Oem Xm Radio Quality

[Costas1966]

Hey, all.....am I the only one experiencing a flat response from the XM radio stations? I'm still in my 3 month trial period, and I'm totally disappointed by the quality of the stations.....is this common, or is there a way to improve it?

 

It sounds worse than the local radio stations.

 

I have the bose system, btw, with the 6-cd changer.

 

Thanks for any input.

[dsmazz]

I have the single CD/MP3 AM FM, non-Bose system in my '07 GMC Sierra. I added the factory XM myself, and it sounds fine. Much better than AM/FM/ or even CD. Perhaps there's a loose connection somewhere in your system. Might be worth a trip to the dealer.

[kritter9992]

I have the single CD/MP3 AM FM, non-Bose system in my '07 GMC Sierra. I added the factory XM myself, and it sounds fine. Much better than AM/FM/ or even CD. Perhaps there's a loose connection somewhere in your system. Might be worth a trip to the dealer.

I had the delphi skyfi2 xm hard wired in my truck to an alpine iva d 300 with jl audio speakers and alpine amps, and i thought it sounded like complete sh!t, thats why i got rid of it, the sound quality sucked huge!!!!!

[blkshadow]

same here dude. my local stations and cd sound much better than the sat. stations. my truck came with xm , is that the only sat. provider i can use with my stock stereo or can i get sirius sat. or are the stereos only set up fpr one or the other? later,jd

[dsmazz]

Gee, maybe I have a tin ear. lol

[jeff137]

I have the XM Commander and it worked very well until the darn antenna died. I had 2 Roady's and both of them had the antenna die, not the XM commander's antenna died. Each time delphi says "ship it and we'll fix it for a nominal fee" since it is over a year old. By time I ship and they charge an undetermined amount, it would be more than buying a new unit. Well, I've had it with them. I want the factory antenna in hopes that it will be more apt to survive since it is mounted and more robust than the micro antenna with the kits.

[lerbud]

i have the bose and 6 disc and mine sounds fine. maybe you have a problem with the tuner??

[Costas1966]

Thanks all for your replies.......I have the OEM stereo, so the aftermarket stuff isn't really applicable.....I'm just very surprised and disappointed that the quality of satellite radio would be substandard to the local fm radio stations. I may take it in to the dealer, but I wanted to get some feedback from the group. Thanks, all.

[MrIndy]

I just picked my new Vmax crew yesterday. I was also a little disapointed with the XM sound Let us know if you find avything out.

[ToeJam]

Funny you should mention this...I was getting pissed yesterday at the audio quality. I'm not sure if this is a problem with my truck (my '03 was much better) that I'm just now noticing or if it is something with xm that comes and goes.

[elousv]

I think it is a characteristic of the compression that really gets on some people's nerves. I tried it for a year and simply could not stand it. My friend has a brand new Yukon with it and he also cannot stand it. We consider ourselves audiophiles. Both of us can live with high bit rate MP3s. I have talked with two co-workers that have XM and or Sirius and they have no problem with it. The other problem I had with it is the programming. Sure there were no commercials, but the same songs get repeated over and over ad nauseum. I have heard the same song on 3 or 4 different stations on the same day.

[tommbo]

I have had my 2007 Denali for 3 weeks now and I have the same problem. XM sounds like s**t!! like its in mono or something..I thought it was me. Also my reception on my fm sucks! they have a new antenna mounted in the rear window. I want to buy a gm1 to switch to sirius but they say it will not work with the 2007's. I heard today xm and sirius are making the merge but you will have to buy a new radio to get the new deal. they suck!!!!!

[omegafiler]

I think the problem is most people assume the satellite radio is going to be "CD quality" or better (as I originally did years ago). But when you look around XM's site, you really have to dig around for anything that even mentions the audio quality. They actually sorta mention that here on their site,

 

"XM searched the world for the best sound quality

technologies and found them in customized CT-aacPlus

audio encoding with Neural Audio optimization,

which provides superior sound quality remarkably

close to Compact Disc."

 

So basically, after all searching the entire world... THIS was the best they could do? Compressed audio quality that almost makes FM sound good? But ya know, if you listen to it long enough, it does almost sounds acceptable. Well, at least until you listen to a CD, MP3, or just about anything else. I really tried to live with it - but that just wasn't going to happen. Needless to say, I certainly won't be renewing my 1 year subscription next month. (I only signed up because of the long trips I was going to take and wanted to give it one last chance when I bought the truck).

 

However, with that said, I can see why many people like it. You have many channels, the signal is "clear" (ie. no static), and it's already built-in to most new vehicles. And we have to remember, not everybody is that "picky" or even remotely considered an audiophile. I think the vast number of people happily listening to super low-quality music on their cell phones is proof of that.

 

[cecivic]

In addition to what omegafiler said, the channels that maily feature voice (ie: comedy, talk) are broadcast at an even smaller bit rate, which means even worse sound than the music channels.

 

Sorry I can't provide references; I just remember reading that somewhere...

 

 

"XM searched the world for the best sound quality

technologies and found them in customized CT-aacPlus

audio encoding with Neural Audio optimization,

which provides superior sound quality remarkably

close to Compact Disc."

[omegafiler]

In addition to what omegafiler said, the channels that maily feature voice (ie: comedy, talk) are broadcast at an even smaller bit rate, which means even worse sound than the music channels.

 

Sorry I can't provide references; I just remember reading that somewhere...

 

 

"XM searched the world for the best sound quality

technologies and found them in customized CT-aacPlus

audio encoding with Neural Audio optimization,

which provides superior sound quality remarkably

close to Compact Disc."

 

 

Yep, they sure are. Now THAT sounds really bad. I know it's only talk radio... but I like hearing everything nice and clear.