Completely NEW to sat SiriusXM in car.

[KAB]

I am an XM long-timer, so I am biased, but I think XM generally has better sound quality. The Sirius codec really does a bad job with music.

Having XM, I really wish I could agree with that. All too many times it sounds like it's coming from a basement.

 

[jegrant]

Well, to be fair, since the Sirius management took over, XM's sound quality has been reduced in favor of carrying more channels. The heyday of XM was back when some channels were even carried in "XM HD Surround" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM_HD_Surround - I never had the pleasure of listening on an appropriately equipped sound system, but I can say for sure that all the channels sounded better back then, on any radio connected to any speakers.