I love the audio systems in my new RDX as well as my '04 TL. DVD Audio is pretty cool, and well recorded and engineered discs can sound awsome, However, I am having trouble locating DVD Audio discs. My local shops no longer carry them. I have ordered some from on-line suppliers like Elusive Disc and Music Direct, but choices are limited. Is any one else having this problem, it seems as though Acura put in a great sound system equipped with a dying technology.

 

You might want to check out this thread

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167

 

Agreed on finding limited availibility of DVD-A. I love the sound quality with this format and hope DVD-A will be supported in the future with more releases.

If XM and Sirius really want to take off with more subscriptions in the future they might want to consider brodcasting in 5.1 SS.

 

XM has started broadcasting a few channels in XMHD now. It's a 5.1 version of XM, but they're still not talking about bit rates. So, you might get 6 channels, but it could still be a fairly low quality 6 channels. The other problem is that, once again, you need a different receiver to get it. I'd be happy if they just bumped up the bit rates and started broadcasting Pro Logic Surround.

Mike

 

Good point, I'm a bit disappointed in my XM sound quality, especially in comparrison to DVD-A sound quality.

 

That's because the quality of XM stinks. When most of us think of satellite radio, we naturally think of digital, CD quality sound - in much the same way we think of satellite TV as being better than analog cable. The truth is, XM and Sirrius compress the signal on most channels to unacceptably low bit rates. My guess is that they do this for bandwidth reasons - to maximize the number of stations they can carry. On most stations, the quaility is actually lower than you'd get from a nearby FM station. XM apparently also does the best it can to keep it's bitrates quiet, and supposedly they use a prioprietary method of varying the bitrate dynamically as needed. (At least that's what I've read on the internet )

Unfortunately, I paid full price for my XM subscription without really understanding this. Next year I will be letting it expire and hoping for a lower, 'come back' price. I like the selection of stations, but to me, the sound quality isn't worth the price they charge.

Mike

 

I have the same problem with Direct TV HDTV. They reduce te bitrate to save bandwith on their satalites hich reduces picture quality. I don't think I will sign up for a subscription to XM after my 90 day free subscription expires.

 

Except even with the reduced bitrates, DirectTV and Dish blow away the picture quality of analog cable. It's only now that cable is starting to go digital that satellite appears worse. I often stay in hotels with analog cable and holy crap the difference in picture quality is astounding. I can't believe we all lived with analog cable for so long...

Mike