XM satellite radio vs Sirius satellite radio

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2006-12-06 12:20pm

What's the difference? Is there any reason to prefer one over the other? Are they actually affiliated?

Vyraeth · Post by **Vyraeth** » 2006-12-06 12:30pm

I think the big difference for alot of people is that Sirius has Howard Stern and XM does not.

EDIT Update:

Here's a link with a nice comparison chart:

http://radio.about.com/od/satelliteradi ... arecht.htm

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2006-12-06 12:35pm

From a sound quality standpoint they both suck ass, but if you're just listening to Howard Stern in your car it's not a big deal. From articles in Stereophile & other audio magazines & websites, the XM & Sirius radio is equivalent to 92kbps MP3 at best, and they often drop the bitrate down to 64kbps or so. FM radio sounds better and so do decently recorded cassette tapes.

So it all comes down to programming choices and your musical tastes.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2006-12-06 03:47pm

Sirius carries the NFL--all games, plus content throughout the year--, NPR, and Howard Stern. XM carries Major League Baseball. I'm not sure what other exclusive content it has.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2006-12-06 05:11pm

I'm addicted to Stern, so for me it's a no-brainer. I'm also an Elvis fan, and Sirius has an all Elvis channel.

Other than that, the two are comparable. The talk shows (other than Stern) are really no better on one than another. Sirius does have 24 hour tech support, though, and XM doesn't. That's an issue for me.

There are also a lot of rumors floating around that the two may soon merge.

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2006-12-06 11:58pm

From a sound quality standpoint they both suck ass, but if you're just listening to Howard Stern in your car it's not a big deal. From articles in Stereophile & other audio magazines & websites, the XM & Sirius radio is equivalent to 92kbps MP3 at best, and they often drop the bitrate down to 64kbps or so. FM radio sounds better and so do decently recorded cassette tapes.

So it all comes down to programming choices and your musical tastes.

get your ears checked dude.

I have XM and the sound quality is actually good. It might depend on the stereo system you have.

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2006-12-07 12:01am

I have XM and it has a lot of really good channels on it. it has channels dedicated to decades, some to R&B and some to rock and news. I really can't compare Sirius radio with XM but it depends on your taste. I find XM better than FM anyday.

Are you planning to get satellite radio? whatever you have don't make a difference because its a lot better than the shit on FM that is spewed out.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2006-12-07 01:12am

Dennis Toy wrote:I have XM and it has a lot of really good channels on it. it has channels dedicated to decades, some to R&B and some to rock and news. I really can't compare Sirius radio with XM but it depends on your taste. I find XM better than FM anyday.

Are you planning to get satellite radio? whatever you have don't make a difference because its a lot better than the shit on FM that is spewed out.

Yeah, satellite radio in general blows FM away easily. I'm a SIRIUS devotee, but I would take XM any day over FM.

drifter god · Post by **drifter god** » 2006-12-07 02:54am

im also have XM. i have it in my car and as far as sound quality, it sounds great. i dont use any kinda transmitter, its the built-in kind.

even more, i like XM so much , i bought a portable an stuck it on my motorcycle. works great.

as far as XM or sirius, cant really help you. ive heard a lot of people who have had both say sirius sounds better, but i honestly cant tell the difference. best way to decide is to just look at the channels offered and see what has more of your taste.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2006-12-07 09:28am

Dennis Toy wrote:get your ears checked dude.

I have XM and the sound quality is actually good. It might depend on the stereo system you have.

I'm going to ask a very simple question here. What kind of stereo system do you have, and what's the best you've ever heard? I need to know what your reference point is before going further into this.

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2006-12-07 11:02am

I have a Sirius Stiletto 100, and I effing love it. For a portable satellite radio unit, it is pretty heavy (maybe it's 8 ounces), but it gets the full selection of channels (130+ right now). Some of the cooler features is that it works as an MP3 player, though the storage capacity is pitiful because it reserves most of the space for recording radio, the aforementioned radio recording.

The niftiest thing, though, is that it can hook into any wireless network you can access and stream the radio over the internet. That's nice for me, because you can't get a home docking hit for these things to save your life right now, so I just use my wireless router, hook the radio up to my home stereo, and bada bing.

Now, I've only had this for about four weeks (birthday present) so I can't speak on long-term reliability, but here are some things I have noticed:

The built-in antenna is weak where there are no ground-repeaters. I can't use it on my train into work until I get near Manhattan. Having 200 or so MP3s makes this a non-issue. In cities, though, it works very well off the ground repeaters. My wife and I were able to listen to Stern and music of our choosing in both Newark and Ft. Lauderdale airports when we went on vacation over Thanksgiving.

