Sirius XM has been bitrate starved to the discerning ear since its beginning in my opinion . I’ve always had an ear for spotting compression artifacts. It’s gotten better now that most streaming services offer high bitrate or lossless streaming, but in the olden days of listening to your friends “curated” mp3 collection I’d cringe and grit my teeth to get through it. My only thing to add to your statements is about HD radio. While your gripe is correct it deserves an asterisk next to it. If the station has multiple HD subcarriers then yes it will sound similar to Sirius and listening to the main channel on analog would likely sound better if you are in the main coverage area. However if there is only a single HD subcarrier and the equipment is setup properly it will sound very good in my opinion. Source: I’m a broadcast radio engineer with 20+ years experience.
