Factory Sirius Radio sounds bad

[bauckman]

I have a 2008 Ford Fusion with a factory sync radio with factory installed Sirius radio. The CD, FM, and iPod sounds great, but the Sirius sounds like a bad mp3 (bad compression). Anyone else have this problem? Any fix. I still haven't call the dealership yet, but soon.

 

Thanks!

[iNexxFear]

I have a 2008 Ford Fusion with a factory sync radio with factory installed Sirius radio. The CD, FM, and iPod sounds great, but the Sirius sounds like a bad mp3 (bad compression). Anyone else have this problem? Any fix. I still haven't call the dealership yet, but soon.

 

Thanks!

 

Is this a recent issue that you are noticing? As it coudl be an issue that Sirius is having with thier satellites... It may be worth questioning Sirius, as well as a dealer, because their could be a problem with that end or the conversion over a combined Sirius/XM Nation.

 

I've not heard of anyone else complain about this... So I would think that it may be specific to your area... Such as you're not getting a true satellite connection and using the terrestrial connection (repeating ground antenna's) which could be over-extending and distorting the signal!

 

That is inded strange! And thus Sirius may know about this problem in your area, or atleast be able to give you some sort of compensation for your bad reception!

[robm15]

I have a 2008 Ford Fusion with a factory sync radio with factory installed Sirius radio. The CD, FM, and iPod sounds great, but the Sirius sounds like a bad mp3 (bad compression). Anyone else have this problem? Any fix. I still haven't call the dealership yet, but soon.

 

Thanks!

 

 

I just received my 2010 FFH, and the factory Sirius radio sounds really really good! I'd have to ask the same question as iNexxFear asked, is this a new issue or one you have always had since you got the car?

[Billy4202]

I wouldn't be surprised that it sounds like bad mp3 compression, because, in a sense, it kind of is. Sirius' content streams at 128kbps; for most people, it doesn't sound that bad, to others it does - to each his own. But if it sounds as bad as you make it out to be, then I would have the dealer check it out, maybe there's bad wiring in the antenna or between the connection from the antenna to the head unit.

 

If you encode the songs on your iPod at 128, and Sirius sounds significantly different compared to your iPod, I'd get that checked out.

[cuehara]

My understanding is that Sirius (the satellite service) maxes out at 64 kbps using a somewhat old codec called PAC v4. The average bit rates per channel vary, with talk, sports, and comedy channels getting less and music channels getting more (the overall average per channel ends up a little under half the max rate). If you have a nice stereo and a reasonable ear, you'll hear a big difference between sat radio and a CD. As a general rule, sat radio is also inferior to mp3 or AAC, since those can have an arbitrarily higher bit rate. But to my ear, sat radio's superior to FM, and Sirius has improved the coding of their content so within the limits of the codec, they're doing a decent job (it does seem like an unfortunate choice of codec, though).

 

If it sounds bad, it can be a bad connection somewhere in the analog path. If the two stereo channels get somewhat mixed, you can get a funky cancellation that has a weird bandpass, talking-on-the-phone effect. I'm not sure what kind of redundancy sat radio uses other than signal diversity; in my experience, there's no graceful degradation in sound on the digital side--it's the digital cliff, either on or off.

 

So my guess, a bad connection or a wonky part in the analog side of the sat radio tuner. Either that or you really don't like the sound of sat radio--in addition to the perceptual coding, sat radio probably does some dynamic range compression and equalization to make the music sound "good" on garbage car radios.

 

You might want to try and "buy" a Sirius unit from Best Buy and listen to it via the FM modulator. It won't sound as best as it could, but it will give you a general idea of what it should sound like. Then return it to BB.

[pcsgrp35se]

I have a stand alone sirius unit (X-act and a Sirius 1) in my cars prior to getting the fusion. I noticed the older sirius units, the x-act and my first Sirius 1) were substantially better then the later version of the Sirius 1. About two years ago, sirius got into some trouble with th3e FCC beacuse of their receivers FM output being to powerful. I always used a aux connection so it didn't really impact me. Having said that, my sirius in the new fusion is just as good or if no better then the stand alone units I had in the cars. I didn't use the little button antenna but installed what is called a "sirius sigma antenna" inside the front windshield. The antenna on the fusion seems to be located in a better spot and I don't get dropouts under the trees in the rain that I would normally get with the other setups. As far as apimd quality, without a doubt, CDs sound a lot better then sirius. I also found out that some stations such as 14, 17 and 73 seem to be a lot better sound quality then some of the other ones, in particular 5, 6 and 7. I am thinking that aside from the bit rate, the source may be better quality. I know when they started going with more of the XM programming, the sound quality got better on the stations noted above. Don't forget, three times a day, since they orbit in a circle that goes from south to north over the central part of the US, when they are at their northern and western most part of the path, the angle from the east coast is really low so the signal isn't as good. For me that occurs early in the morning, around noon and then again around dinner time.

