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In Reply to: Doubt that one! posted by bartc on May 1, 2005 at 19:57:30:
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Follow Ups:
Let me admit my ignorance of XM radio first, because all I can find on it refers to its marketing hype, not to it's actual technical processes.It does indeed have a digital output, and it also has a built in DAC. Whether or not you can bypass the built in DAC would determine the answer to the original question.
Obviously, if it has a built in DAC it receives a digital signal that is not yet converted, then does the conversion itself and passes this on to your rig. If you can defeat the built-in DAC, then you get whatever upgrade in quality is available from the outboard DAC you supply, including the NOS or upsampling and jitter-reducing features.
I stand corrected. Now can one of you give a review of the QUALITY of the signal vs. the preferences and repertoire of the music?
I only have XM in my car, but the sytem in the car is decent as far as mobile goes (all ADS drivers except the JL subs, and MacIntosh providing the watts for the mids/highs).Needless to say I've only listened to the analog output of the XM receiver, and I'm also using the XM FM modulator (wired) to get the signal to my head unit.
I have to admit, all things considered, it's not bad. CDs do sound far better in my car, but XM definitely sounds better than FM (I might choose FM over XM quality if the car were sitting still, but in motion it's an easy call).
One thing to realize is the quality of the rips vary greatly with XM, and also the rips can do weird things to songs. It's obvious that different songs were compressed differently than others. The weird effect is when the compressed songs sound as if they'd been mixed differently. For instance, a rhythm guitar may be brought forward in the mix in a way that analog compressors would never do it. I don't spend any time listening to MP3s, though so this effect may be common with lossy compression for all I know (I realize lossy digital compression is something entirely different from analog compression).
The reason you keep hearing about the content and not the quality is that the content is so good the quality is less relevent, especially for car use. Also, the quality is nothing to write home about - neither great nor awful - so it simply doesn't generate much interest.
If I had XM at home, I doubt I'd do any serious listening to it (I'd just go buy the CDs of stuff I like), but I would use it ALL THE TIME for background music. I don't like being a DJ.
-Pete
I use one of the original Sony DRN-01 car XM radios, and I did get a home dock and a 110 adaptor for it. Sonically, it's not as good as CD, but, it's close enough that for general listening, background stuff in the house, it's just fine. Critical listening, in the house, well, perhaps. In the car, it's just great. Content: Exceptional, for my tastes. Jazz, blues, and instrumentals in spades, plus family and raunchy comedy when I'm in that mood, on separate channels. Getting artist name and song title is what makes it for me. My list of music to find is huge.One of the home units, like the Polk, ought to perform way better than the car units, and the reviews on different sites seem to support this. Tweaked, modified, and perhaps upsampled, XM could come close to the sound of good CD.
No commercials on most of the music stations is a big plus.
It would be awesome if they had a family of units that would support interchangable cards that would support only requiring one subscription, I just can't see having one in the car, and one in the home, with different subscriptions for both, as I can only listen to one at a time.
Worlds' worst customer service, though. I found the only way to get through to the XM people is to always treat any issue requiring a contact call as a "new activation." Trying any of the other options is a waste of time. If there's ever a complaint, forget it, they'll do nothing.
"It would be awesome if they had a family of units that would support interchangable cards that would support only requiring one subscription, I just can't see having one in the car, and one in the home, with different subscriptions for both, as I can only listen to one at a time."They did design some of the hardware that way - it's just that you are being punished for buying a more elegant solution for your car. I think you have a legitimate complaint since you shouldn't be penalized for not wanting to mount a big grey brick on your dash with the associated clumsy wiring.
My only real frustration with the SkyFi is that it won't remember that it was turned on when the power was cut, so every time you start your car, you are forced to hit the power button on XM - not a big deal, but annoying nonetheless.
-Pete
Yep, and thanks! You've actually triggered a thought process for me:Say I were to go out and buy a pair of identical XM Tuners - ie, the Polk, and I tore into the case of the one slated to go into the car, and miniaturized it way on down, and disabled the things I didn't like, like the video out, and perhaps even the digital out, and made up a 12 volt adaptor of some sort. Then, lets say I could get crafty, and I could find the chip that holds the activation data, and then figure out a way to socket it so that it would be easily removable, much the same as a "SIM" card on a cell phone, so I could swap it between the two units. A fair ammount of work, but it might be worth it in the long run, as well as enabling me to tweak both units at the same time.
Whaddya think?
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