Is XM's sound quality improving?

[clydeselsor]

I have an XM Roady for the car and a Polk Audio XRT-12 home unit. The sound quality in the house with the Polk really wasn't very good when I first bought my unit last July. Well lately I have noticed that it seems to sound much better! It doesn't seem as compressed as it was before. The stations I listen to the most are Deep Tracks (40), Real Jazz (70), Fine Tuning (76) and XM Classics (110). Has anyone else noticed this or am I just really wanting it to sound better? :D

[clydeselsor]

Anyone?

[clydeselsor]

Where's the love?

[Fisherdude]

If I had XM, I'd be in here for ya!:yes:

[clydeselsor]

If I had XM, I'd be in here for ya!:yes:

Thanks Clay!! :lmao:

[outshined]

I have XM in my new car. My first experience with sat radio. I agree that Deep Tracks is a kick ass station. Others are just as good for the type of music you feel like at any time.

As for the sound quality, I'm limited to the factory sound system, so I can't really offer a definitive answer/opinion on the sound of XM broadcasts.

But, the content on XM is great. If I had XM in my other car, which has an aftermarket system that is 10X better than the new one, I'm sure it would sound much better.

Since I do a lot of listening in the car, I will inquire about a factory upgrade or an aftermarket one, if I don't have to rip up the interior or the dash.

[Gohan]

I have a Polk Audio XRT-12, The stations I listen to the most are Bone Yard (41), Deep Tracks (40), Top Tracks (46), Big Tracks (49), XM Liquid Metal (42). It is on Bone Yard (41) most of the time.

I got mine in July 2006. I have noticed an improvement in sound quality, I also have it on a better system now.

Gohan

[Mokane]

I have the standard Honda radio and haven't noticed but I really don't think I would've. I do wonder how it sounds with the Magnum Dynalab XM tuner- out of my league but I'd love to hear it.

[doyall]

You can get plenty of discussion of sound quality on XM at xmfan.com.

Last time I ventured there, the general consensus is that SQ is bad and not getting much better.

[Mitchell]

I believe the music channels on dishnet work are not encryped and therefore are free. You just need a free to air receiver. Of course theis is for your home since you need a fixed dish. The quality on aud and cd channel rocks compared to xm or sirius. And no one talks and no commericals of any kind. The song plays from beginning to end without it begining shorthened. I get my music free frpm satellites since they are not encryped, they are free.:music:

[dewdude]

It should be noted, that the Sirius and XM channels on Dish and DirecTV respectively are not simply relaying the same signal that's beamed down to the radio's. They're getting higher quality feeds.

I've had XM since 2003 and I've not really noticed any major improvements. It still has the same radio effect.

[uofmtiger]

I have XM, but rarely listen to it on a decent system. It is usually in my car or plugged into a radio at work.

XM has the ability to allocate bandwidths so one channel may be better than another. If you are hearing better sound, it could mean that they allocated more bandwidth to the channels you listen to most often.

[dewdude]

I don't believe they're going to use more than 64kbps (if that) per channel on the main feeds (the ones on direc/dish are 192kbps mpeg3 from what one source tells me). they do have the ability to allocate bandwidth...almost dynamically depending on the need...news/talk/weather stations usually use a voice codec. Let's not forget any "increase" in quality could also be attributed to additional or tweaked multiband audio processing...I've always thought XM had that little bit of conventional compressed radio sound.