[Bryan Salzman]

I've done plenty of research as far as programing goes, but I need to khow which (XM or Sirrus) has better sound quality. What is your opinion?

[Dave Bennett]

Frankly, if you're looking for fantastic audio quality, neither one is gonna be CD quality. XM sounds pretty good on some stations and awful on others (the highs can sound very metallic). I bought XM as a way to discover new music and artists, so audio quality wasn't a super high priority to me. I've not heard Sirius but I've heard it's about the same in terms of sound quality, give or take as XM.

[Ronald Epstein]

I have both.

Sirius audio quality is noticeably better.

The programming, however, is not.

You can certainly say that both of these
are subjective opinions.

[Bill Q]

I don't own a sirius system so don't know how it sounds. However, I do own an xm delphi home receiver for the last 6 months. The sound quality of the stock delphi receiver is definitely not cd quality, about on par or slightly better than my fm receiver. Anyway, a couple weeks ago, I was reading on the xm fan website, about a "modification" that could be performed on existing xm delphi receivers, which allowed the adding of a "toslink (optical) connection. I have a dedicated dac used for my cd playback, with both a coaxial and toslink connection, so I ordered the modification. The improvement in sound quality is very noticeable. The first thing I heard was an almost doubling in volume level, between the delphi receiver and when listening through my dac by way of the toslink cable. When listening to xm on classical music, instruments and vocals sounded much more clear and detailed. Where the music used to sound flat and one dimensional the sound now was very three dimensional and just so much more involving and musical. I've been listening to the modified xm receiver on both my main 2 channel stereo system which consists of a tube integrated amp, and meadowlark speakers. I also am using it on a cheap sub/sat amplified speaker system with similar results...Bill

[Ronald Epstein]

Bill,

Yes, toslink modifications can be made to your
current Delphi Skyfi for about $99.

Would you say that XM through a toslink
connection sounds CD quality?

[Bill Q]

Ron...

Yes, I did get the modification for the price you quoted. Bypassing the delphi's dac by way of the toslink, and going to my standalone dac with its more robust output stage, I think is possibly the main reason for such an improvement in the sound quality of my system. I'm not sure that the toslink cable alone is the reason why everything sounds so much better. I did purchase a "glass" toslink cable "6ft" for around 28.00 on the internet, rather than a standard plastic type, after reading several reviews on audioasylum. Bill

[BeauJanzen]

Has anyone noticed that the bandwidth for sat. music via DirectTV has been squashed to the point of lesser quality than MP3?

[Dave Scarpa]

THe Music Choice On Comcast too has been squashed to death also and sounds pretty bad. I guess I'm not going to be as demanding in my car as I would be listening in my HT. If it's Better than FM I good with it. I'm also getting XM becasue I really want to start hearing more Artists than the same rotation that drones on corporate radio. Theres just so much new and different music I'm missing out on. Now At home I could always listen to internet radio but in the car XM seems my best choice and if I can carry it in the house so much the better.

[Dean_S]

I have Sirius in one my vehicles and I am an audiophile. I'm fairly disappointed with the sound quality of both XM and Sirius but love the programming. I will be getting a Kenwood DT-7000S home tuner as soon as they come back in stock where I ordered it from. This tuner will be in my home theater system (not my slightly better 2-ch system). Once I get it, I will try it using both the analog and digital connections to my pre-amp and see if there is a difference. My general feeling is that it's still going to remain about MP3 quality, but better then the FM I'm listening to now on that system.

I will post my opinions and comparisons to my car tuner once I've had it for a few weeks.

[BeauJanzen]

I have never thought much of Kenwood. I just associate them with cheap car stereos that break and equipment that you can buy at Costco...are they worth a @#$# now? They seem to be popular sooooo...I just don't know...why that over something else? Price?

[Ronald Epstein]

Beau,

Before cancelling my SIrius subscription this past
weekend I had the Kenwood Excelon 969 in the car.

This was last year's upper-tier head unit.

Hands down, it sounded better than the Alpine unit
I had installed before it.

I was very sorry to have to take out the Kenwood.