Xm Radio worth it?

[cmdrdredd]

Before you tell me yes because there's no commercials and no censorship. Or that there's multitudes of programming. I know all of that.

I'm asking is the sound quality from XM worth it? How close to FM quality is it? I'm not talking for a car either. I'm talking for a dedicated HT with very good speakers for music listening. My new receiver has an XM tuner built in, but I need to get service and the antenna. So I just want to know how the quality of the sound is for music.

 

[MrChad]

I've always likened the sound quality of satellite radio to a heavily compressed MP3; in other words, not great . That said, my only experience with satellite radio has been in rental cars with stock radios and amplifiers. A high quality tuner like this one from Polk Audio might yield better results.

 

[spacejamz]

i would try to find a deal so you are not paying $13/month...

I am on a $6/ month deal I got last summer...check fatwallet or slickdeals...

out of the 3 years of XM service I have had, nearly all of it (except for a few months) has always been 50% off...i locked in 2 years at half off before the price increase awhile back.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: MrChad
I've always likened the sound quality of satellite radio to a heavily compressed MP3; in other words, not great . That said, my only experience with satellite radio has been in rental cars with stock radios and amplifiers. A high quality tuner like this one from Polk Audio might yield better results.

My Tuner is built into my A/V receiver (Sony STR-DG810). So I kinda want to know if it's worth hooking it up or not, I'm guessing no because my Zune can get comparable or better quality from 320Kbps AAC files or even Lossless. Just going by your comparison.

 

[Nohr]

I had XM hooked up to my living room HT for a year and the sound quality was about as good as a 128kbps MP3, maybe even a little worse. It depends on the channel, some sound better than others.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Nohr
I had XM hooked up to my living room HT for a year and the sound quality was about as good as a 128kbps MP3, maybe even a little worse. It depends on the channel, some sound better than others.

That's not so good then...guess I'll stick to using my Zune and just deal with the commercial riddled Clear Channel, CBS, and Cox stations around here.