[RobertR]

I have a roady 2 and notice that the fidelity on the classical music channels varies from average to poor. Once in a while it is as good as the local fm station never better, Sometimes it sounds like mono. Even though I dont have a direct connection to the car radio (using internal fm tranmitter) I expected more. With the recent announcement of a price hike to 12.92/mo. I will be cancelling.

 

[blessingx]

Yeah, XM and Sirius severe compression is what's keep me from trying. Supposedly out of the two Sirius is a tad better with music, but compressing more severely the talk channels XM wins out there. Course the player (Roady isn' rumored to be bad.. at least compared to the MyFi) and your connection has a lot to do with it too. Spent 15 minutes with the home Polk XM unit and it didn't sound bad (it was hooked up to some low end Bose speakers in a store). I hope both companies get their act together and solve some of the hardware issues.

On a side note, a co-worker has had Sirius for two years and when I asked a couple questions about the sound quality, he not being able to answer I finally said "how does it compare to when you're playing CDs in your truck"? He responded, "Oh, at worst it sounds about the same, but it's often quite a bit better!"

 

[gerG]

It is tough to put an absolute rating on the sound quality of XM. It has some serious problems, but they are unique to highly compressed digital audio with hf reconstruction. Some people don't notice them, while it is nails on a chalkboard to others. Unfortunately I am closer to the later group. My specific issue is what I have been calling "aluminum foil distortion". It occurs above 5 khz, and sounds like the musicians are all playing/singing through suspended sheets of foil. Horns sound like they are using aluminum mutes. I get along with it by dropping the levels above 5 Khz by 6 to 12 db. Why do I tolerate such an obnoxious signal? Because I love the music! Every time I get the bill I have to make the decission whether to drop the silly thing, or keep paying for access to such a wonderful variety of jazz, latin jazz, and classical (although the classical selection is somewhat limited). So far my love of new music has been more compelling than the weak pleas from my wallet.

Disclaimer: I use an XMPCR with a digital output. Results are the same with a variety of DAC and cans or speakers. I had similar results with a Delphi tuner. I have yet to try the latest generation of receiver cans, but one of these days I will be dragging a Grace 901 and a pair of Etys into Frys to try out the digital output of the Polk tuner.


gerG

 

[D555]

I have had XM for well over a year. While I admire the service and it is generally OK for casual listening -- it is *by no means* hi-fidelity. While the use of the digital format can mimic the positive qualities of CD audio (low noise, high dynamic range, wide frequency range) that leads to the "WOW!" descriptions so often associated with the satellite services, there is too much information being thrown out. Vocals, in particularly are constantly being wrecked. It is true the XM sonic quality varies: some tracks sound surprisingly good (considering the compression) while other tracks sound harsh and metallic.

I won't listen to it with headphones. I've tried -- it's painful to me.

Other people might not hear these defects (if one has grown up with 48K MP3 one might *expect* music to sound this way) but there's no denying the defects are there.

So why do I have XM? Again, it's OK to me for casual listening. I use mine in the car where the environment can generally mask the most severe of the audio flaws.

Paul

 

[KenW]

Honestly, I've never thought of it as anything but a tool for use by those who travel a good bit by car. Even then, I tend to pack up the mp3 player and hit the road. It's great for students and those who really don't care about quality and just desire variety of music and programming with few or no commercial interruption. A nice diversion but certainly nothing to hang your hat on in terms of quality. For what it is, it's a nice package. When my two years are up, I'm not so sure I'll continue with it. As the technology changes, there might be an increase in the quality of music but honestly, I just don't do that much radio anymore.

 

[raisin]

After having tryed both, I have to say that anyone who frequents these boards wouldn't ever be satisfied with the fidelity of the music.

 

[RobertR]

thanks for the input. maybe i should just relax and treat xm as casual listening but at future price of 12.95/mo. ???
I already have cd ,local fm (and tape which is very good BTW.) I just found out that I can get the old rate of 9.95 by paying a year up front. so maybe Ill reconsider.

 

[TomRemixed]

I rather have a month of napster