owkone

I am curious:

1. How many of you have kept up the XM radio subscription after the end initial trial period that came with the new car?

2. How many of you would rather have a HD FM radio in the car?

Personally speaking I would rather have the HD FM over XM.

Tex929rr

I guess it depends where you drive. I live far enough from big towns that FM reception is generally terrible. When I drive cross country in the summer satellite is well worth the investment to have a clean signal for hours. When I travel to the Big Bend country in Texas, there are hours of no, and I mean no, radio reception whatsoever except for satellite.

Last year for 6 weeks the Chevy dealer kept trying to fix the XM in my other car (it ended up being an antenna problem). In the meantime I listened to CD's and FM. The commercials, djs blabbing, and switching stations to keep a signal drove me crazy. But mostly the commercials.

Deity711

I thought hard about FM HD (I never had XM in my '04), and finally decided it wasn't worth it.

I don't know about you, but the FM reception in my car is pretty darn clear. I get a little static on some stations but barely. It wouldn't be like buying an HDTV, where you can see the HUGE difference immediately.

I took a look at the stations in my area broadcasting HD channels, and only about 12 were doing so, IIRC. And then it's more of the same commercials and stuff anyway I'd assume, unlike satellite.

The final thing that killed it for me is that there doesn't seem to be a huge market for FM HD headunits right now, so my options would have been pretty limited as far as selection of models, and the prices were really high for the "improvement" I'd get. All that, and I'd have to worry about either integrating it with or replacing the stock headunit.


I got to try XM out when I had an '06 loaner, and I thought it was tits. I think sticking with satellite is the best solution right now. I think I heard BMW or someone is putting FM HD headunits in some of their new cars stock, which I think is cool. I'd be happy if it was just another feature in a new car. But for now I don't think it's worth the hassle to install it aftermarket.

moda_way

XM (In my case Sirius) > HD FM

No commercials, no FCC controls, tons of channels and content. It is worth every penny.

owkone

I also have the 04 so no XM on my car either.

I live in/near a major metropolian area on the east coast. No problem with FM reception. I listen mostly to non-commercial stations like NPR and college stations. So given a choice I's opt for a OEM HD FM radio over a XM for CD quality audio.

I'd like to see Acura start installing HD FM OEM radio with or without XM.

parag_a2z

XM annual subscription after the intial trial period

Deity711

I'm exactly the same way, I only listen to NPR.

What peaked my interest was that my NPR station started broadcasting in HD - one channel full news coverage, and the other would be full classical. It would be fantastic to switch between the two at will, as opposed to the current setup they have on their SD channel, where it's news during drivetime, classical the rest.

But looking at the costs and hassles, I'll just wait until HD FM headunits are OEM.

I think if I had a '05> model though, I'd certainly pay for the XM though. I think they had at least two classical stations (1 classical, 1 pops), and even a dedicated opera station. I'm sure they had dedicated news and indie music stations too.

junktionfet

The problem with FM-HD is range. If you live in a decently populated area, it shouldn't be a problem. But people who live far away from transmitter sites may not get the HD signal. The analog signal is simply superior in that regard because even when you lose the stereo pilot (well after the HD signal is gone), you can still hear the program pretty clearly.

From a sound quality perspective, FM-HD sounds a bit better than XM in my opinion. The compression artifacts aren't quite as bad as what you get with XM. I dropped my XM subscription because I simply can't get used to the sub-par quality of the sound--they try to cram too much into limited bandwidth.

drigo

iv'e changed my stock speakers and at times FM sounds the same if not better than the XM...iv'e been curious about the HD-radio...for me though...i would rather have the mp3 capability in our cd player in exchange for the XM...

owkone

junktionfet you hit on a very good point about HD FM limitation. Most commercial FM stations sound terrible because of dynamic compression - they need to sound LOUD than others. Then again, most rock music and certainly hip-hop and rap do not have much of a dynamic range to speak of. Analog FM stations sound quite listenable when they do not compress.

MP3 type digital compression and listeniing through earbuds have killed off true audio quality while contributing to increasing hearing loss among the younger set. IMO it's a pity. I am not going to start on my take on walking through life with earbuds on.

L1StarTSX

Sirius>XM>HD FM IMO

Roffles

Pretty soon Sirius>XM is going to be Sirius=XM because a merge between the two companies is pretty much guaranteed at this point.


On an unrelated note. Does anyone know how to turn XM back on after resubscribing?

The lady on the phone told me I would need to leave it on channel 1 for approx. 20 minutes....then go to channel 7 and then channel 175. Well I tried that and it doesn't work. Even after 45 minutes, it didn't work. Now all I can do is listen to XM online through the internet.

