is xm radio SQ better when using your receiver

[bevo]

I just got xm and it sounds really compressed using just my xm express, through the home dock station. I have it hooked up with stereo rca cables. Does it sound better if you actually use your receivers xm ready option, and use the other type of cable connection?

I'm not even sure what type of cable it is, but the back of my receiver has what looks like a tiny ethernet, or optical in when using the xm ready feature on the receiver.

Any help would be great. I only got xm because of my new job. It involves setting inside a machine, and pretty much listening to the radio all day. After seeing the music selection xm offers, I would like to integrate it into my home setup, but it sounds almost to bad to tolerate the way it is now. It sounds fine with my little speakers at work, but my home system really makes it sound bad.

[comfortablycurt]

Try it out and let us know.:)

[BlueFox]

My understanding is satellite radio is compressed, like MP3. While it might sound better through a decent receiver versus a cheapo, it still will be compressed music.

[Gadabout]

Xm Ready stuff will sound better, than your XM Xpress. Right now your using analog outs. To take advantage of your Receivers processing abilities, it needs a digital source.

To take advantage of the XM Ready Option, you will need an XM Mini Tuner Dock and a Mini-Tuner. You won't need another antenna if you already have one.

The down side to this is that the Mini Tuner is another radio on your account and will be $6.99/mo extra.

If you really like XM you could also get the POLK XrT12 and hook it up. Makes a difference in my opinion.

Hope that helps,
Scott

[steveinaz]

It's quality is pretty disappointing. I have had XM for quite some time, and now I have it w/Direct TV--it's still not my source of choice. Flat, dull, dimensionless comes to mind. The content is very cool, I still keep my Delphi/boombox setup activated for camping trips, etc.

[adam2434]

Got a free XM subscription when I bought a new car earlier this year.

It sounds like ass IMO due to the very low bitrates they use (30-50 kbps IIRC). I can hear all kinds of compression artifacts in my stock car stereo.

For non-critical listening in a car or portable situation, my experience is that you need at least 192 kbps to avoid distracting compression artifacts. XM's bitrate isn't anywhere near high enough to deliver decent sound IMO.

This is a garbage in, garbage out scenario, so I don't think any hardware or connection changes will make things much better. XM is definitely a quantity over quality thing.

I don't use them very often, but the sound quality from my cable TV's music channels is vastly superior to XM. I believe the cable music channels are around 192 kbps using AC-3 (Dolby Digital) compression.

[bevo]

Thanks everyone. I was afraid that this was the case. The content is great though, so I think i'll keep it for work, and just use it for the talk radio.