For DBS systems, MPEG 2 compression is used for broadcast at a bitrate of 192 kbps. I'm sure Time Warner uses the same scheme.
I detect compression artifacts periodically when using headphones to listen to DirecTV, that usually only happens when there are significant bandwidth demands made on the transponder used to broadcast the particular music channel. Also, the sound feels squished and not as open as an uncompressed CD. Though for broadcasting so many channels on limited bandwidth, the sound really isn't bad.
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