I cansider myself as a Audiophile; Which has better sound quality? (1 Viewer)

[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.

 

[Dean_S]

Ronald,

My experience is the same. I replaced an Alpine HU (3 year old top-of-line, not F1 Status) with the Kenwood 859 and then 969 when it came out. Both the 859 (last years model) and the 969 sound better then the Alpine they replaced. I'm running the 969 w/ sirius (and soon to add HD radio) to a Phoenix Gold Ti series amp and DynAudio System 240 mids/highs with a single 10" Phoenix Gold Xmax sub in a sealed enclosure. My biggest gripe is that Sirius is a little heavy/boosted on the 40-60hz range compared to the other sources.

I also have the old Stereophile recommended Kenwood KRX-1000 THX recv at home. Currently it's serving as my HT 5-ch amp and I have no complaints with it's sound quality. I will be replacing it soon with a nicer 5-ch (maybe Audio Refinement Multi 5) but I will keep the Kenwood for another room.

Dean

 

[BeauJanzen]

I just don't see the Kenwood brand as "nice". I don't konw why. Maybe it's just me. I haven't even looked at Kenwood for probably 10 years. I don't think any of my distributors even sells Kenwood...where do you all get it from?

 

[Dean_S]

The car stereo shop I used to for (Woody's in Fort Worth) carried Kenwood years ago when I first started working there. Then the quality did get bad for a while and they dropped the line. They picked it again about 4-5 years ago once it got better again (and dropped Sony at this time, due to quality problems). Lots of local shops in Dallas/Fort Worth sell Kenwood, I'm sure one at least one of the big box chains sells it too, Crutchfield has it, etc.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dean,

Are you happy with Sirius?

I loved my Kenwood but just couldn't handle the
constant repetition and tight playlist of Sirius
radio.

 

[Jed M]

I hope I'm not opening a can of worms, but if it matters to anyone, I used to be an Alpine guy, but I personally think they have gone a little downhill. Not bad, but nowhere close to where they used to be IMO. I now use upper end Pioneer and am much happier with the overall sound than my old Alpine, which was non-XM so I can't compare XM specifically. I am not sure about the new Alpines but the Pioneer has so many adjustments to tweak with on every input that its hard not to get a good sound. I find I have to turn the slam up a bit for XM, but that seems to really give it a CD sound. Like always, YMMV.