Aug. 24, 2007 — by
John Pike
Millions love cruising in their cars to the huge channel lineups of music, news and sports with one of the two satellite radio companies, XM Satellite Radio Inc. or Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.
But for home use, some see satellite radio with ambivalence.
Satellite radio is digital and uses a binary code of ones and zeros. This means your radio either completely receives it or not at all. There is largely no in between, such as a signal marred by static, which often occurs on terrestrial (traditional) radio. But there can still be some distortion.
So for some, satellite broadcasts can be can virtually the only non-Internet radio available, especially for those who live or work within or near tall buildings. Living in urban skyscrapers, for example, might prevent you from receiving barely any local terrestrial radio.
Of course options exist to improve the signal, among which is changing the antenna or placing it either near or out the window.
Another option is ditching the traditional radio for satellite. Often its digital signal will get through when analog broadcasts will not. Sometimes the radio has to be moved around a bit to pick up a signal, but once it does you will never need to miss another erudite Howard Stern lecture on American sociology.
In case you can’t pick up Howard’s signal on the first try, Sirius sells an antenna with an option for an extension cable to place either near or running outside your window. A south-facing window is best for receiving a satellite signal. It also sells a gizmo called an echo signal repeater that allows you to place your radio where you want it most. Even in interior rooms, without restrictions due to antenna placement.
To listen to Sirius at home, you can purchase a Plug & Play Universal Home Kit, listed at $50 on its web site. Of course, you will need to purchase one of their radios, listed at between $40 and $120. The radio plan, or subscription to the broadcast signal, is another $13 monthly. Sirius also just announced a partnership with multiroom music system provider Sonos to conveniently stream the satellite’s Internet stations throughout the house.
XM has similar accessories, with tuners ranging from $40 to $250 on its web store (along with rebate offers).
You can also connect the satellite radio into the back of your amplifier, possibly the auxiliary jack. If your home stereo or entertainment system produces top quality sound, then the satellite radio will also.
Or will it? Here is where folks disagree.
Some say they hear compact disc quality music coming out of their home-based satellite radio, or at least as good as terrestrial radio. They’ll jump up and down on their couch like Tom Cruise to attest to its high quality sound.
But some experts say satellite sound quality is relatively poor compared with compact discs—or even terrestrial radio, especially for the music stations. Without the problems of analog, it often has CD clarity, but not the quality.
Sheer numbers tell that story. Satellite service providers send only one digital signal to each receiver. The signal is then split into hundreds of audio streams. The ones for voice are very narrow, while others for music are slightly wider. These audio streams may run from a few kbps for talk stations to 60 kbps for music channels.
Both satellite companies compress their steams to cram as much as they can down that thin line of bandwidth.
Satellite radio stations compress and expand their audio streams at a much lower rate than many MP3s. Some will defend the sound of a 128 kpbs MP3 file (that’s the standard bit rate for tracks sold on iTunes, for example), which is not even close to CD quality, but it’s more than double 60 kbps.
Some experts say an FM station is far superior. Compare the difference to hearing a live symphony versus on a transistor radio outdoors.
The ratio or split of bandwidth is also adjusted based upon the time of day, such as rush hours and evenings. Talk stations and rush hour programs get low bandwidth because it is mostly talk, which is satisfactory. But when quality matters, the music stations can suffer.
Some experts say there is more compression and low-quality sound on stations with the fewest listeners, pointing to classical stations as potentially at the bottom end.
And one final bit of caution before you purchase your satellite equipment. XM, Sirius and federal officials have been recently discussing a proposed merger of the two companies—who knows how that would affect pricing and sound quality.
August 24, 2007 | by John Pike
Bose speakers…
All these and SACD seems easiest to get best discrete 5.1 sound , Dish
HD next easiest , iTunes and Sirius next , CD/DVD equally complex with
all the options available.
Okay, since we’re also talking quality. Hmm, I’d rather talk perspective: The best FM tuner on the market can’t free me from the incessant commercials. I am willing to pay to not hear them and I am willing to pay for more music choices. Yes, at home from time to time I get a very BRIEF interruption (a very brief nada or as noted in the binary world, ZERO). When I am in my in my car on occasion the signal gets dropped but generally picks up again.
When listening quality really matters at home XM is not my only source for music, it just nicely rounds out my choices. In the car it is either XM, NPR or CDs. You can’t get programming such as “All Hand-Mixed Vinyl” hosted by Bill Fitzhugh on Deeptracks on any FM station. He takes mixing to a whole new level and will keep anyone engaged for a long Saturday night ride in the automobile. I have also learned about a lot of new artists on the various XM channels and subsequently purchased the CD.
