Best Sirius/XM sound quality

[cleeds]

[IMG]

While it's impossible to get truly high end sound from Sirius/XM, it is possible to do better than the swishy, swirly, lossy-compressed audio that is so commonly heard from satellite receivers. (To be fair to XM, some of the blame for that bad sound falls to the receivers themselves. Some suck more than others.)

I realize that some just don't care about XM, but if you still enjoy an occasional dose of Earle Bailey or Pat St. John the way I do, you might want to try this method.

I use the XM app on an iPad connected to the Lightning Digital AV Adapter. That gives an HDMI output that connects to my Bryston DAC-3. Of course, the audio isn't really 48K quality, that's just the digital "container" for the XM stream. But it is much, much higher quality than anything I've ever heard that relied on the satellites.

One speed bump that XM designed into the app is that it defaults to a lower sound quality. You'll need to go into the iPad settings to change it to "maximum" SQ. The app may sometimes reset that to a lower quality, but you'll notice that immediately.

The result is very listenable and actually sounds better than many over-processed commercial FM stations.

I realize that this method requires streaming, so it doesn't really belong in the "Tuners" section of AA. But I figured those who would be most interested would find it here.

[Masterlu]

Great info, thanks.

[cleeds]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Great info, thanks.

You are welcome! Frankly, I was surprised how good the SQ can be. It's perfectly fine for background music and then some. Of course, it won't withstand critical listening.

[r042wal]

I have been an XM subscriber since 2005 and you are correct about Earle Bailey, I have discovered so many new and unheard artists on the Deep Tracks channel. I'm a collector - I hear it on XM and the chase is on.

My wife and I have it in our cars, but we also have the XM app on our Amazon Fire TV Cube which integrates into my McIntosh system. I think the Fire TV cube goes to my TV by HDMI and then the optical out on my TV goes to my C48.

[cleeds]

Originally Posted by r042wal

I ... you are correct about Earle Bailey, I have discovered so many new and unheard artists on the Deep Tracks channel. I'm a collector - I hear it on XM and the chase is on ...

Earle's great. He broadcasts from the Cape, so it's possible Ivan has passed him in the supermarket and not even known.

Dennis Elsas, too. And Carol Miller.