XM subscription vs HD FM
04-21-2007, 08:42 PM
#41
Old Man Yelling at Clouds
I've had Sirius (prev. car) and XM now in the new. I liked Sirius channel selection over XM, but it's OK. Anything is better than commercials and DJ's. When I'm in my wife's car listentening to FM, I can't stand it.
I've found a good rotation of 6 channels that I like and just keep moving through them. This helps reduce noticing if they play a loop over and over (I've never noticed it). The talk channels, and on occasion a music channel that's playing a special segment, will have commercials. But the vast majority of music channels are clear.
I've found a good rotation of 6 channels that I like and just keep moving through them. This helps reduce noticing if they play a loop over and over (I've never noticed it). The talk channels, and on occasion a music channel that's playing a special segment, will have commercials. But the vast majority of music channels are clear.
04-22-2007, 01:34 AM
#42
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Originally Posted by 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?
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?
04-22-2007, 10:41 AM
#43
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So far I'm fairly happy with XM, but on some channels the slow-bandwidth compression leaves some truly annoying artifacts. If every channel sounded like 100-103 (classical) I'd be all over it... I'll probably end up getting it because it's nice to be able to tune into a genre. The talk stations are just okay; I usually listen to my local NPR which has significantly better fidelity* than the high compression on the talk stations on XM.
--W
* They cheat: they mix down to mono, which on FM, which essentially doubles their bandwidth. It's talk radio, who cares about stereo.
--W
* They cheat: they mix down to mono, which on FM, which essentially doubles their bandwidth. It's talk radio, who cares about stereo.
