mpr2007

I notice on Satellite, quite a few of the music stations sound like they are under water. Almost sounds like slight out of phase reverb. It's very noticeable - and very irritating. HD radio and CD sounds fine. Also - sounds the same with "logic 7" on or off. Anyone else have this issue?

Pmurray633

Not here. I really only listen to satellite. I figure I'm paying for it, I mine as well use it.

I have a noticeable difference with logic 7 on and off. I'd take it in if you're under warranty.

listerone

Perhaps it's an indication of how old fashioned I am but I'm amazed by the fact that I can listen to the same station driving from Maine to San Diego or Miami to Seattle.That amazement renders me willing to overlook the fact that the sound quality is noticeably inferior to what I get from my bluray player.However,others just might disagree.

mpr2007

I hear you there - I grew up in the 60's-70's and realize I have seen a lot of evolution in my time (another sign of getting old). And this car and some of it's technology I would not have even imagined then.

Anyway, I'm not expecting CD quality, but it doesn't sound even as good as a portable boom-box style satellite radio I have. So, I'm pretty sure something isn't right - but wanted to see if anyone else had those symptoms.

K-A

I agree. The sound is awful, notably on some stations. Has that "Internet Streaming sound". I'll bet it streams at a 96 or at best 128 bit rate (you want 320 if it's MP3).

On the other hand, Sirius is incredible for long distance driving, and I find it less valuable for normal/local driving, though then again, you can pretty much tailor it to your desires.

I had it for 3 months free on each of my New M-B's, and just was nicely surprised to find that on my New BMW I get it for a full year for free.

mpr2007

Yes - that describes it exactly. It has a low bit-rate streaming sound quality. Maybe it's just Sirius, over time squeezing bandwidth...

grane

You're right, but it is 32k according to an audio tech I spoke to. Since it is noticibly compressed no bit depth spec is given. I agree with OPs it is convenient esp. since we have NO FM in our rural area.

The recievers and antennae interfaces themselves are very cheaply made and might be on the fritz so you might want to have it examined and replaced hopefully under warranty.

mpr2007, We listen to techno thru the GLK Logic 7 H/K upgrade and it does either pickup or it synthesizes multichannel. Thus I feel you should have your unit looked at or try some other stations. A replacement radio we just were sent (add on for the G) was upgraded to SXM from just a S.

BM2BZ

although there aren't too many stations, i'm fairly happy with the hd radio's quality.

Pmurray633

I think it depends on where you are. In the South Florida market, almost every station is HD.

hyperion667

sat radio? sure if you want to hear the same songs every week!
but wait! I never change my CD's so I guess I hear the same songs every week too

Pmurray633

What's a CD?

Are you talking about banking/investments fine sir?

hyperion667

haha!
I still take great pride in making CD's for myself......
you can fit hours of music on them in data format

and the current rates for CD's make me want to throw my money out the
window, more than I do already

listerone

A CD is something,along with a DVD-A and an SACD,on which you'll find the best quality sound for a particular piece of music.My attitude always has been,and always will be,that if a song is worth owning it's worth owning in its best possible format.

ImInPA

+1 listerone!

mac911

Yeah it's extremely low bit-rate.

Depending on the channel, it doesn't sound too great. I'm not too picky though as I have a favorite channel, and I'd rather not program my own songs.

What's interesting is if you listen to sirius online, it's a 128k stream, and it blows away the actual "satellite," feed.

pcsgrp

I first got sirius about 7 years ago with a plug and play unit and antenna. I found that depending on the time of day, sound quality would chang. I looked into it and found that they transmit on 3 or 4 birds that basically do an eleptical loop over the center of the US going counter clockwise in an North/South orientation from below Mexico into Canada not going around like I thought they would be doing. When I got my newer car 4 years ago it had build in sirius and I found that the setup was better, the sound was better and reception was much better even under underpassess. With my E350 I noticed that the sound quality is just as good as my last car. I am not getting any of the poor sound quality at all. Perhaps there is something wrong with the antenna or perhaps the sensitivity of the radio itself. One thing I did find here on the east coast, about 11am and around 8pm, I seem to lose reception going under trees etc and I think that is because the orbit is about as far away and low on the horizon as possible.

ImInPA

I came across this SiriusXM press release that I found very interesting:

LAS VEGAS and NEW YORK, Jan. 7 -- CES -- SIRIUS Satellite Radio, known for delivering the very best in commercial-free music and premium sports programming to cars and homes across the country, today demonstrated the first surround sound capabilities for satellite radio with a matrix surround signal over one of SIRIUS' music streams.

SIRIUS has chosen to adopt the Dolby Pro Logic II as the standard for encoding. The surround sound feature is compatible with virtually all surround sound audio systems already on the market for both the home and the car, including such names as Logic 7(TM), Circle Surround(TM), Dolby Pro Logic I & II(TM), DTS(TM) and more.

SIRIUS chose Dolby Pro Logic II because it utilizes very small numbers of bits to provide a higher-degree of channel separation. More importantly, it allows SIRIUS surround sound broadcasts to be backwards compatible with more than 100 million existing home A/V receivers, as well as surround sound systems in most automobiles. Dolby is expected to work with SIRIUS to optimize the encoding system for Dolby surround sound.

"SIRIUS subscribers have asked for multi-channel surround sound and we are thrilled to be the first satellite radio provider to offer this capability," said Larry Pesce, Senior Vice President Product Development and Strategic Planning, SIRIUS. "As a premium service, we will continue to introduce capabilities and services that enrich the SIRIUS entertainment experience, at no additional cost to our subscribers."

As most content on today's CDS was not recorded in multi-channel format, SIRIUS has begun updating its library to include multi-channel DVD Audio discs and SACD discs. The first multi-channel recordings and broadcasts will be of SIRIUS Sessions, SIRIUS' daily live concert series. SIRIUS will broadcast surround sound across all streams where multi-channel can be enjoyed, beginning with the CES 2004 demonstration.

tge4

I've noticed the same thing. Satellite radio on my 2011 E550 sounds like low bit streaming radio. I don't think it's a defect or something wrong with your car. I think that's how they are.

rufmb

Satellite (SiriusXM) is OK for talk, but not good for sound quality, and really sucks when you have the same musical composition on CD to compare with.

Adarah

Here as well - SiriusXM sound quality is definitely subpar. For me sound quality is first priority as well :\
And as was stated before - they do play their programming on a loop - haven't figured out exactly how many hours long it is, three or four it seems, but tonight I got in my car after work and the exact same programming was playing as when I went in the morning :P

onlyonejon

MB gang - you are all right, the quality over satellite radio is awful and sounds worse than streaming via the Internet! I called Sirius and spoke to their tier 3 support and they said it was a Mercedes issue because the hardware was the issue not the stream. Does anyone have access to another vehicle brand to confirm this and if so has anyone had success getting their local MB under warranty to fix the issue (my next step).

Cheers

tge4

My wife's '07 Honda pilot has Sirius satellite and it sounds perfect. I would agree that this a Mercedes hardware issue. (Which surprises me)

thenew3

I have no problems with mine. Sounds just as good as the local FM HD stations. I was surprised I can even pickup satellite radio when the car is parked in the garage with the garage door closed. (no windows in the garage). It takes it about 1 to 2 seconds longer to tune into a station but once tuned it, it has no issues. My previous car could not pickup satellite radio when parked in the same garage. I have a 2013, I wonder if the radio or receiver was changed at some point?

mbuster25

+1, not only does Sirius sound poor (relative to Pandora), there are drops when I go under overhead bridges.

K-A

It sounds like crap and drops out under anything cement on BMW's as well, for the record.