PaisanNYC said:
GSDaddy said:
How does XM sound compared to Sirius?
A MILLION times better. Not only the SQ (Sound Quality) but also the reception. XM already has three satellites in space and is launching the 4th in just two weeks!
http://www.sea-launch.com/current_launch.htm
Alot of people get Sirius because of course Sirius has better marketing and Howard, then trash XM without listening to it. Ive been with XM, have listened to Sirius MANY times, and it just doesnt compare to XM's quality. Like you said, the graphical interface is much nicer, since XM and Pioneer have had a partnership for a long time (Pioneer Airware, Pioneer Inno). Not to mention the benefit of XM NavTraffic for your navigation :)
That's really funny cause I have the exact oppisite experiance with XM and Sirius. My wife's new Acura MDX came with XM and my chrysler 300C came with Sirius. So we bought 2 accounts, one with Sirius and one with Sirius. I sold my 300C and my new Lincoln had a crap stereo and I replaced it with the Avic Z1, since I already have a lifetime subscription with Sirius, I bought that with my Z1 and switched over the account.
I have listened to both for many many hours, we do switch cars every now and then. I would say that reception is about the same. They both cut out in exactly the same places since we drive in the same locations all the time. The same hills and tree cover cut the sat radio out (both of them) exactly the same times and places, I can even point out places we drive regularly where both sat radios will cut out. It's not bad, but it's predictable. Maybe after these new sats go up for XM it will get better, but right now they are the same (in my experiance in the north east).
But I think that the sound quality is better on Sirius. No I only have the Acura sound system and compared to the stock sound system in the 300C and in the Z1, but I would say that even to my poor ears, I can hear the compression of the digital music more with XM over the Sirius. I find that XM seems to compress the audio more even on the popular channels and when I can tell that's pretty bad. They say the best compression for sat radio is 64Kbps. My cousin sent me this on poor audio quality:
http://www.audioholics.com/news/editori ... nAudio.php
He is much pickier than I. He agrees with me, that he thinks Sirius compression is either less or sounds better than what XM uses. But those are just our own opinions.
I also like the programmig WAY better on Sirius. There are "better" stations on Sirius. They tend to have things like "Hair Nation", and there is nothing like that on XM... NOTHING! A few channels on sirius have no counter on XM.
I still think both are better than FM/AM. My best advice, check out the programming. Go online and get a free trial streaming over the web and check them out. Go with what interests you.
XM has:
Bob Edwards
NASCAR for now, moving to Sirius in 07
MLB
Opie and Anthony
Some college football
Sirius has
NPR
NASCAR starting in 07
Stern
NFL, all the games, both home and away announce teams
NCAA Basketball Toureny, all the games
NHL
NBA
some college football.
AND HAIR NATION!
As the Z1 goes, the XM has better integration (the channels have icons... Whooooo.....) and traffic and the channel in the preset button. That being said the sirius is really not that bad. Very usable.
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