[brad]

I have a 2010 SRT with the option group II. When Sirius is on the music sounds tinny!!.. I don't know how to describe it. I f I play my iPod it sounds ok.

 

[Moper]

I have a 2011 SRT with Option Group II. I have the same complaint.

I think it sounds tinny because the music is so compressed. I had XM a few years back. I dumped them because the sound quality stunk. Too bad they haven't fixed this yet.

 

[waumo]

Definitely the case with Sirius.

I was really disappointed with the sound system in my 09 SRT until I played a good CD in it and loaded my own mp3 on the hard disk. Night and day difference.

Also in the Jeep which has the subwoofer and can be set to "surround" sound mode. Surround sound is great on movies with the DVD player but is hideous on music. The Jeep came set to surround sound mode and I thought the system in it was defective until I found the mode setting and put it back to stereo.

 

[rnewton]

Satellite radio sounds like AM radio. This is true in all cars. I'm very picky on how music sounds. HDD and Cd's sound good in my SRT '09. I may not renew my Sirius when the time comes.

 

[allstardrummer]

Ya, you guys are all right on this. I was wondering about it too.

 

[MoparOhio]

I talked with Sirius about that issue myself. They said it should sound as clear as a CD. I am guessing the electronics in our stereos is just not good enough for that.

 

[Toxic11]

Satellite radio USED to sound "near cd" quality years ago when it first came out.. I had XM early on, with a Delphi SkyFi (still have it) and the quality got worse and worse and the price went up and up... I could hear the degradation in sound quality over the years.

If you listen to Pop or R&B it's not so bad, since it's mostly noise anyway, but don't try to listen to anything musical with it!

 

[CTDodger]

Hey now...don't hate on Pop and R&B. That's the best music genre out there. But to each his/her own.

 

[Toxic11]

Hey now...don't hate on Pop and R&B. That's the best music genre out there. But to each his/her own.

I'm not hating on it! Listen to it all the time! But it's about the only thing that doesn't sound completely ruined by the compression algorithm used by Sirius/XM.

 

[Knownman]

Try this

I had the same problem. I thought my cars radio had a crappy high pitched sound coming from it. I put the speaker balance all the way to the rear and found that there was more than just a tinny sound. It sounds like the phase is backwards on the speakers.
I took it to dodge and after a few back and fort hers with the service manager he finally caught what I was hearing. Thank god. I thought I was going nuts.
He also noticed thatnit had the same problem on fm once it played for a while.

Right now I am waiting for a replacement head unit as they couldn't get the problem to stop with different speakers or the sub disconnected.

I let you guys know what happens. He told me they can take a months to get in because the radios are not from dodge but from the Mopar group or something?

 

[allstardrummer]

Don't forget that all sound production has become more and more compressed and 'tweeked' for the digital(Mp3) format now, and that it's all lost it's original depth and wetness to the sound produced by analog(magnetic tape). Due to the over engineering and sound transfer through all the electronic equipment it actually sounds worse because there's too much going on in the transfer that it becomes more difficult to sound correct, kinda like when a guitar player has a good amp and used to plug right into the head, but now, he plug's into a processor/pedal, etc and then there's so many option's that he end's up loosing the 'beef' tone, mids, and gain(volume), just to make it 'sound' better. That's also like when you take a 69' RR and see the simplicity in it and then try to understand the computers and etc in our cars, it becomes much more of a hassle, in hopes off the same result. (Is it better?) Ya, at XM and Sirius it sounds proper, in the room they're broadcasting from, but by the time it gets to our ears it's been diminished to the 'best' quality available. That's why your cd's/direct sources all sound better than sat radio. Unless someone's of a younger generation and never heard any songs on vinyl before, then you wouldn't know what music is supposed to sound like properly(through speakers), with all the mids and acoustic balance. Nowadays the treble is mixed and turned up so loud to make it sound 'clearer', it end's up taking away from the overall sound mix. Anyways, I don't think there's a win here. Just assume the speakers aren't blown unless they really sound worse than they do now possibly one day lol.

 

[MoparOhio]

Mine is just XM. FM and CDs, MP3s sound better than any other car stereo I have ever had.

 

[cruiserdan]

Mine sounds great on FM/HDD/CD/IPOD and "muffled" on sat radio. It's the crappy signal quality. It varries depending on cloud cover and atmospheric conditions.

 

[mark7070]

I think its our radios. I have XM in my other cars and it sounds great. I bought an XM sounddock for my iphone and it sounds great.

 

[ptgarcia]

Which radio does everyone have? I think it sounds pretty darn good playing on our RHB 430N.

 

[avconsumer2]

Something else to keep in mind, XM/Sirius allots different bit-rates to different channels (it's obvious to a trained ear - I have no factual evidence to back this up except years of pro-audio experience & 20hz to 20khz hearing). If your favorite station falls under one of the lower bit rate channels, they often sound worse than AM.

 

[Toxic11]

Something else to keep in mind, XM/Sirius allots different bit-rates to different channels (it's obvious to a trained ear - I have no factual evidence to back this up except years of pro-audio experience & 20hz to 20khz hearing). If your favorite station falls under one of the lower bit rate channels, they often sound worse than AM.

I have exceptional hearing and I've noticed this for years with XM.....

 

[Hal H]

Its the LSB (least significant bit) compression algorythm used in MP3 for the Sat radio format. I suspect a lower quality MP3 rate is being used to fit as many channels as they can by the provider.

I have the REQ (6-CD head) & SG II and the Sat radio had the worst quality sound to me. I primary listen to CDs - I don't want announcers, commercials - I want music.

The Sat radio had very mid-range sound and muddy bass, plus the poor reception (dense tree canopies, hilly curved roads). It was really annoying to listen to and FM (even with compression) sounded clear and balanced and more life like.

When the free service expired, that was the end of that. And the offer letters keep dropping the price.

 

[Hurst 41]

It ain't your head units, it's the satellite signal. I have had Sat radio in 6 cars over the years, including a Lexus and they all sounded like dog poop. I don't even listen to it in my Challenger, I use my iPod.
"Crystal clear sound" my back side......

 

[Knownman]

I know my unit is faulty. I thought i was hearing a little kids voice in the background. It was driving me nuts. Then I took it to the dealer and he told me he thought the car was possessed once he caught what I was hearing.

I don't doubt that the serious radio is bunk. I work in film and have experience with all sorts of digital compression. Funny thing is most people don't even catch half of the visual artifacts while they view tv. If they did they wouldn't pay any of these netflix or similar pay to view channels. The conversions they use to make download times so reasonable are degrading to say the least. And most of these people pay big bucks for Dolby surround systems and 80" flat screen tvs. That's not even getting into the 3d garbage.
I find it amazing that people will pay extra money to watch a movie with big obnoxious goggles on where you are forced to watch without moving your head or else you'll see the convergence of the two images.

Sorry for going on. Just my pet peeve.