sound system - great sound CD and Crap otherwise

[fvansan]

I have the 2104 GT with nav. Sound through the CD is great, dynamic, well balanced and the door speakers are well heard. With the radio or Sirius, it sounds flat, I can't hear the bass through the door speakers and generally no better than a cheap car radio system. I can understand radio frequency over the air waves is limiting, but satellite radio I would think would sound better than radio airwaves. What is going on here. Perhaps the radio doesn't put out enough power to drive the speakers? I would think that would be the same no matter the source. Your thoughts?

 

[SayNoToPistons]

FM HD doesn't sound too bad. Sirius sounds horrible, with very low bitrate. That is with any satellite radio. AUX and USB sounds decent. BT is limited as well.

 

[fvansan]

Bt?

 

[tibimakai]

Probably Bluetooth.

 

[NorCal_MP3]

There are many threads on this already. First, if the CD player sounds good, then the stock amp can drive the speakers just fine IF the source is good. The Sirius service is a totally ripoff with the crap bitrate they send down, but I can't get my wife to drop the service...

Your options are: Use the AUX jack, use the BT, buy CDs...

 

[rcs914]

I think that Sirius XM does more damage to themselves with their "Free previews" than good. When I turned it on the other day I was immediately struck by how crappy the sound quality is - much worse than HD radio or Bluetooth, both of which I think sound fine. I think the sound quality is fine using both of those.

 

[craigo]

FM HD doesn't sound too bad. Sirius sounds horrible, with very low bitrate. That is with any satellite radio. AUX and USB sounds decent. BT is limited as well.

Bluetooth sounds pretty good, make sure to use high quality files. In Spotify premium, you have to set that in preferences to get the most out of it.

 

[SayNoToPistons]

BT= Bluetooth

I switched from an old HTC Amaze 4G to a new powerhouse, a Samsung Galaxy S5. BT output is now greatly improve, especially with Spotify premium

 

[Turbopowr]

If any of you use Pandora, like Spotify - there is an option in the settings for higher quality audio. I have it enabled and using Pandora (streaming wirelessly) sounds pretty good. I also agree with others that CD audio sounds great, and Sirius sounds like garbage with how compressed it is. HD radio also sounds decent but that also depends on the station and the bitrate they're transmitting at.