Sirius sound quality so bad

[SixBanger]

I just picked up my 2014 with 8.4 Uconnect and was so looking forward to finally having a nice stock integrated SiriusXM.

I bought a little Snap radio for my old car and the sound quality was great, the radio was $20, but in my brand new truck the Sirius sound quality is terrible, talk radio is almost unbearable, the people sound like there head is in a fishbowl. Music is fine at low volumes ....I guess, but turn it up and it's horrible.

My FM sounds fantastic on the other hand, and it picks up stuff I couldn't get on any of my other vehicles, I wish Sirius sounded half as good as my FM or my MP3s.

Pretty bummed about it, and their is no way I will renew when my trial is over, am I alone?

 

[TheRudeDog]

Try playing with your audio settings to squeeze out a better sound.

 

[DavidRam]

It also depends on the station (I don't know why)... Some sound really good and some are terrible.

 

[Lhemi]

Sounds like you need a update ...

 

[SixBanger]

Sounds like you need a update ...

Seirously, this truck just rolled off the line, should it not have the latest software?

Or are you talking about a 'special' update?

 

[Phoenix'13]

Yeah, my truck is the same way, 2013 brand new, the siriusXM sound quality is not great, hard to describe, but mine had a distorted sound and when someone would be talking, any "Ss" sounds would come out sorta "electronic"....not sure if that makes sense. My bluetooth quality is bad too, I just load up my usb stick with songs and play through my usb port in my center bin. I let my siriusxm trial run out, not paying for bad quality. I also tried updates, but mine was updated properly, nothing fixed it...

 

[Randon User]

It's no more appalling to me than any low bit rate MP3 off of iTunes or whatever. It serves it's purpose, a steady stream of music on long trips. If I want great sound I play CD's at 96khz sampling or Lossless files via a hard wired iPod.

 

[Donelam304]

I have a 2014 Ram 2500 4x4 with the 5.0 radio and the Sirius reception is terrible. I loose signal all the time and my wife's Kia soul never looses signal. WTH... Chrysler electronics suck ***.

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[WhiteExpress]

Just to clarify, 2013+ Rams have XM, no longer Sirius.
I think that's part of the issue there.

Admittedly, I have XM with my Pioneer deck, and it sounds amazingly better than my UConnect 3.Junk stocker.

 

[Ramunit]

Your music comes from outer space, of course the quality sucks.

 

[WhySoSerious]

The fishbowl thing.......I just assumed that is the way Sattelite radio sounds.

It don't bother me though because I don't listen to music when I am driving. I only listen to talk shows, comedy, or news.

 

[Andy578]

Just to clarify, 2013+ Rams have XM, no longer Sirius.
I think that's part of the issue there.

Admittedly, I have XM with my Pioneer deck, and it sounds amazingly better than my UConnect 3.Junk stocker.

mine has sirius but i don't think you can even get xm in Canada so that's probably why

anyway the stock speakers are pretty crappy and you don't get much for settings to play with so that doesn't help but i do notice some stations are pretty bad even compared to my local fm stations

 

[WhiteExpress]

mine has sirius but i don't think you can even get xm in Canada so that's probably why

anyway the stock speakers are pretty crappy and you don't get much for settings to play with so that doesn't help but i do notice some stations are pretty bad even compared to my local fm stations

Fair enough. I think SiriusXM as a company is letting the Sirius bit die off.
I don't know of any aftermarkets selling an Sirius receiver anymore. They're all labeled SiriusXM, but have an XM radio id.

 

[Casper]

Sounds like something to do with your Sirius antenna. An echo chamber effect is common when your take-off angle to the satellite is bad or partially blocked.

 

[LB3711]

My Oem mygig sounds good and almost perfect reception. It might be the area your in also. I know around here I can loose reception under bridges but I go out of state and never loose it under bridges.

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[Batram]

It's odd...I had a problem with my XM a few months after having it. It sounded 'fishbowly' too. After a week or 2 it seemed to have fixed itself. It hasn't done it since & I actually forgot about it until I read this post.

Now it sounds better than my FM. I get way more bass out of the XM and my Ipod than I do out of FM. As far as reception, I don't encounter problems unless I'm in a parking garage or occasionally when driving in the mountains.

 

[BigAlH]

I've only noticed some mildly poor audio once in a great while. Most of the time it is pretty solid and sounds good.

I'm in Northern California where we really don't have weather to speak of so no interference of any kind (if that matters - which it could I guess).

-al

 

[reefer451]

The sound quality on my XM is reasonable, at least as good as FM. However, I was really surprised how often it drops out and for pretty long times. I know satellite reception is line of sight so hills, trees, buildings & bridges can block it but I was loosing it on what looked to me to be pretty wide open interstates.

I think XM receivers have buffers and some way to handle small signal interruptions just like CD players have buffers so you don't hear gaps anymore when you hit a bump and it mistracks. Seems like the Fiat XM receiver skimped on buffer memory or left out this feature.

I was surprised to learn that the Uconnect 5 system is totally different in both hardware and software from the Uconnect 8 system. Uconnect 8 was developed by Chrysler, has a high performance processor and a realtime operating system from Wind River. Uconnect 5 was developed by Fiat, has a cheesy processor and Microsoft OS. Had I known that before I bought the truck I might have spent the extra money on the Uconnect 8.

 

[Donelam304]

Anyone know why the reception is so awful. My wife's cheap ass Kia never looses signal, but yet my $40,000+ vehicle constantly looses signal if I get even close to a Damn tree. Is there a possible fix.

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[saintsreturn]

Never had a problem in mine. It uses sat and towers do you should not have a problem


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