They do provide headphones with a satellite antenna built into them. They look unbelievably stupid, though, and they are uncomfortable as all shit. I will say, however, that they do work passably rural areas. I brought the unit with me to the Florida Keys and could listen to satellite radio outside, though the provided headphones hurt my ears after about 20 minutes.

The there are two batteries provided--one has a slim profile, the other has more battery life. In general, you can listen to satellite radio for about 4 hours on a fully-charged larger battery. Internet radio and MP3 playback draw a lot less power.

The screen is large, easy to read, and very spiffy. It's easy to navigate around, and as far as I can see, it doesn't randomly lock up or anything like that.

It's pretty expensive, sure, but you can get home and car docking kits, so you can have it wherever, whenever. I listen to it at work, and I'm hoping I'll get a car/home kit for X-mas, and it's quite enjoyable.

Be warned, though, that regardless of what model you get, Howard Stern is extremely vulgar, so you might want to block that channel so your kids don't tune in by accident. Similarly, XM shows like Opie and Anthony are incredibly foul (and funny, but that's beside the point), so if you get either service, be aware that at least one channel takes full advantage of the complete freedom they have in what they say/do.

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2006-12-07 11:41pm

Dennis Toy wrote:
get your ears checked dude.

I have XM and the sound quality is actually good. It might depend on the stereo system you have.

I'm going to ask a very simple question here. What kind of stereo system do you have, and what's the best you've ever heard? I need to know what your reference point is before going further into this.

a put together one consisting of mix-match components. As for the best i have heard, maybe that was too general. I just have never noticed the sound quality. To me, XM is better than FM anyday with it's repeated airlists, constant repeating of "Hit" song.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2006-12-08 12:21pm

Dennis Toy wrote:a put together one consisting of mix-match components. As for the best i have heard, maybe that was too general. I just have never noticed the sound quality. To me, XM is better than FM anyday with it's repeated airlists, constant repeating of "Hit" song.

So basically off the shelf stuff from BestBuy or other such store. Now here's the thing, on typical consumer level gear, you'll have a hard to impossible time telling apart good FM, CD, and XM radio since the system has serious limitations. Imagine trying to watch broadcast TV, VHS, and DVD on a $30 30 year old TV, you'll have a hard time telling the difference since the TV has very limited capabilities. Now substitute a HD plasma TV and the differences are crystal clear. Same idea with stereo systems, once you have a good setup the differences are easy to hear.

So here's the fun part, I have an FM tuner from the golden age of stereo, it'll pick up clear signals from across Lake Ontario. I also have a decent CD player, and it all feeds into one of the better headphones ever made. In Toronto, we're also blessed with a few jazz & classical stations which put out a clean unmolested signal, no compression, equalization, or other such stuff. These broadcasts are very close to CD quality. I've heard XM radio when a friend brought over a tuner, there's an amazing selection of awesome music but the sound quality is frankly MP3 level, nowhere close to good FM or CD quality. Great for the car or background music, but it wouldn't be acceptable to me in a dedicated listening system.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2006-12-13 12:42pm

The question of how good something sounds will always be subjective, in the sense that everyone has his own acceptable limits for what constitutes decent sound quality.

Me, I like a really good sound system and I can appreciate it. However, my domestic environment is quite noisy, with two kids and a dog running around, HEPA air filter fans chugging, computers running, Nintendos playing, etc. That's why I may appreciate a really nice stereo system but it's not of great importance to me right now. In this environment, a lot of differences in audio quality are basically smeared out. For me, a radio is something I would use in the car anyway, which is an even shittier audio environment.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-12-13 01:41pm

In this environment, a lot of differences in audio quality are basically smeared out. For me, a radio is something I would use in the car anyway, which is an even shittier audio environment.

Then either service would be fine.
I had the same decision to make a few months ago and went with XM simply because I read somewhere that XM has a slightly better sound encoding method, carries Air America, and the Delphi Roady XT was on sale locally.

Unless there's unique programming on one network that you simply must have, it boils down to which station's available receivers and accessories you prefer.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2006-12-13 02:18pm

Darth Wong wrote:In this environment, a lot of differences in audio quality are basically smeared out. For me, a radio is something I would use in the car anyway, which is an even shittier audio environment.

In that case either one works fine, look over the program listings and hardware choices for both and pick the one which suits you better.

I did hear a cool story about XM though. A guy had heard a really cool song on one of the stations but he missed the title & artist. However he was able to contact the station and talk to the program manager to find out the song, artist, and album info so he could buy the CD.