I've got a 2005 TSX equipped with XM radio. I live in New York City where it's possible to listen to several of XM's programs on regular FM stations (such as BBC and Jonathan Schwartz's Sunday show--both on WNYC-FM). I'm surprised at how compressed and "less full" the XM signal is compared with the FM signal, in a side-by-side comparison. I thought one of XM's boasts was its "near CD quality" sound. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

No suprise really, all the content that originates on other radio stations is sent over to XM in analog, compressed, sent to the satellite and then down to your car. It just can't sound as good as a diredt signal. The near CD quality only refers to the channels which originate within XM and stay digital all the way to your car.

 

actually, been doing some reading on xmfan.com and discovered my complaint seems to be pretty common. The often severe compression rates XM uses (less for music channels, very severe for news and talk) compromises the sound quality--and since XM has a limited bandwidth assigned to them by the FCC to begin with, lower fidelity is the result. Other postings on the site also note that the XM receivers in cars tend to have poor digital to analog processors and this also results in low fi.