Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Ideas on 31'L x 23'W room for fronts, 7.1 backs

DirecTV provides dozens of XM stations with most packages. I am a big fan of DTV in general, but I think the XM content sounds horrible. Pandora (and other internet radio streams) sounds better to me.

I occasionally listen to Sirius/XM through Dish Network that's piped through my Axioms. SQ depends on the channel, but I find it generally acceptable for 'background' music. At least on par with Pandora, anyway.

I also have a standalone XM receiver that I use in the car and at work. I listen to the XM receiver for several hours every day while I work, and I've been an XM customer for almost 5 years now.

Rule #1 of satellite radio is that SQ varies greatly from channel-to-channel. Some channels are just more popular and thus get more bandwidth. I know that XM/Sirius constantly adjusts the bitrates on their channels to provide the 'best' overall level of service. Sometimes channel quality even varies from song-to-song, depending on how their system processes it. Over on the XMFanclub forum, you'll find endless debate over SQ changes.

For instance, I listen to a lot of XM Pops at work. That channel sounds consistently fine to me. It's clearly not 'CD quality', but I'd rate its SQ as about on par with a 128kbs MP3 file. Definitely 'pleasant enough' for me. But other channels sound far worse. Some of the less-popular channels sound like 64kbs MP3's and IMHO aren't enjoyable to listen to.

But it can even vary from song-to-song. Other channels I sometimes listen to include Watercolors, XM Chill, and 'Frank's Place'. Those channels tend to vary a lot more. Some songs are fine. Actually quite good sometimes. But others sound awful, with lots of digital compression.

Very informative, Peter. Thank You!

We have three portable tuners 2 Roady2's and an older Roady. One stays in my wifes car, one alternates between my car and my computer sound system, and the third After posting the question yesterday, later that day I remembered when I first set my (pretty nice) boat up to accept one of the portable units, the sound was just very thin. Like you say Chris, I could hear there was a lot of sound just missing. I had forgotten about that, duh.

I mostly like XM for political talk shows (167 ;o) and music in cars. I listen to it in hose some times, but justas background music and not that much. I have not used my Sony 10 disc changer for a loong time. BUT, looking thru my CD's to pick some demo material out and buying Brothers in Arms & Dave Matthews Live at RC, I changed! I listened to Brother's on the way home and I was rockin out! I had forgotten how much I liked music. Weird, I know.

My home speakers, after moving the Cornwalls out were small bookshelves, so no big sound draw there. NOW I am looking forward to listening to CD quality music when I get my new Axioms. A longer story there as you know Chris. ;o)
Thanks, guys.

Dave