Is Satellite Radio Hi-Fi

It generally has a better bit rate than the BBC puts out. Whether it is good enough to compete with properly fettled FM is up for debate.

Bob

What is needed is an audiophile satellite receiver /decoder

Derek

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I keep meaning to wire my Sky box into the Hi-Fi to have a listen...

Paul

On this side of the Atlantic, my experience is with Sirius Satellite Radio. It is definitely not of audiophile quality. Think: MP3 encoded at 180 KBpS. To my ears, the music streams are often just too painful to bear. However, I do find the news streams, particularly the two NPR streams and the BBC stream, very useful in the car. Bottom line for me: good addition to my car commute, but it has no place in the big living room rig. BTW, the quality issue is tied to the number of streams. They could please us as the 0.5% audiophile listenership and offer maybe 3 streams, or they could be financially viable and offer 200 streams.

It may not be Hi-Fi but it is certainly music. Assuming that you are taking the Astra Digital feed (Sky , BBC .....) then the quality is very good. It is definately worth getting a box (Sony or Sky+) that has an optical out so that you can put it into an offboard decoder.



Nigel