[Blizzard35]

Sirius sounded great in my car.....but I did not renew after the free 6-month subscription expired. I work in the radio industry (chain of FM stations here in Ontario) and IMO the music programming on Sirius is/was terrible. Too many repeats in too short a time....not enough variety. Anyway, instead of the $15.00 CDN a month for "pay as you go" on Sirius, I can fill up my 120 GB ipod with all the music I want and never hear a song repeated for months....untless I hit the repeat button. I have written Sirius with my comments and received a polite "form" letter response saying that they have passed my comments along etc. etc. etc. I enjoyed listening to CNN in the car on Sirius, but the music was very limited and dissapointing. By the way, I listened to the 70's, 80', 90's, HITS, The Blend channels and it was the same on all of them. Could be one of the big reasons why sattelite radio is not doing very well financially....IMO.

[svtenthusiast]

In my opinion, the compression that Sirius uses is terrible. You can hear the digital artifacts like crazy on some songs. Not good enough for the true audiophile.

[2009_AWD_V6]

Sat radio never sounds as good as a regular FM or especially a CD. I will say that it sounds a lot better in my Fusion than my wife's 300 Touring. I am thinking the newer satelite radios do better. Both cars have best sound option from the factory.

[iNexxFear]

The other thing that I am wondering here is if the Sirius Satellite radio's installed on some of these vehicles aren't caching enough data... so when you get into a really rough section of recieval that you start getting bad data reception and it can't recover.... thus making the sounds terrible..

[vanhalenfanrob]

The other thing that I am wondering here is if the Sirius Satellite radio's installed on some of these vehicles aren't caching enough data... so when you get into a really rough section of recieval that you start getting bad data reception and it can't recover.... thus making the sounds terrible..

 

yeah i have a have a 2010 fusion and whenever i go under an overpass, not a huge one the signal will go out for a second or two and some stations sound tinny

[macer]

Mine sounds pretty bad. Ipod/FM/CD sounds pretty good for the 6 speaker system. The Sirius sounds super compressed and tinny...Sad when FM sounds better. Going to take it in to the dealer...otherwise there is no way I would pay for it. I've heard it in other cars, and it always sounded pretty good...hoping it's something easy for them to fix.

[mysidx]

Mine sounds pretty bad. Ipod/FM/CD sounds pretty good for the 6 speaker system. The Sirius sounds super compressed and tinny...Sad when FM sounds better. Going to take it in to the dealer...otherwise there is no way I would pay for it. I've heard it in other cars, and it always sounded pretty good...hoping it's something easy for them to fix.

 

 

I have a new 2010 with stock 6 speaker setup, and i agree it does sound muffled. Let us know what the dealer says or if there is a fix. I am thinking of changing out the speakers for higher end ones.

[akirby]

Part of the problem - if you're listening to things recorded pre-80s - is that the original recordings just aren't that good. I do agree that the sound quality is not that great.

[FtLewis2002]

Sirius is a little better than AM, and not as good as FM. their programming does suck as someone above stated also. I get bored with it before the 6 months is up every time. I did listen to it driving to Kentucky from Colorado though.

[cdswebinc]

So it seems that we agree: tinny, compression related, and it is Sirius (not the FFH 2010 Sony sound system). I especially mind it on the Sinatra station, 40s on 4, and Real Jazz - any piece that has a big band with screaming trumpets.

 

Do we have any remedy from Ford or Sirius?

 

Thanks... Tim

[FtLewis2002]

So it seems that we agree: tinny, compression related, and it is Sirius (not the FFH 2010 Sony sound system). I especially mind it on the Sinatra station, 40s on 4, and Real Jazz - any piece that has a big band with screaming trumpets.

 

Do we have any remedy from Ford or Sirius?

 

Thanks... Tim

 

There's nothing they can do...It's a bandwidth issue. I spoke with technical support from Sirius, and they said "3 million subscribers like it, so we don;t see a problem with it". They only care about $$$.