The Duc Pond

As I note below, I got a subscription to Sirius. I’m pretty pleased so far, but I do have reservations. Here’s my mini-review:

Sound Quality
Let’s cut to the chase. The primary reason I was attracted to satellite radio was sound quality. In that department I’m somewhat disappointed. While it’s great that I never have to hear static, the audio sounds very compressed. This is not a problem unique to Sirius; people have rated Sirus’ recent sound quality as equal or above XM’s (I say “recent” because compression codecs and bandwidth allocations change all the time).

I used to compare satellite radio to 96 kbps MP3s. I don’t think it’s quite that bad, but you can definitely hear compression artifacts even in the best channels. The talk channels are the absolute worst. I’m sure many people think this is fine since it’s just talk, but after years of hearing high quality speech on my local NPR stations, this kind of audio quality is unacceptable.

Right now the only sound quality improvement over FM is the lack of static, but since I live so close to Philadelphia (a major radio market), reception has never been much of a problem.

Sirius and XM are working on their codecs all the time. I hope they’ll put priority on improving sound quality rather than adding more channels (though there’s one exception; see below).

Variety
The selection is great, but I do wish there was a channel similar to XM’s Cinemagic channel. I love movie soundtracks and the imagery they evoke. I’ve written Sirius a couple times regarding adding such a channel.

I’ve read a lot of comparisons between XM and Sirius, and the consensus is that XM’s playlist is “deeper” meaning they’ll play lesser known songs. For some this can be frustrating, though. People might like ’60s music, but not know it well enough to enjoy some of the stuff XM plays on their ’60s channel. I’m one of those types of people. I prefer Sirius’ better-known mix. That’s not to say they never play more obscure music, however. For me it’s a good balance. I’m a fan of Alt Nation (alternative rock) and Sirius Pops (classical).

The main reason I wanted Sirius over XM was National Public Radio. The NPR stations aren’t too bad (again, aside from the poor audio quality on the talk channels). There are two NPR channels: NPR Now and NPR Talk. There’s some repetition as you can see, but I only listen to the major shows anyway and it’s convenient to be able to have a couple of times to choose from when listening to a show.

Reception
At home I keep the antenna outside on my balcony. For the car the antenna is on the trunk. I have no reception problems at all. But if you absolutely cannot put the antenna outside, reception could be difficult. In this region, the antenna should face the West and I have no window on that side.

Sirius doesn’t have a lot of terrestrial repeaters, though, so when I was filling up on some gas in Galloway, the gas station’s overhanging roof blocked the satellite signal. Sirius supposedly has fewer repeaters because their satellites are in a higher orbit and thus can reach more people, but this doesn’t help when you don’t have a clear view of the sky!

Receiver
I have the XACT XTR1 Stream Jockey. Quite frankly, I hate it. There are only 3 number buttons, which are used for presets. You can’t type in a station (you have to use an onscreen set of numbers to type in a channel). Presets are hard to use, since you have to select preset groups A through F, each of which only holds three presets (hence the 3 numbered buttons).

My particular hardware sucks, but as new ones come out, I can upgrade if they’re affordable. I’m hoping for something similar to XM’s MyFi.