Tex929rr

I've had to activate receivers about a half dozen times. You have to leave the car outside and the XM unit on until they send the signal. XM says it may take up to an hour, but it's never taken longer than 20 minutes of so, and a couple of times only about 5.

nj2pa2nc

xm turned off my reception after two months instead of the 3 months. After trying to explain to the person working for them (I bought my car in nov and the service was turned off in jan.) I had to explain months. They turned it back on and I have subscribed to it for a year. I have sirius in my other car. great inventions.

TSXnTEX

My free 3 month XM subscrption has not ended yet and when it does and they call me to renew it, I think i'm going to say no. When they ask why I'm going to say BECAUSE YOU LIE!! You say NO commercials, I HEAR COMMERCIALS!! Also, you play the SAME SONGS on a loop over and over and over on every channel!! Hell I can get that for FREE on regular radio stations!!

Tex929rr

I read this and other similar complaints on a couple of car forums. Except for the talk stations (which have to fill in the blank time in the shows) I never hear commercials. I listen to XM all the time, and my tastes are pretty eclectic. So on what channels do you all hear these ads?

rmjames007

I am dirgo I cahged out the stock speakers for better sound and I have kept the XM. I like the music. I NEVER listen to terrestrial radio except for NPR. Howerver sometimes I find XM can be like late night cable when there is nothing on (or nothing I want to listen to) and if that is the case I have my IPOD or CDs. That is one thing I love about my TSX is that there are several differnt music choices that suit my taste to a T

TSXnTEX Where are you hearing Ads. The only places that are ad annoying are the talk stations. And those do suck but on the music channels the only advertising is a 15second spot for station identification. Those I can deal with

TSXnTEX

I guess your right I never noticed that, but I do listen to a lot of Talk stations. Maybe thats where I'm hearing the ads!! But i still hate how they play the same songs over and over on the music stations.

nj2pa2nc

i like the xm when am traveling from nc to nj- do not have to keep changing stations when I lose the signal. I agree they do play the same songs but usually it is a song I like. when I play my c.d.'s I tend to listen to the same songs over and over again

Rusa

XM: 200 channels and nothing to listen to.

drigo

:gheylaugh: so tru

hunterk1

iPod Nano + aux plugin...

Who needs XM or FM?

iTL07

I have both XM and my iPod in my TSX. When listening to music, I choose the iPod, the sound quality is much better than XM. XM compresses the signal on most channels between 34Kbs to 94Kbs. Which makes the music sound very muffeled, where as the music on my iPod was ripped at 256Kbs from my personal CD's and 128Kbs from iTunes. By the way 128Kbs music purchased from iTunes will begin changing to 256Kbs starting in May and should be more than halfway complete by the end of this year, from what I have read. Also a company called DICE has a new device that should be released for Acura by the end of next week that will allow you to have HD Radio and iPod connectivity with an Aux input for our factory radios, in addition to XM, and CD that is already availble. I spoke with a customer service rep at DICE, who said she spoke with their engineers and confiremed it will work with Navi and non Navi radios. As to the person in one of the previous post who complained about the sound quality of MP3 players, you could always import your music at Lossless or AFF format, which is as good as playing a CD. But lets also not forget the real purisits that claim music went down hill when it went from analog to digital, they will never be satisfied.

Also here is the link to the DICE: http://www.diceelectronics.com/

michelc

In Canada, no XM radio available with my 07 TSX
it is only available on the TL and other more expensive Acuras.

Personally, I use my IPod with wire connection, the sound is awesome compared to a noisy FM transmitter like MonsterCable, and my music selection is big enough not to get sat radio for a while.

dj Dozhe

Comparing HD FM to XM seems laffable to me. With XM I've got music from every decade and every genre without commercials, uncensored comedy, public radio, all MLB games, and live traffic information. 12 HD channels can't touch my 250+ channels on XM, and if the sirius merger goes through I'll have even more. I remember before I had XM I could check through 6 different FM channels and it would be commercial after commercial, on XM as long as you're listening to music channels there are NO commercials. Definitely worth the $7 a month for me.

vidgamer

I think a lot of times you have those ads because those same talk shows are somewhere on normal radio with those ad breaks. For example, I have noticed that Rusty Humphrys is on both locally and on XM and there are commercial breaks in both. I haven't noticed commercials in the radio stations I listen to, although, I'm not sure about Radio Disney (which is another one that is also available locally, but I just don't listen to enough to have an opinion).

My gripe about XM is the high-compression. This isn't the FM analog compression, but a digital storage space compression. It's like moving to a smaller tape mechanism, if you wanted to put it in terms of analog, I suppose, cramming more signal into less space. Sure, sounds OK most of the time, but you can really tell, and it's far, far removed from CD quality. It makes me want to listen to FM except that most FM stations don't play anything nearly as interesting as XM.