Satellite radio wouldn’t ever be my only choice for listening to music but it is a great option for a long commute to work and some interesting mixing on a Saturday night.
Cindy Davis
Editor-in-chief
Electronic House magazine
That said, ALL my clients would rather have ease of operation than fidelity in either their whole house or outdoor situations. I still have a large percentage of regulars who understand sonic fidelity and enjoy their CDs in the “listening room”.
Finally I must echo some of the comments above as I installed a Sirius unit in my work truck, so when I’m not listening to CDs I can enjoy talk radio and news and an eclectic variety of music without annoying Morning Zoo formats or multiple commercials.
All in all, I see digital formats with lousy sound replacing all but the finest of our whole house installs and don’t get me started on internet radio.
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Info and Answers | August 24, 2007 | by John Pike
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But for home use, some see satellite radio with ambivalence.
Satellite radio is digital and uses a binary code of ones and zeros. This means your radio either completely receives it or not at all. There is largely no in between, such as a signal marred by static, which often occurs on terrestrial (traditional) radio. But there can still be some distortion.
So for some, satellite broadcasts can be can virtually the only non-Internet radio available, especially for those who live or work within or near tall buildings. Living in urban skyscrapers, for example, might prevent you from receiving barely any local terrestrial radio.
Of course options exist to improve the signal, among which is changing the antenna or placing it either near or out the window.
Another option is ditching the traditional radio for satellite. Often its digital signal will get through when analog broadcasts will not. Sometimes the radio has to be moved around a bit to pick up a signal, but once it does you will never need to miss another erudite Howard Stern lecture on American sociology.
In case you can’t pick up Howard’s signal on the first try, Sirius sells an antenna with an option for an extension cable to place either near or running outside your window. A south-facing window is best for receiving a satellite signal. It also sells a gizmo called an echo signal repeater that allows you to place your radio where you want it most. Even in interior rooms, without restrictions due to antenna placement.
To listen to Sirius at home, you can purchase a Plug & Play Universal Home Kit, listed at $50 on its web site. Of course, you will need to purchase one of their radios, listed at between $40 and $120. The radio plan, or subscription to the broadcast signal, is another $13 monthly. Sirius also just announced a partnership with multiroom music system provider Sonos to conveniently stream the satellite’s Internet stations throughout the house.
XM has similar accessories, with tuners ranging from $40 to $250 on its web store (along with rebate offers).
You can also connect the satellite radio into the back of your amplifier, possibly the auxiliary jack. If your home stereo or entertainment system produces top quality sound, then the satellite radio will also.
Or will it? Here is where folks disagree.
Some say they hear compact disc quality music coming out of their home-based satellite radio, or at least as good as terrestrial radio. They’ll jump up and down on their couch like Tom Cruise to attest to its high quality sound.
But some experts say satellite sound quality is relatively poor compared with compact discs—or even terrestrial radio, especially for the music stations. Without the problems of analog, it often has CD clarity, but not the quality.
Sheer numbers tell that story. Satellite service providers send only one digital signal to each receiver. The signal is then split into hundreds of audio streams. The ones for voice are very narrow, while others for music are slightly wider. These audio streams may run from a few kbps for talk stations to 60 kbps for music channels.
Both satellite companies compress their steams to cram as much as they can down that thin line of bandwidth.
Satellite radio stations compress and expand their audio streams at a much lower rate than many MP3s. Some will defend the sound of a 128 kpbs MP3 file (that’s the standard bit rate for tracks sold on iTunes, for example), which is not even close to CD quality, but it’s more than double 60 kbps.
Some experts say an FM station is far superior. Compare the difference to hearing a live symphony versus on a transistor radio outdoors.
The ratio or split of bandwidth is also adjusted based upon the time of day, such as rush hours and evenings. Talk stations and rush hour programs get low bandwidth because it is mostly talk, which is satisfactory. But when quality matters, the music stations can suffer.
Some experts say there is more compression and low-quality sound on stations with the fewest listeners, pointing to classical stations as potentially at the bottom end.
And one final bit of caution before you purchase your satellite equipment. XM, Sirius and federal officials have been recently discussing a proposed merger of the two companies—who knows how that would affect pricing and sound quality.
The compression used for satellite radio is fine for most users, who are
on the highway, in the office -- locations where there is significant
background noise that masks come of the compressed-audio artifacts. The
satellite companies could re-jigger their total bit stream to have fewer
channels at higher quality, but they have decided it is in their
business interest to have more channels instead. Most people do not
care. But, do we reach a point with this extreme compression where some
people don't listen to music as much as they used to, but they don't
know why? A home installation might be fine for background music, but
not for serious music listening.
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