year subscription. Worked for me, it's half the cost of a standard year.