I've tried several times to listen to the XM/Sirius service without trying to cringe, but it's darn near impossible. It feels like I'm listening to an MP3 with a 64k bitrate. Is this normal? The bass is fine, the highs are ok, but the midrange just sounds horrible.
Probably normal. They vary the bitrate according to the station. They sometimes gave the Classical station more bitrate than a rock station which got a lot more than a talk station. All stations are compressed and they apparently jammed more stations into the same overall bandwidth when they were granted a merger between XM and Sirius by the Bush administration. Sirius XM Radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It's easy to blame the radio and speaker system, but HD radio has good sound with the same hardware. Obviously not as good as an expensive aftermarket solution.
I'd blame the car's audio system. My car had booming bass until I turned the bass as far down as it would go. Booming bass is probably the most obvious sign of a poor audio/speaker system. I doubt the Prius v3 audio system would allow you to hear any subtle differences in audio quality (due to compression or whatever) from an XM signal.
I still find the Ipod into the HU sounds the best for me, best of all, I guarantee NO commercials, just tunes I like. Wow, a win,win!
this is really bad sound. Sound from CD's or the iPod are fine (I've already turned the bass down a bit), but the voices coming through on XM sound like robots. It's also very noticeable at low levels where the bass wouldn't be an issue. I just double checked my wife's car - a Buick Enclave with the Bose system. It also demonstrates the same issue. So, I guess I just answered my own question, the XM signal really does suck
The signal has degraded, quite a bilt. I tried changing antennas to improve signal - no such luck. I may end up dumping XMSerius when renewal comes up. DBCassidy
It might be possible you are in a market with a bad repeater. Call XM and report the issue. They use repeaters in larger metro areas (900+ now in USA per wiki) to counter tall buildings and hilly terrain where direct line of site is not always good. With my older XM radio, I had two bars which showed me the repeater signal and satellite signal strengths. I do not see that available on my V3. UPDATE: found this posting with list of cities which have XM repeaters deployed. xm411.com - What is and where are the Ground Repeaters?
I'm a musician...and I've never had a problem with my Sirius quality in all my other cars with it, nor do I have a problem with the signal in my now new XM radio. But, the stock speakers in the Prius leave MUCH to be desired. Project to replace the speakers and put in an amp/subwoofer is happening next month. I have heard that there has been some degradation of XM signal from time to time due to repeaters. Sirius does not use repeaters like XM does (a basic difference in the two products) so maybe it is a repeater problem in your area. Since both Toyota and GM both exclusively use XM radios it would be hard for you to compare the two.
We traded a 10 year old RAV4 with a Sirius owner installed unit that had very rare cutouts here in rural New Hampshire. We bought a Prius IV a month ago and the built in satellite radio (is it Sirius or XM?) cuts out often driving the same roads that the RAV4 had no problem with. The dealer has no clue and hasn't answered my question where the antenna is. My wife just read in the Owner's Manual that we have an XM radio. So that could explain the difference in reception compared to the previous Sirius unit. With the current XM reception we will not be paying for service after our 90 free trial expires.
