Quote Originally Posted by JeffKnob
Maybe it is just me but my Sirius radio in my car doesn't sound like CD quality. It sounds more like a 96kbps mp3. I have a roadmate that runs through my cd changer inputs. Is there much of a difference in quality between Sirius tuners? I would want to know if I will hear a difference before purchasing a new unit.
I am guessing that a little dash-board player is just not going to have the sound one gets from a well engineered component. For those of us used to 25lb. boxes with quality capacitors and power reserves, a little computer-chip-based plastic box the size of an iPod is just not going to cut it. Interestingly, there is a huge market for products that take as much of the processing out of the iPod: external speakers, remotes, better headphones, etc. This tells me that small & portable is only of interest to on-the-go folks and that they are still looking for any way to improve the sound of these mediocre devices. I am actually surprised that the market for XM & Sirius accessories is still so much smaller than the iPod accessories craze.

With satellite radio, the best I've heard is the Polk XRt12 receiver (I don't know if there's a comparably well designed unit on the Sirius side). We compared it to the Roady and it was strikingly better - not quite CD quality, but definitly better than 128Kb mp3's. We also had it plugged into a very good DAC to try and off-load as much of the processing to better components. Ironically this was the first time that I had something else beside a disk player plugged into my DAC, so there may yet be a future for these components too - one can only hope.

But before HD radio grows up to hi-fi, I agree that it first has to be initiated in the on-the-road market. In cars, the commercial-free simulcasts is probably the most appealing feature. I hardly listen to commercial radio anymore because of the constant interruptions. Public radio stations like KUCI & KPFK here in LA are obvious exceptions, but they have no funds to go digital. Have any of the major car-manufacturers said anything about HD radio?

And what has iBiquity been up to lately? If someone could just put some fire under their pants....