I have had my new XF for two weeks now. My car has the standard stereo system in it, not the Bowers & Wilkins (if I remember the name of if correctly), and so far I have been using my iPod only to listen to music.

The sound quality of the iPod is very good, and so here comes my question, how is the sound quality of the Sirius radio? Is it comparable to FM radio only, or more on par with CD and/or iPod interfaced music? Or is it not even as good as FM radio?

I ask because I want to activate it but I know I won’t use it much if it does not sound great so I’d rather know before hand how others compare the sound quality to other sources.

Thanks in advance!

 

Since Sirius satelite radio is identical to digital satelite TV (Directv) and therefore you should have sound comparable to CD quality.

 

I activated Sirius yesterday, and while it’s not terrible, it’s not even close to CD or iPod quality sound, to my ears anyway.

 

While the quality of sound for the sirius on our Bower Wilkins stereo is comparable to the Ipod, the volume is not. When going from the Ipod to the satillite we have to turn the volume up, but it sounds very clear and crisp.

 

Satellite Radio has significant digital compression and therefore at best it is comparable to 128mps MP3s. If you are used to listening to CDs or higher resolution MP3s (320mps or better lossless through the IPOD), then the satellite radio (both Sirius & XM) will sound rather thin.