The SDARS is a separate tuner for digital reception. SDARS receives the data in terrestrial form or via satellite. Two antennas are installed for reception. One antenna is for terrestrial reception and the other is for digital reception.
If the satellite reception is disrupted, SDARS automatically switches to AM/FM reception. The loss of quality between digital radio and the standard AM/FM radio can be heard clearly.
Digital radio means that a much higher number of stations can be picked up. In addition to the audio data, other information is also broadcast. The sound quality is close to that of a CD or MD.
If the satellite radio optional extra is installed, the AM/FM receiver is decoded in the headunit. In this case, the SDARS is controlled via the MOST bus by the headunit (radio/M-ASK/CCC).
To enable AM/FM and satellite reception, two antennas are connected to the SDARS.