looking to get into Satellite Radio (1 Viewer)

[Sean Patrick]

and i don't know where to start!!

XM or Sirius?? I hear XM has better customer service but a quick look at the Sirius lineup makes me think i might like their programming more...

Are they the same when it comes to sound quality?

Also, i'd like to get a portable uni for use in my car and home - will i need two antennas for that?

What are the best portable models??


any info appreciated.

 

[David Broome]

Unfortunately, it is a very subject topic. I prefer XM's sound over Sirius, and their channel lineup (Cinemagic), but for every one of me, there is another in the Sirius camp.

Customer Service, unfortunately, is hit or miss with both. You'll hear good reports and bad.

Though Siruius has recently introduced new hardware (I haven't tried), you can't go wroing with the Delphi Skyfi with car and home cradles (not to mention the boombox).

xmfan.com and siriusbackstage.com have a little more active forums for your research than here, but after hours of readingh, it ultimately comes down to a personal decision based on channel lineup and hardware.

Form me, XM is the hands down winner...

 

[David-S]

If you're interested (and have a broadband connection) you can listen and see if you like sirius's lineup at sirius.com

 

[Joshua Clinard]

I definately prefer Sirius. The programming lineup is better, they just introduced some great new hardware, they don't have commercials on any of it's music streams, there is less DJ "chatter"

I have heard that the sound on Sirius's music streams is pretty good, although it's Talk streams have a little lower fidelity. The music streams on XM are inconsistent from what I have heard. It depends on what you plan to listen to. Though if you plan to listen to a lot of talk, and don't mind the slightly lower fidelity, I would still go with Sirius, because the Talk content is better.

Check out Sirius.com and you can sample any of their music streams. Also check out the new Here2Anywhere.

 

[John Teague]

Personally I prefer and hence why I bought Sirius. If you're going to pay for radio, why not pay a bit more and have no commercials (on music streams). The big thing for me was the fact that I could listen to live streams on Sirius whereas XM it was all prerecorded.

Of course that doesn't mean squat for you. Just pick the provider that has the music/programming you want. Potentially you could like channels on XM which they play commercial free and you're golden.

I have had no interaction with XM or Sirius' customer service so no comment there. For the portables, yeah you'd want to get a home and a car kit. Theoretically you could just get the Carkit with FM mod and bring it in your house if you have a cig. lighter adapter.

For XM you'd probally want the Delphi Skifi. It's a nice unit and you see it everywhere. Has home, car and boombox kits so it is quite versatile. Sony also makes the PnP unit, but I think it will prob be pretty hard to find. You didn't miss much. I'd be remiss to not mention the Roady coming out (September, knock on wood). It is designed for the car only, but it is very small.

On the Sirius side, there is the Kenwood H2A which Josh mentioned and is pretty much similar to the PnP. You'd probably want Audiovox's SRS. It is similar to the SkiFi except it is a bit bigger, has a better display (IMHO), has some features that the SkiFi doesn't, and doesn't have a boombox kit (yet?). It just came out this month so supplies are limited, but most of the CC's have them (if not on display, in stock). The SRS is marginally cheaper than the SkiFi (FWIW).

Either way, satellite radio rocks. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for competition and there are streams on XM I like, but Sirius had more of what I was looking for... hope it works out for you. Let us know how it turns out.
Oh yeah, and definately check out XMFan and SiriusBackstage.