# Poor audio quality



## agreer (Apr 7, 2006)

The audio quality seems verry poor on my Sportster-R. It is far less quality than the 128k Premium web streaming, and this is on a high-end component system, trying several cables and inputs, on a nice car system and (to a lesser extent) on my not-so-great car system...

it sounds like it is broadcasting at 64K, sirius phone support claims that it sounds fine, byt they can not possibly know...they havnt listened to my unit. 

Do I have a bad reciver or is Sirius junk?


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I had a similar problem with an XM unit. I called XM and they referred me to the manufacturer of the XT Roady. I got a replacement and had it activated (after many problems) and quality is MUCH better. Of course, XM still has my account messed up.  Try the manufacturer, you may get better results there.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

First, what kind of quality were you expecting? Satellite radio is not CD quality by any means, sound quality was never really a selling point of satellite radio. I have no problem with the audio from either service, as to me it's acceptable, could be a hell of a lot better but the variety and selection cannot be beat. 

From doing different comparisons, the 128K Sirius Internet Radio stream does sound better then Sirius itself, but it’s better than XM Radio Online’s 64K stream. Some channels will also sound better than others.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

When I had a bad unit (XM) it was very obvious. It sounded like an AM radio without the static. One channel was overpowering the other channel. On my home system I had a strong left channel and a strong center, but no right channel. Bandwidth (frequency response) was very poor, night and day between that unit and my former Sirius unit. Bad hardware does happen.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I'm not saying it couldn't be a bad receiver. But some people have high expectations when it comes to satellite radio's sound quality. Yours was easy to diagnose because you had Sirius and you knew something was up. For those that have no experience with satellite radio, especially when connected to a home theater system, it may be a little shocking to some people depending on their expectations.


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## oldave (Dec 22, 2003)

Actually, I commented last night that 61 and 62 are sounding much better lately than they have in the past... but maybe that's just me.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I don't listen to 62, but Prime Country has always sounded excellent to me.


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## agreer (Apr 7, 2006)

The quality I was expecting was that of about a 128K mp3, or maybe a download from the iTunes music store: what i am getting sounds like 64k compression: loads of digital distortion in the highs and lows and n a lack of richness. 

I guess I just figure that the satalite feed should sound as good as the premium internet feed.

I listen to channel 23, 8, 7, 9, 63, 64 and a few others...I totally expected and understand the "entertainment channels" to be compressed to wholy hell, but not the music channels.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Oh no, you won't get anything that sounds like a 128K MP3 on satellite radio except for the two XMHD stations on XM.


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## agreer (Apr 7, 2006)

Steve Mehs said:


> Oh no, you won't get anything that sounds like a 128K MP3 on satellite radio except for the two XMHD stations on XM.


Wish I woulda known that I would be treated to cell-phone ring tone quality music...I woulda saved a few bucks and just DLed a few ring tones to loop while I commute.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

You really should try riding in another car that has Sirius and compare that to what you are hearing with yours. If it sounds bad in relation to one that you know is good then it is time to get a replacement.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

agreer said:


> Wish I woulda known that I would be treated to cell-phone ring tone quality music...I woulda saved a few bucks and just DLed a few ring tones to loop while I commute.


If it's that bad then yes, try a different receiver.


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## agreer (Apr 7, 2006)

OK: I hooked up my Sportster to my home stereo and it sounds like 64k MP3s...just wreched...sounded close to the same on my friends Stiletto 100 with hi-end sony headphones.


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## hjsiemer (Sep 28, 2006)

The other day I heard Howard Stern talking about "compression" and how he uses it to "save his voice". He also said that none of the other talk show hosts use compression, and that when he does a guest appearance on these other shows his voice wears out.

Can someone tell me about compression and how it helps when speaking on the radio for long periods of time

[email protected]


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Well, Howard may be the self proclaimed "king of all media", but he knows nothing of what other radio people are doing if he actually thinks that he is the only "personality" who uses compression on his voice.... they ALL do, without exception. Compression reduces the dynamic range of the voice, or whatever else you run through it. It lowers the peaks above a fixed audio level and gives an overall louder sound than would be natural. Nearly all radio stations use compressors on their main signal to make them sound louder than the competition. Also, to some extent, compression on the main feed to the transmitter tends to make the signal get out a bit further, increasing potential audience. As for saving the voice, I guess you could say that it gives a DJ a more consistant sound and a more even sound so he/she/it doesn't have to think much about controlling their voice levels since the compressor will do this for them. Some of the better equiped stations (most these days) have multiband compressors that split the audio into multiple frequency ranges and work on each range individually.

Here's an explaination of compression... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_level_compression Most good audio editing programs these days have compression plug ins available for them. If you are curious, download this and play around with it. http://goldwave.com/ It has compression included as one of it's many effects. Although not related to compressing, I use it (and a couple of other programs) for declicking old records.


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## agreer (Apr 7, 2006)

hjsiemer said:


> The other day I heard Howard Stern talking about "compression" and how he uses it to "save his voice". He also said that none of the other talk show hosts use compression, and that when he does a guest appearance on these other shows his voice wears out.
> 
> Can someone tell me about compression and how it helps when speaking on the radio for long periods of time
> 
> [email protected]


From what little of him talking about tech as I have heard, and from what you say, I can pretty well say that Stern is NOT a tech guy by any means, that is fine, the only radio personality that I know of who has any idea or care about what happens on the other side of the glass is Limbaugh...

Stern was talking about the compression that is done by a DAP (Digital audio processor) that takes out the highs and lows and uses that data to boost the mids, and yes, it can be used to make ones voice sound more booming .

The compression that I am talking about is done to make the stream smaller. this is done by throwing out as much data as possible while still leaving just enough to reproduce something that sounds like it...but you are missing SOOOOOO much...

Woops...I was beat to it...


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