Audio Qualities

[Anybodyhome]

I've been an XM/Sirius guy for over 20 years now, even before they merged. I also use the app on my phone at the gym, but I recently streamed Pandora in my JKU and the audio quality was obviously much better. So much so that I'm considering giving up XM/Sirius and just streaming Pandora- that's how much better the sound quality is.
I used to be a big audiophile, paying attention to S/N ratio and all that, but the digital audio world changed all that. So, can someone tell me how streaming pandora from my phone sounds so damn much better than a satellite signal?

 

[Vman]

I've been an XM/Sirius guy for over 20 years now, even before they merged. I also use the app on my phone at the gym, but I recently streamed Pandora in my JKU and the audio quality was obviously much better. So much so that I'm considering giving up XM/Sirius and just streaming Pandora- that's how much better the sound quality is.
I used to be a big audiophile, paying attention to S/N ratio and all that, but the digital audio world changed all that. So, can someone tell me how streaming pandora from my phone sounds so damn much better than a satellite signal?

The data coming from satellites is much slower than what you can get over 3g/4g/etc. That probably means it has to be compressed a lot more.

With satellites you also deal with a thing called propagation delay as well as physical/atmospheric things interfering with the signal.

It's the same issue with things like satellite internet access.

 

[mrjp]

"a thing called propagation delay"
Okay this just went way above me

 

[Danarch]

"a thing called propagation delay"
Okay this just went way above me

Agreed!

 

[Threepointsix]

Honestly, unless someone like Rogan or other Podcasts hop on with Sirius, I give them 2 years.

 

[Largehit71]

Compression. Man I hate it. That’s why I dropped XM. Just sounds like crap to me.

 

[Vman]

"a thing called propagation delay"
Okay this just went way above me

Just a fancy way of saying it's slow to get the signal because the satellite is far away.

 

[Anybodyhome]

Honestly, unless someone like Rogan or other Podcasts hop on with Sirius, I give them 2 years.

I made a lot of money on XM when I bought a pretty healthy stake when it was an IPO at $12 a share. It went south pretty quick, but the 2008 merger did well for me.

Back to the subject at hand, propagation delay and compression make perfect sense. And, after doing some reading this morning, I think the future of satellite radio is pretty bleak, but auto manufacturers will continue to offer it unless they land a deal with some streaming services.