Satellite radio quality.

Probably normal. They vary the bitrate according to the station. They sometimes gave the Classical station more bitrate than a rock station which got a lot more than a talk station. All stations are compressed and they apparently jammed more stations into the same overall bandwidth when they were granted a merger between XM and Sirius by the Bush administration. Sirius XM Radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It's easy to blame the radio and speaker system, but HD radio has good sound with the same hardware. Obviously not as good as an expensive aftermarket solution.

 

I'd blame the car's audio system. My car had booming bass until I turned the bass as far down as it would go. Booming bass is probably the most obvious sign of a poor audio/speaker system. I doubt the Prius v3 audio system would allow you to hear any subtle differences in audio quality (due to compression or whatever) from an XM signal.

 

I still find the Ipod into the HU sounds the best for me, best of all, I guarantee NO commercials, just tunes I like.
Wow, a win,win!

 

The signal has degraded, quite a bilt. I tried changing antennas to improve signal - no such luck. I may end up dumping XMSerius when renewal comes up.

DBCassidy

 

It might be possible you are in a market with a bad repeater. Call XM and report the issue. They use repeaters in larger metro areas (900+ now in USA per wiki) to counter tall buildings and hilly terrain where direct line of site is not always good. With my older XM radio, I had two bars which showed me the repeater signal and satellite signal strengths. I do not see that available on my v3.

UPDATE: found this posting with list of cities which have XM repeaters deployed.
xm411.com - What is and where are the Ground Repeaters?

 

I'm a musician...and I've never had a problem with my Sirius quality in all my other cars with it, nor do I have a problem with the signal in my now new XM radio. But, the stock speakers in the Prius leave MUCH to be desired. Project to replace the speakers and put in an amp/subwoofer is happening next month.

I have heard that there has been some degradation of XM signal from time to time due to repeaters. Sirius does not use repeaters like XM does (a basic difference in the two products) so maybe it is a repeater problem in your area. Since both Toyota and GM both exclusively use XM radios it would be hard for you to compare the two.

 

What is npR?

 

National Public Radio

 

Right on, so regular stations. Thought maybe it was something like talk radio.

 

We traded a 10 year old RAV4 with a Sirius owner installed unit that had very rare cutouts here in rural New Hampshire. We bought a Prius IV a month ago and the built in satellite radio (is it Sirius or XM?) cuts out often driving the same roads that the RAV4 had no problem with. The dealer has no clue and hasn't answered my question where the antenna is.

My wife just read in the Owner's Manual that we have an XM radio. So that could explain the difference in reception compared to the previous Sirius unit.

With the current XM reception we will not be paying for service after our 90 free trial expires.

 

Has anyone had a real problem with dead spots and dropouts with the XM radio? We have been using add on units in our old cars for a long time now and they have excellent reception, and there are a very few spots where we know to expect dropout.

Now with the built in unit in the Prius v, it happens all the time to the point it is annoying to listen because of the dropouts. When we lose signal there is a hiss until the music comes back. I was trying to take a nap while my wife was driving and the dropouts kept waking me up! Very annoying.

Any idea how to improve the reception?

 

Sirius' technology is better than XM. Sirius does have ground repeaters in major metro areas (DogstarRadio.com Sirius Radio Satellite and Repeater Map), but XM is more terrestrial than space and the quality is much lower.

I use a Sirius receiver into the AUX jack on my Prius and it sounds great. The popular channels like Hits 1, 80's, 90's, 2000's have much higher bitrates than other channels. The talk/comedy/news channels are the worst. The bitrates are variable. We have XM in the Lexus and it actually sounds pretty good on that radio system. But I have heard XM in other vehicles including the Toyota trim and it definitely sounds worse than Sirius.

 

I have no issues except occasionally underpasses. Have Toyota fix it.

 

I have Sirius in my other car (2008 Mercedes S550) and in my new 2013 Prius 3. The Mercedes has a top-notch audio system that sounds great on the local classical FM station, on Audio CDs, and on MP3s. But I found I could not stand the Sirius audio on the classical stations. I believe the sound is balanced for ear buds. The bass booms and the treble is shrill. Trying to compensate with the tone controls is inadequate.

I find exactly the same thing with the Prius, although the audio range is a little more restricted to start with. I let the one-year trial lapse with the Mercedes, and will let the 60-day trial lapse with the Prius.

 

XM plays with the bitrate based on the station. Plus the audio system itself is a factor. XM sounded better before their merger with Sirius.

 

My XM signal does not like trees or overpasses. Other than that, signal is good. I just wish that my home area around Omaha would the terrestrial station back up however based on the follow threads from the XM boards, there is some major changes in the SiriusXM by 2015.

XMFan.com :: #1 Fan Site of Sirius XM Satellite Radio :: SiriusXM Transitional Network Changes from 1.0 to 2.0

XMFan.com :: #1 Fan Site of Sirius XM Satellite Radio :: XM 2.0?

 

Sounds horrible on mine as well. As you said, like a really low bit rate mp3. What's interesting, is that I recently rented a different make/model car that uses Sirius, and it sounded quite good. I wonder Sirius broadcasts at a higher bit rate? (I know they are the same company now, but they use slightly different technologies)

I want to like XM, I really do. But most of the stations just sound soooo bad. Tinny and warbly digital compression sound, with overly heavy bass as though that compensates for it.

Pandora through my phone, or spotify sounds infinitely better. I tend to just use that, or listen to my own music.

 

Toyota is supposed to replace our radio. Sirius told me the radio was bad because of dropouts and it would not take an upgrade flash. Two times back at e dealership and still no radio. Keep forgetting to order it for us.