XM Radio - sound quality?

[Vince Helm]

Hey Guys,

What about the sound quality of XM? I am going into my second year with XM and it seems as if the sound quality is getting worse; very flat and dull. I am using the Polk Audio XRT 12 in the following: RCA into my Parasound C2, Optical into a Musical Fidelity X-DACv3 with tube buffer into the 7.1 front (direct path no DSP) on the C2 and SPDF into the C2. Differences yes, but over all lifeless. I really was not expecting too much from XM but I would say that regular FM radio is much better in regards to sound quality. I love the programming of XM and will never go back to FM radio for music. Also started working with Yahoo Radio. At this point I have not tried to intergrate that into the HIFI. Any thoughts?

Thanks
Vince

[Pookie007]

I also have XM. I only use it in the cars because the sound quality isn't good enough for the house. I will use it to listen to the game but not for music in the house. For in home when I need a long play list, I would rather compile a MP3 CD. I think this is much better quality than the XM. If I don’t need a long play list, I just use CDs, SACDs, or DVD Audio.

I’ve also noticed that some channels are significantly better than others. Channels 20, 21, 23 all have really strong signals. Some of the other channels aren’t nearly as dynamic.