spoonman3z

So I've had my car for a little over a week and the XM radio sound quality is driving me nuts. It sounds like I'm listening to a poor-quality MP3 file, maybe something equivalent to 96kb or worse. This is especially true when listening to talk radio; the AM stations sound better! The issue is also noticeable with music, but less so.

I'm going to have the dealer take a look at it at the 1,000 mile service, but was wondering if anyone else had similar issues. I searched the forum and found that some dealers install XM via an FM modulator as opposed to hard-wire; do you think this could be the case with a 2008 model IS?

Anyway, any help or feedback would be appreciated - it makes me not want to renew my subscription!

samsonpwnz

I have an aftermarked Sirius sat radio installed with my head unit , and can tell you that satellite just plain doesnt sound as good as other mediums, such as CD or an ipod. Their codec/compression methods are designed to fit alot of channels on a limited amount of bandwidth. I notice this especially on the talk channels. I have heard that they purposely lower the bitrate on those channels since there is no music anyway so they can conserve said bandwidth. As far as I know this is just the way sat radio is. It is certainly no better than an mp3 playing.

Robert_J

How do you select XM from your head unit? Is there a SAT button? If so, then it is hard wired and no FM modulator is used. As for the sound quality, are you listening to the talk channels? Then yes, they sound like crap and there's nothing you can do but complain to XM.

I agree with your talk channels - see above. I also agree that CD sounds better. It should. It's a 44.1K sampling rate as opposed to 96kbs to 128kbs for the satellite. Better than iPod quality is debatable as iPods and other compressed media can use different bit rates. I make WMA CDs to play in my ES-350 and they sound much better than satellite. I can still tell they are not the CD when parked. When moving, road noise makes telling the difference much more difficult. I use Easy CD DA Audio Extractor with Windows Media 10 CODEC and 320kbps rate.

-Robert

spoonman3z

I can select XM from either the SAT button in the dash, the nav unit screen or flipping through bands via the steering wheel. Yes, the problem is bad with the talk channels especially - music is tolerable just not great. 128kbs is usually the lowest I can tolerate and the talk sound is noticeable worse.

I'll keep listening and see if I can't get over it!

db6

the music through my ipod and vaistech through a non - ML system is much, much better

5sp_jzz30

iTrader: (2)

i have xm tuner box that was made in 2004 by alpine and i have an alpine cda-7998 head unit. direct connect via Ai-net data cable. the sound quality is actually pretty good. when i burn cd's they do sound better though. my xm sounds a lot better then any fm/am that i get. i dont listen to talk radio so i cant comment on that quality.

KeysRx300

I have the factory installed XM module on my RX350. And the sound I recieve is the smae as the XM Roady I had in my 300. The sound is ok. But has a low sound level. With this unit there is no way to adjut the sound level like I did on my Roady.

On another note. I am just about to get rid of my service. Not because of the sound. But because all the do is talk all the time on the music channels. I can understand hearing XM commercials on the talk or TV channels. But on the music ones. It should be just like your IPod. Song after song after song. Not XM commecials. Or hearing the tour dates of bands. They dont need to tell me who just sang the song. If I wanted to know. I would have looked at the display.