SO, you listen to XM for the variety, not the quality. Oh well.

TSX420J

Plus some channels use shitty mp3s that sound horrible and the db's are sow low
I can barely hear it the way I want to.

TSX420J

What is the sirius merger ?

TSX420J

I like xm but the only channel I listen to is 66. I also listen to some of the
dance channels but I dunno. I like my cd's way more. I subscribed to xm for whenever I get bored of my cd's.

nj2pa2nc

sirius and xm radio are supposed to merge

TSX420J

Wow, sounds good.

owkone

That is good news. Though I still think it should be OEM.

It is I you are quoting. I am an audiophile of sorts but I do not contribute to analog is better than digital. That is an old notion that some still today tries to keep alive. It was true with the early generations of CD however, they sounded bright and harsh. Without going into details, the audio enginneers forgot to undo the RIAA equalization in the master analog tapes when they digitized them.

I must admit I do not download music so I am not fully familar with the formats available. Do itunes, Napster etc. store their music in lossless formats? A lossless .wav file takes up about 3 to 4 mbytes. If they are not then downloading in lossless format like AFF will be like GIGO. Can someone please educate me?

captainjack

Satellite radio is very much like TV back in the 80's. Cable started out as a solution for people who couldn't get regular TV signals (in the boonies, near mountains). But then it was all about choice and variety.

Same deal with satellite. Most people GET radio OK. We just think what's on it blows. I wanted more and I absolutely get it with XM. So for me, it's worth every penny.

XM is mainly for people who love music (and to a smaller degree, other interesting content). The variety and depth is unmatched except by a real music geek's collection.

HD is terrestrial radio's Hail Mary pass because people are tuning out in droves. Ooooh… 22 minutes/hour of CLEARER commercials? And "CD-quality" reception of the same future 1-hit-wonders over and over and OVER 'til you want to rip out your own cochleas?!?

The XM vs. Sirius is very Coke vs. Pepsi: people just like what they like. I prefer XM (strongly) but am a big satellite fan. Just today, I heard the play upon which the movie "Proof" was based on. I also heard Greg Proops, a really funny comic who is like the stand-up who smart stand-ups want to be. I got ESPN highlights and heard some Gipsy Kings.

XM is also where I got turned on to Arctic Monkeys, The Raconteurs, Wolfmother (I know, both Jack White) and Regina Spektor MONTHS before they hit the mainstream.

For NPR geeks, I hear This American Life and Bob Edwards. And on and on and on.

HD radio? WHY?!?

Casey1994

I renewed my XM service once, when they were running a special. After it lapsed I never renewed and I haven't missed it. If they merge with Sirius I might reconsider, since I like many of their options better than XM's.

I'm with those listeners who were irritated with XM's excessive compression. Their music channels seemed generally OK to me, but their talk channels were awful -- to my ears worse than broadcast AM. I'm also tempted by HD FM, which I'll look at if the prices drop to a reasonable level.

Much of my listening is a local jazz station, NPR, and a bit of Retro Rock -- XM offered some pretty decent jazz and oldies options, but not enough to get me to renew.

iTL07

I am not to sure about Napster, but I know iTunes currently has the music available at 128Kbs. That is going to start changing though, they are going to start in May converting the downloads to 256Kbs with no DRM. They should have about half of the music available on iTunes converted by the end of this year. As for AIFF, I was just suggesting that maybe you could import your music with that incoder or Losless if you use iTunes. Then you should not hear a difference between the import and the original material. Me personally I import my CD's at 256Kbs and really can't hear a difference between that and the original CD, I can hear a difference between 128Kbs and 256Kbs.

wrussi

i like XM so far but im not sure yet if i'll get it once the trial is out the sound quality is not that good it doesnt have enough volume...

digfun

XM offers too much eclectic music.
While their classical is good, the Euro techno XM airs is full of imature DJs.

Roffles

So true. I listen to a few of my favorite music stations and realize it's not nearly as good as CD quality....but still much better than FM.

Hopefully when the merger happens, XM will adapt to variable bit rates so that quality and bandwith are optimal for better sound quality.

edit:
FYI, XM uses 80kb for the most important music channels, 40kb for the music channels and 32kb for the talk channels. 128kb is arguably considered "cd quality"

vidgamer

Most of the time, I'd say that FM sounds better. This goes double if what you say is true about 40kbps for music! I usually think of 64kbps as scraping the bottom. No wonder they don't want to publicize it.



How will XM be able to change? There's this huge installed base of hardware, and unless that already supports VBR...? I mean, if it does support it, why wouldn't XM have done that in the first place?

drewba

I cancelled XM after the 3 month trial period. I liked the variety and limited commercials, but just couldn't get past the over compressed sound quality. I listen to CDs most of the time; FM is a wasteland during drive time.