Sorry to hear that doug,it sounds fine on my cheap ss rig I use for tv and movies.Perhaps your buddies system is too revealing?
my bud's system is far from hi-end, but it's certainly more revealing than typical beast-buy mid-fi. on my recommendation, he did get a tube buffer to put between the sirius receiver and the preamp; it makes it a bit more tolerable for background noise, but still completely unlistenable as a serious (no pun intended) music source....
doug s.