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Sirius bit rate ?
- Thread starter Kendal
- Start date
Just Google the green high light. It's that easy.
I have both, and Spotify is easily the better choice regarding fidelity (when plugged in via CarPlay in my case). Never tried Bluetooth, so I can't help you there.
I have a lifetime subscription with Sirius/XM (bought two of them way back in 2006 when lifetime was still offered) and, frankly, would never shell out any $$$ to them again if I had a current paid subscription. The quality of the sound is definitely sub-par (they compress so much due to band width vs the amount of channels they now have), and the amount of commercials has gone up exponentially on the music stations.
When I first subscribed, you'd never hear any commercials/talking on the music channels. Only on the talk channels.
Now, they have these 'DJs' and 'Celebrity DJs' everywhere. Not as bad as terrestrial, but getting there.
I really noticed the fidelity issue listening to a Queen song - I think it was 'Bicycle Race' - and there were parts of the music that was cut off/missing on the Sirius/XM stream.
It was really weird to hear, but very noticeable if you know the music intimately. The normal Joe Blow may not notice, but I definitely did!!
With Spotify, you can either stream or download to your phone. I download a few playlists for the off chance I can't get a cell signal, but otherwise, I mostly stream (I have an unlimited data plan, so no issues there). You can also choose the quality of the Spotify stream or download - Low to Very High, and each dependent if you're on a Wifi Network or Cellular Streaming or Downloading. I use very high and don't notice any loss or compression - both in car or in headsets.
IMO, Spotify (or a similar streaming service like Apple Music, Amazon Music, etc) is the better bang for the buck.
I have a lifetime subscription with Sirius/XM (bought two of them way back in 2006 when lifetime was still offered) and, frankly, would never shell out any $$$ to them again if I had a current paid subscription. The quality of the sound is definitely sub-par (they compress so much due to band width vs the amount of channels they now have), and the amount of commercials has gone up exponentially on the music stations.
When I first subscribed, you'd never hear any commercials/talking on the music channels. Only on the talk channels.
Now, they have these 'DJs' and 'Celebrity DJs' everywhere. Not as bad as terrestrial, but getting there.
I really noticed the fidelity issue listening to a Queen song - I think it was 'Bicycle Race' - and there were parts of the music that was cut off/missing on the Sirius/XM stream.
It was really weird to hear, but very noticeable if you know the music intimately. The normal Joe Blow may not notice, but I definitely did!!
With Spotify, you can either stream or download to your phone. I download a few playlists for the off chance I can't get a cell signal, but otherwise, I mostly stream (I have an unlimited data plan, so no issues there). You can also choose the quality of the Spotify stream or download - Low to Very High, and each dependent if you're on a Wifi Network or Cellular Streaming or Downloading. I use very high and don't notice any loss or compression - both in car or in headsets.
IMO, Spotify (or a similar streaming service like Apple Music, Amazon Music, etc) is the better bang for the buck.
MoreOvalteenPlz
Active Member
Long-time iTunes/Apple Music user here. The only times I’ve ever had Sirius XM is during the free trial after purchasing a vehicle. I have always downloaded my entire iTunes library to my phone (currently ~ 18,500 songs) and use it as my primary music player. I have unlimited data, and will stream new content occasionally, but prefer to have everything downloaded for reliability reasons. Apple has really expanded their music quality options for iPhone users in the last few years. Currently, there are streaming options up to 256kbps, as well as the availability to download in Apple Lossless, which is defined by Apple as “a form of compression that preserves all of the original data.” They’ve also recently added spatial audio and Dolby Atmos for capable outputs.
Thank you for the response
Spotify Premium uses 320kbps AAC format...fine enough for a vehicle as you lose fidelity anyway due to the nature of driving on noisy roads and vehicle noise.
If you're looking for HD (such as lossless FLAC) be aware that HD can use10x to 1000x the amount of data compared to standard, so make sure you have an unlimited/robust cell plan or download. To get lossless/HD, you'd have to subscribe to one of the HD services like Spotify HD, Amazon Music HD, and Google Play Music...but you have to pay extra for these. Deezer and Qobuz are naturally HD FLAC lossless, but I'm not familiar with their libraries. Apple has very high bitrate, but not HD yet....it is coming as a premium upgrade like the aforementioned services. And as @MoreOvalteenPlz mentioned, they have spatial audio and Dolby Atmos for capable outputs as do most of the other HD streaming services...again, nothing you'd actually hear in an average vehicle...the road noise kills the high-fidelity.
Headsets or HIFI systems benefit the most with HD service - most premium services offering 320kbps is fine for most automotive systems, unless you have a very expensive custom system and a literally ton of sound shielding.
No matter which service you choose, it'll be lightyears ahead of Sirius/XM sound.
Frankly, it comes down to what you want for content too...some streaming services are exclusive to certain artists, or if they do carry your favorite artist, a certain album by that artist may be exclusive to another service and not available.
Spotify supposedly has the largest library (80 millionish songs), but take that with a grain of salt...that includes your grandmother's long lost sister's brother's cousin's recordings too which might amount to a couple of million!! Lol!
Best thing, in my opinion, is to try it yourself. Each service has it's pros and cons, so use the trial periods so you can test drive them.
Only you can determine what is best for your ears.
Good luck!
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JustCallMeD
Active Member
I have Sirius in the truck and I've used Tidal and currently using Spotify.
When I tried tidal I noticed their "remastered" versions were not as true to original sound as I thought they should be, kind of like they over engineered the sound and didn't sound natural.
I've settled on Spotify Premium and using a tablet that I keep in the truck to download all my playlists once a week at highest quality and then listen to that with that tablet plugged in. This has been the best option sound wise for me so far and also keeps my data consumption lower, just have to keep your playlists up to date and use wifi to download once a week at least to stay up to date.
Also, my whole system in the truck has been changed to audiophile stuff...
When I tried tidal I noticed their "remastered" versions were not as true to original sound as I thought they should be, kind of like they over engineered the sound and didn't sound natural.
I've settled on Spotify Premium and using a tablet that I keep in the truck to download all my playlists once a week at highest quality and then listen to that with that tablet plugged in. This has been the best option sound wise for me so far and also keeps my data consumption lower, just have to keep your playlists up to date and use wifi to download once a week at least to stay up to date.
Also, my whole system in the truck has been changed to audiophile stuff...
