Welcome Richard and Nick to the XM Nation!
Richard, XM tries very hard to recreate the feel of the decade channels as if it was actually that decade. From the motormouth DJs, to the jingles, to the reverb mic, I wasn't alive in the '60s, but I have a pretty good idea of what radio sounded like back then thanks to XMs 60s on 60. I personally love it and think it gives the station a lot more life, Sirius’ 60s Vibrations seems dead to me. I love Phlash Phelps in the morning and Terry Young is great. Both of these guys have a lot of passion when it comes to what they do. That said, I’ll put my foot in my mouth and say my main home for Oldies is on Music Choice. I prefer the ~1955-~1975 playlist mix rather then just one decade, but I can’t take MC in the car with me, so XMs 60s station is the next best thing.
I feel quite the opposite. Other then a few exceptions, Sirius has the blabbermouth DJs, Madison on Alt Nation is annoying as hell, I don’t care about he skanky life, Kayla does not belong on Classic Rewind, and that guy on The Beat is..well…just f’ing weird. Quite a few of XMs channels don’t even have DJs or have DJs that are passionate about what they do and really add to the station. Trinity on Watercolors, Terry on The 60s, hell even Marlin on Enlighten is excellent and he doesn’t get too preachy. Other stations that I listen to like Big Tracks, Lucy and XM Chill don’t even have DJs at all. There’s a parttime DJ on The Message.
As far as sound quality my general observation is, after doing many A-B comparisons on both music and talk stations.
For music,
Sirius has more digital compression but more dynamic
XM is less compressed but sounds more flat
For talk, they’re nearly identical. I can put on any of the talk stations both XM and Sirius have and notice no difference.
Nick, all the ferrets do is reduce the power of the FM modulator in order to make it ‘FCC Compliant’ if you use the built in FM modulator, my advice would be not to install them, I have a Roady XT from when they first came out last December, the power of the FM modulator is incredible, and by far the best sounding satellite radio receiver I’ve owned (7 thus far) so like I said if you use the FM mod, don’t neuter it and just put the ferrets where they belong, in the garbage.
That said wireless FM modulation is the worst way to listen to satellite radio, if you the best sound quality, use a direct hardwired connection. If your cars headunit does not have an auxiliary input, you can buy aux input adaptors. I bought a dual Aux input adaptor to allow me to have hardwired connections for both XM and Sirius. I disconnected my factory 6 disc CD changer, plugged one end of the adaptor into there, then connected each satellite radio receiver and can switch between the two inputs like I’d switch between different disc.
Both XM and Sirius. My listening goes something like this.
XM is for The 60s, The 80s, Big Tracks, Bone Yard, BPM, Enlighten, Flight 26, Hear Music, Liquid Metal, Lucy, Squizz, The Message, Watercolors, X Country, America Right, NHL Home Ice, Old Time Radio, XM Comedy. I listen to Opie & Anthony when I get a chance.
Sirius is for The Beat, Buzzsaw, Classic Rewind, Hard Attack, Octane, Prime Country, Revolution, Super Shuffle, NFL Radio, Playboy Radio, Raw Dog, Sirius Patriot. I will also occasionally listen to Howard or Bubba.
On both I enjoy Fox News, Fox News Talk, Laura Ingram and Mark Levin. I miss Michael Savage and the John & Jeff Third Shift Show.
Music Choice is for the stuff neither XM or Sirius has like Party Favorites, Solid Gold Oldies and Sounds of the Season.
