I have a GEX-P10XMT hooked up to an AVIC-D2 and the quality of my XM sound is far worse than FM. I thought it was digital? Shouldn't it sound better than FM? The sound is very flat and sounds like its coming out of a tin can. Also, I find that I have to turn the volume much higher to be at the same level as any FM station.

well i believe you can adjust the source volume to match each other. but sat radio is flat and unimpressive. The best description I have heard is it sounds like a low quality mp3.

Right. Why isn't it at least on par with FM? I have no complaints about the FM quality.

I would guess, bandwidth issues

It should sound better than FM, but not as good as CD. You might have a bad tuner and/or antenna.

Not even close to FM. It doubt it's a bad tuner/antenna - it sounds this way to me in every car. I've listened to XM in the TSX and Passat and FM in those cars sounds way better than XM.

yeah i second that, XM sound is not impressive at all... the source level helps a bit but it still doesnt compare to FM.

I have a simple explaination for this..

It's called compression...

In order to send/recieve Digital Data, it must be compressed, during the "send/recieve" part of it. When your unit "unzip's" or "decpomresses" your data many of the high's and lows will be left out, OR they get simplified(in 0's and 1's) to where the sound is inaudible...

This sounds exactly like a "tin can" or a "really bad mp3"...

A really bad mp3 has undergone the same compression scheme following the same principle I just explained... It's digital Audio, It's kinda how it works..

Looking ahead, these things should be figured out within the next year or so.. It's not a matter of "upping" the technology, it's just bandwidth issue.. The data you can send from the Satellite can only be so big, so they compress it to shrink it down....

Great explanation. Thank you for that.

Also, it it's like Sirius, I'm sure different stations use different bandwidth. For example talk radio doesn't need the high-quality, so it uses less bandwidth. The quality is probably somewhere between AM and FM. Music, on the other had, needs high quality and therefore uses more bandwidth.

It actually is completely different and uncomparable to AM or FM radio..

that is an analog signal being sent out at a certain frequncy, there is no bandwidth involved... Frequency Modulation (FM) and Amplitude Modulation(AM) is sending out a signal with a certain wavelength which corresponds to the Hertz (93.3, 89.9, 102.7)

Again, the digital signal is completely different and should be compared more to an internet connection than radio stations....

Compression to make the data smaller, so it can move faster and load quicker... There are different types of compression schemes that can be used, but, obviously Xm or Sirius, have not enough bandwidth to send larger "less" compressed data... they will with time though... remember 5-10 years ago when we were all on "Napster" downloading songs that would take a half an hour? kinda the same thing... Similiar principle

i can't tell......mine seems to be working good in my area....

i can't tell......i'm seems to be working good in my area....

It has nothing to do with reception. You either get it or you don't.

Again, the digital signal is completely different and should be compared more to an internet connection than radio stations....

At the end of the day, the singal reaching your ear is analog, so I don't think that comparing quality of standard radio vs satellite is that far fetched!

I have a buddy I work with and he has Xm I have Sirus and he agrees mine sounds much better.. XM sounds do AM if you know what I mean.. but it could be your speakers too.... my 2 cents...

I have a buddy I work with and he has Xm I have Sirus and he agrees mine sounds much better.. XM sounds do AM if you know what I mean.. but it could be your speakers too.... my 2 cents...

just wait until they merge.....if they do.......

I have been less than impressed with the XM sound quality. Maybe they should go for less channels and better quality.

All boils down to bandwidth. If your pipe is only so big, your either A. Gonna get alot of small things through it or B. Gonna get only a few big things.

I"d rather have the quality over the quantity.

Chris.

Countdown,

I think it is your speakers and your amp. However, some channels are sounding like they are coming out of a tin can. SOME, not all. In my experience, the following channels are VERY good. I'm talking sound-wise and not necessarily what they play. LOL!!!

Channel 8 - The 80's

Channel 80 - The Move

Channel 81 - BPM

Channel 83 - Chrome

Channel 62 - Suite 62

Channel 64 - The Groove

Channel 65 - The Rhyme

Channel 66 - RAW

Channel 67 - The City

Channel 90 - Fuego

Channel 71 - Watercolors

Channel 72 - Beyond Jazz

Channel 115 -Radio Disney

Channel 116 - XM Kids

Channel 20 - 20 on 20

Channel 23 - The Heart

Channel 27 - Cinemagic

Channel 75 - Hear Music

Channel 43 - XMU

Channel 45 - XM Cafe

Channel 47 - Ethel

Channel 48 - Squizz

Those above channels sound as good as CDs and certainly no worse than a clear FM station. The rest, are not consistent and can sound like VERY weakly encoded MP3s at less than even 128k. Sports channels can REALLY suck. The French language stations are God-awful. The Traffic radio stations sound like they are transmitting from Mars in a soup can with nylon string.

