HD, XM, or Sirrius? Options

[Eddy]

I love my Pioneer head unit. It has a built in crossover and all kinds of features. But, the display is green/white (clashes with my red gauges) and it's getting a little long in the tooth (I've had it 5 years now).

I'm looking into possibly getting a new head unit. My current one is XM ready, so I could just get the XM box thing that hooks into it. I have XM stations on my satellite TV and it's OK. I know nothing about Sirrius. Is HD radio worth a damn? I've never heard it.

If I get a new head unit, it will be either XM or Sirrius ready so I can control everything through it and not have an extra screen/remote for the sat. radio.

What are pros-cons of XM vs. Sirrius? Anybody have a preference? And why?

Should I go ahead and get one that has HD radio too?

[BigBadLou]

Can't answer your sat radio questions, sorry.
But HD radio is nothing but a big scam again. They are trying to pull as much money out of people's pockets as they can. So they invented HD radio.
It's the same switch as with the HD TV. You get a higher-resolution signal but it's again using digital compression. So if you go around a hill, you don't hear a little bit of static, you simply lose the station.
And why is it a hype? Because a regular untrained ear doesn't care about quality higher than of CDs. So if you get double the quality with HD radio, you're not hearing anything better. You might be LISTENING to a better sound but you won't be HEARING it.
But on the other hand, with high digital compression, there might be significant loss in the quality (like MP3's that everybody's bashing) so all in all, you're back down to the analog quality. But that's only my speculation.

Ugh, off the soapbox now.
Lou

[Eddy]

I thought HD radio was extra stations.....kinda like FREE sat. radio.

[TexasSilhouette]

I have XM and I hardly listen to regular radio anymore. Lots of commercial free music stations means there is almost always something good to listen to. When there isn't any tunes, the comedy channels are nice unless you hit one of the commercial marathons. What really sucks is you are paying to listen to commercials. And they are aural spam, viagra, cialis, get rich quick, hypnosis cds, etc., all the same junk you have to delete out of your inbox.

I have a portable radio so I can move it from car to car or use it in my house. Included in my subscription cost is access to the XM radio via internet which allows me to listen from work and home. I can also listen on my smartphone over my bluetooth headphones if I choose to.

XM Bought Sirrius, I don't know how that will effect the two line ups.

Local radio sucks, one or two good tunes then crap and commercials. I don't have XD but as I understand it, it's more of the same. I'm sure at some point there will be a mandated all digital radio as they are doing to TV next year.

[BigBadLou]

I thought HD radio was extra stations.....kinda like FREE sat. radio.

HD radio is only a TECHNOLOGY upgrade from analog to digital broadcasting, exactly like with the digital TV broadcast. Not content upgrade.
True, they claim they have a few more stations but I can't tell you whether it's true or not. You'd have to ask somebody who has fallen for this HD scam.
It's the SAME local radio stations with commercials, you just pay hundreds of dollars in new radio equipment to listen to them.

Hey Wayne, I thought satellite radio was supposed to be completely commercial free. At least that's what they claim in their commercials.

Lou

[TexasSilhouette]

Hey Wayne, I thought satellite radio was supposed to be completely commercial free. At least that's what they claim in their commercials.

Lou

They try real hard to give that impression, but they lie. Not only are there commercials (on the talk stations); they are bad commercials and you pay to listen to them.

[BigBadLou]

Well, that's not that bad then, it's not like anybody really listens to talk stations. Afterall, why do people turn on the radio? To hear MUSIC!!

Lou

[TexasSilhouette]

Well, that's not that bad then, it's not like anybody really listens to talk stations. Afterall, why do people turn on the radio? To hear MUSIC!!

Lou

I really like the comedy channels - the commercials.

[Eddy]

Now that I think about it, I'm probably going to get one of those add on sat. radios. The one that has a dock and you can just pop in/out the controller so you can use it as a Walkman or take it in the house and put it in another dock to play through the stereo in the house. I just have to figure out where to mount it in the car so it wont be in the way or easily visible to thieves, but easily controlled from the driver seat. I really don't want to have to drill any holes in my interior. I have to design/make a mounting bracket that mounts to existing screws in the car......that should be fun.

[talanthalus]

I have been told in the past, that it isn't worth buying equipment for Sirius, because with XM buying them out, all of the non-XM hardware will likely become obsolete, and Sirius customers will have to replace their hardware with XM compatibile.

I had Sirius for a while. I liked the stations I had access to with music I didn't usually get to hear, and with the subscription, you can hear the same broadcasting over the computer (and whatever you can attach it to). We paid $9.95 for the radio with its own FM transmitter and everything at the Texas Heat Wave car show last year, and if I were going to start paying for the subscription again, I would go with a better radio. The cheap one was good to get a sample without paying a lot, but it definitely isn't great for music quality.

[talanthalus]

...on another note...

The problem with MP3s isn't so much the format or the compression, but the fact that most people completely screw up the ripping and compression process for one reason or another...

On one hand, people who rip / compress their own don't really understand what they are doing when setting bitrates, volume adjustments, etc. For this reason, over the years, I have ended up with some really crappy rips along the way when I have actually downloaded from other sources.

On the other hand, part of the huge bonus of MP3 is compressing the file to make it faster to download, stream, and allowing more music to be stored on the media / device being used. I find it amusing when I hear an ad for something in terms of "Store up to xxxx thousand songs..." Sure, but that may be at 128 bit or lower...or people can use variable bit rate with a little more success, but it still isn't exactly perfect.

Friends of mine and I did a LOT of ripping, compressing, experimenting, re-ripping, recompressing, etc., back in the 90s before most people had ever heard of MP3s or gave a damn, and after much work (very time consuming then), we finally decided it was worth more to pay for extra hard drive space for the well over 2000 CDs we ripped and compressed, than it was to give up sound quality trying to fit as many MP3s on a drive or CD as possible. Of course, it is a huge difference when you're playing the music on a really nice stereo you've put a lot of money into vs through some headphones on an MP3 compatible device. Most lower bit-rates trash the high frequency sounds such as symbols due to artifacting.

As much as I like the idea of paying for a song here and there to download, I still notice the difference between an iTunes file and one I have pulled directly from a CD myself, so I still buy the CDs and create my own rips. It is worth the extra money in the long run...

[BudlyUSA]

I just bought a Jensen 140W cd/hd radio unit.

It has cables for XM and Sirius controllers built in(also came with Apple Ipod cables).
It also has a USB on the front face. I plug in a flash stick and can listen to 100 songs.

I only spent $120 or so.

I am a current XM subscriber and have always loved the service.
Boneyard 80's hair bands, XLM Liquid metal, Deep Tracks all good.
I have 3 xm receivers. I really miss nascar though.

[TexasSilhouette]

I really miss nascar though.

Yea, NASCAR went to the Dog Star, then XM bought them..

Wonder if it will come back...

[BudlyUSA]

Yea, NASCAR went to the Dog Star, then XM bought them..

Wonder if it will come back...

I miss the nascar car radio talk, sometimes it's very interesting

[kewl_blades]

I just got a sirrius tunner for my bday and love it.
I just need a direct input for the deck so I don't have to listen to the crackle of the FM modulator.

[champnesupernva]

i know im new, but i used to run a car audio store up here in dallas. i personally prefer sirius. they seem to have more channels to my personal liking. on top of that, i heard they were working sirius tv for the car. i dunno though....

i pretty much just use my ipod, its not worth (to me) paying money to hear songs i dont like, when i have 21+ gig of music that i like at my finger tips. alpine has some GREAT models for around $200 that have 3 pre outs, and ipod control from the radio....

my $.02