I just had XM installed in my new G35. I dont have the Bose system. I had it installed by Circuit City. They did a nice clean install, but....

The audio quality is aweful! Has anyone else noticed this? It sounds like an over-compressed .mp3 ! My question is:

1. could it have been a bad install, or is all XM content highly compressed to sound horrible?

2. It doesn't go throught the SAT button, but into the FM radio. That means its being downcoverted to analog at the RF stage, right? Could this be responsible for the crappy quality? If so, how much? In other words, if i got to Infinity, and have them install it to the SAT button, how much of an improvement can i expect in sound quality?

Any help from anyone who has had experience with these issues is greatly appreciated.

 

I think that you would lose a little sound quality by using the FM modulation instead of having a direct digital signal.

With that said, I'm a little disappointed with the stock XM tuner in my coupe. The sound quality is not that great. I would rate it at somewhere between regular FM and CD's. There is no static but the richness in sound and details is just not there. When I play a CD of the same song that is coming out on XM, there is really no comparison.

 

I have also not been impressed with XM raide. I expected it to be closer to CD quality, but when i heard it the past few times in a friends car, it sounded dissapointing.

 

i suspected as much. I am going to take this crappy thing back. How can they compress their music so bad? I'm really bummed cuz they did a nice clean install and it looks sweet.

 

Huh. Mine's been just fine. Perhaps there's an install/speaker problem somewhere along the line? I've got Bose and XM, and the quality is as good as, if not better than CD quality... and I'm an audiophile.

G

2003.5 Black w/ Willow G35
Premium / Sport / Aero / Winter / Navi / Tint

 

really? that seems to be contrary to what everyone on here is saying. When i switch between CD and XM its like night and day. No midrange and really mushy. Apparently some channels are compressed more than others? What stations (#s) are you listening to that sound good?

Do you have it direct into the SAT hookup, or through RF?

 

Directly into the SAT input, and mostly 20-25 if I'm cruising around. Which are you listening to that gives you crappy reception?

G

2003.5 Black w/ Willow G35
Premium / Sport / Aero / Winter / Navi / Tint

 

I think its 65?. The rap stations. Most of the "urban" which is hiphop, as you probably know is very demanding on both base, midrange and treble. I noticed that one of the easy listening stations sounded much better...(that is so wrong in so many ways but that's a different topic

The fact you have Bose in the mix is not an issue I dont think because my stock stereo sounds decent on CDs. The XM feed sounds about 30% as good as CD. When I called circuit city the installer said "yeah, I thought same thing when i got it, but you get used to it after a while."....!!!...WTF ?

For the record, this is not a SLIGHT degration that only an audiophile / picky person would notice. Its really substantial like a 96kb .mp3 or worse.

 

Wow... the CC guy sounds like he's trying to cover his a$$. I don't listen to the rap stations much (not so into it... I like "music", go figure [img]/w3timages/icons/crazy.gif[/img]), so I've not heard any stations that give me crappy reception. When I get my car back, I'll surf around the channels and check it out.

G

2003.5 Black w/ Willow G35
Premium / Sport / Aero / Winter / Navi / Tint

 

Personally I think anything that is hooked up thru an FM modulator sounds like ***. Spend the money & go with the OEM tuner w/ direct input...trust me it will sound 100x better.

XMLM

 

Woah- didn't see that part in the original post. Yeah, if it's going through an FM modulator it's going to sound like butt, no matter what you do. That's like running S-video into a coaxial converter and expecting HDTV. Do I sound like too much of a nerd? No? Cool.

G

2003.5 Black w/ Willow G35
Premium / Sport / Aero / Winter / Navi / Tint

 

That makes alot of sense, and of course its worse, but the response from the guy at CC (and a previous post) made me think that even kept digital, it will sound crappy. Their website claims "you wont be able to tell difference between XM and a CD". That is certainly not true now.

So, how can i get it hooked up to my SAT button and kept in the digital domain? It's just an adaptor from my XM Commander to the back of the stereo, right? Do i need to go back to the dealer ? The guys at CC seemed to think so...

help! Thanks!

 

Never put "The guys at CC" and "think" in the same sentence. There's a reason these guys are bound to electronic mediocrity for the rest of their lives. XM sounds great if it's installed correctly and you have a system that's capable of letting it shine. Don't let a solitary negative post cancel out the tens of thousands of positive reactions it's received. The CC guys are blowing smoke up your behind to make you think they did they best they could (which is probably true). There are better options out there for you...

You have two options: One, find a way to use the SAT as an AUX in, and connect your current receiver. Two, buy the proprietary unit that works as a receiver for the G35, and hook it up.

Is your car pre-wired, or not? If so, you can get it all set up and installed for about $399. If not, you'll be spending more like $475 for parts, and $100-200 for labor.

G

2003.5 Black w/ Willow G35
Premium / Sport / Aero / Winter / Navi / Tint

 

OK, I'm beginning to get that its the install. The G35 is brand new and "satelite radio ready" whatever that means. It has the SAT button. I bought the Commander XM unit.

My question is: where can I go to get it PROPERLY installed? Do I have to go back to infinite?

 

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

OK, I'm beginning to get that its the install. The G35 is brand new and "satelite radio ready" whatever that means. It has the SAT button. I bought the Commander XM unit.

<hr></blockquote>
I bought my factory XM tuner online, and installed it myself. Certainly your dealer can do it, as could a good audio shop if you gave them the kit. Avoiding an FM modulater should make a big difference; but it will still not match a CD for sound quality. The real plus is not so much sound quality; (which is still quite a bit better than FM radio) but the programming. For example, we get only a few decent rock stations in the NY Metropolitan area; and there are more than a dozen on XM. Drive out into the boonies, and you could have little to no choices on FM; but you still have the same 60 commercial-free music stations on XM.

You may find that the factory display is not quite as good as the XM Commander in terms of providing information; but the factory XM tuner is really BY FAR the best way to go unless you're doing a Double DIN conversion.


04 G35s 6MT BS Aero Kit/Nav/Prem
Warning: Objects in Mirror Are Losing!