Anyway, it seems like you have fallen for the Digital is better hype like many here in America. Digital is just that ... digital. Ones and zeros. It's not better or worse, but can be both. Everything digital is not the best. People have GOT to learn this lesson. When digital cameras first came out, their pictures were not as good as an "old fashioned" film camera using silver. The technology is a LOT better now, but a good film camera still trumps almost any consumer grade digital camera. The highly taughted CDs are not all the same either. Most are not recorded DDD (digital, digital, digital). Most are AAD (analog, analog, digital). Plenty of CDs sound no better than a dirty vinyl record that has popping hissing, static, etc. All of the samples being used are from old vinly records that the artists are using. I can go on and on, but you get my point.

XM is good for what it is. The ability to listen to ONE station all across the country. The ability to not have to deal with two stations overlapping with each other and cancelling themselves out. Drifting stations are a thing of the past. For that convenience, you give up some fidelity, but since you are in a car, truck/suv, minivan, etc. it really doesn't matter due to the road and vehicle noise. So, in that environment, it is plenty good enough. Poor speakers will affect the sound. A weak amp will affect the sound, but that is true with AM/FM, CD and cassette tapes too.

I'm about to cancel XM over the bad quality of audio.

All of the streams are done with the aacPlus codec, which is very efficient and does well. It reproduces all frequencies above about 4.5kHz (they are synthesized). Most music channels on XM however, broadcast at 32 or 40kbps, which is extremely low, but again with aacPlus it doesn't sound that bad, especially at 40kbps. The Clear Channel stations and a couple others run at 48kbps, and the XM HD channels run at 56kbps (Fine Tuning and XM Pops).

The problem nowdays though is really the Neural "PowerLift" multiband compression algorithm that they use. It essentially "levels" everything out -- the loud sounds are attenuated and the soft sounds are made louder. You can hear this problem especially on the outros of songs, where it should get softer, however it just sounds about the same level.

Thank goodness I have Sirius too. They've made marked improvements of audio quality over the past several months.

i too am not impressed w/ the XM sound quality.... i was expecting CD type of sound...... "digital" my ass!!

whats funny is my xm experience has been pretty much pioneer products only. Up until I got my acura with it in there for a few months free. The xm sounds a world of difference better then the pioneer. Granted, my acura's stock system has dolby 5.1, but the music just sounds so much more fuller. not hallow or tin can sounding.

Good point. I wonder how many people here complaining about the XM sound quality are listening with factory stock systems that are nothing to brag about. While your Acura may have a killer sound system and Dolby 5.1 built-in, most vehicles do not, and it is those people who might be bitching the most about the XM sound quality. With 8 Polk Audio speakers in my SUV (9 if you include the 12" subwoofer), two amps (one for the head unit and one just for the subwoofer), soundproofing material, good cables and wires, professional installation, etc. I'm happy with MOST of the XM satellite channels. It's better than FM radio and for all practical intents and purposes, equal to a CD that is being played in my SUV. Maybe on my home stereo, I would give the edge to the CD and/or my Minidiscs, or DVD audio discs. In the SUV cruising along between 10-70 MPH, the sound is quite acceptable

XM recently improved their processing which gave sound quailty a bit of a boost.

For the record, I am listening on a couple of extremely nice systems (one being the AVIC-D1) that play every little detail. The compression artifacts are less apparent, and there is less pumping from dynamic range compression.

Try Sirius if you don't like the XM sound quality. I've got XM in a car with a nice aftermarket system, and Sirius connected to a D3 and stock Mazda speakers. The Sirius is definitely a better sound. Still not as good as my iPod or CDs, but much better than XM.

The only downside is that the D3 Sirius interface is absolutely horrible.

FM is by far the closest match to CD quality. The problem is the reception. Sat radio fills a void in the coverage, but really does nothing to address quality. The fact is bandwidth is the the issue. FM uses no bandwidth so it doesn't matter how much data is being sent, its just about how much the radio station wants to pay for the signal to reach a broader audience.

The good news is (and maybe a bit disconcerning for those fearing the end of sat radio) WiMax is rolling out in cities everywhere and bandwidth is going to become a lot more accessible by everyone and in much higher volume. So for the time being Sat radion lets you drive across North America or off roading in the backcountry without loosing some sort of entertainment/connection to civilization, but everyone knows the quality is less than "bumpin".

As far as XM vs Sirius, friends in San Diego have Sirius and the quality sucks even with their kickn systems, my pops has sirius near Miami and his stock passat sounds great, I live in whistler canada and XM sounds good enough to crank and hear the sub go boom... although it does seem to vary betwween stations; some stations are broadcast in better quality espcially talk radio, its super chitty

Anyway that's my 2 cents, i still love my XM radio.