I occasionally listen to Sirius/XM through Dish Network that's piped through my Axioms. SQ depends on the channel, but I find it generally acceptable for 'background' music. At least on par with Pandora, anyway.

I also have a standalone XM receiver that I use in the car and at work. I listen to the XM receiver for several hours every day while I work, and I've been an XM customer for almost 5 years now.

Rule #1 of satellite radio is that SQ varies greatly from channel-to-channel. Some channels are just more popular and thus get more bandwidth. I know that XM/Sirius constantly adjusts the bitrates on their channels to provide the 'best' overall level of service. Sometimes channel quality even varies from song-to-song, depending on how their system processes it. Over on the XMFanclub forum, you'll find endless debate over SQ changes.

For instance, I listen to a lot of XM Pops at work. That channel sounds consistently fine to me. It's clearly not 'CD quality', but I'd rate its SQ as about on par with a 128kbs MP3 file. Definitely 'pleasant enough' for me. But other channels sound far worse. Some of the less-popular channels sound like 64kbs MP3's and IMHO aren't enjoyable to listen to.

But it can even vary from song-to-song. Other channels I sometimes listen to include Watercolors, XM Chill, and 'Frank's Place'. Those channels tend to vary a lot more. Some songs are fine. Actually quite good sometimes. But others sound awful, with lots of digital compression.


M80v2 | VP150v2 | QS8v2
SVS Pci+ 20-39
Emotiva UMC-1 & LPA-1
M22ti + T-Amp, in the Office