I have the Pioneer sound system in my Cobalt SS with the sub. Compared to my last car, the sound this system puts out is pretty good for stock. Typically I listen to my Ipod which is just hooked up through the AUX jack on the front of the stereo, and its sounds great, and produces a decent amount of bass. This is also the case with the FM/AM radio and CD's, but I just recently got a free three month subscription to XM and the sound quality for that is terrible. There is absolutely no bass, and the quality is terrible.

Is anyone else running XM and having similar problems? I have messed with the eqalizer and nothing seems to help. Any ideas on how to fix this?

 

Nope XM is just slightly less than CD quality in my car...

 

for me its radio < XM < CD

Difference b/w xm and cd is slight

 

I was never happy with the sound quality of XM either...

 

exact same for me...

 

I guess I just figured there would be no difference in the quality between the different sources. It seems like FM/AM radio would have worse sound quality then XM.

 

It should. Perhaps you have an effed up radio

 

XM sounded the same as CD quality pretty much when it first came out. Now they've compressed most of the channels so they can fit more into their spectrum slot. You should notice some stations sound better than others. You can tell the talk stations are compressed to hell while the more popular ones sound the best.

 

I removed my xm receiver box so I would't be tempted to purchase it again. I like it, no doubt, but I can live without it. My 07 hemi has the infinity sound system with xm and the bass in it is very good. Who knows... *shrug*

 

Saying XM is slightly less than CD is wrong. XM is pretty horrible in sound quality. It is highly compressed. It no way is comparable to 44.1K 16-bit CD audio. Radio at max signal is like listening to an MP3 at 96 to 128 kilobits per second (kbit/s). XM falls in the 64 to 112 range. You are not buying quality. You are buying content. These are facts, sorry.

 

I"m just telling you the station I listen to have very little difference in sound quality compared to CD's. Granted I listen to the more popular channels maybe they aren't compressed as much...

 

hey man, I met you on VADriven right? Have you gotten with Steve (Stevo8) to do your springs yet?

 

Does anyone know if the stock XM Tuner is the Universal XM Tuner or is it specific for stock radios? I asked an audio shop when I was considering buying an aftermarket radio, and they said it has to be changed to still receive XM. However, I would assume the stock XM setups use the universal box so it can be installed on all of the head units no matter which model vehicle it is. Anyone that knows for sure, please let me know.

Mine has sounded great since I got my car. The only real difference I have noticed is that most of the channels have the output set at equal and it won't bass as hard on some songs as it does on a station that is programmed for that format of song. However, overall it has little difference over cds.

 

You have to remember that sound quality and bass output also depends on the station. XM 67 and 68 have some pretty serious bass output.......as well as some of the techno stations. I mainly listen to XM47 (Squizz) new rock/metal.

 

Yeah, that me. No, I haven't gotten with him to do the springs yet. I am going to wait a little bit, I want to get some stuff checked out that is still under warranty before I put them on. I have a very slight knock in my steering and I have some vibration in my steering so I am going to get all of that taken care of before I put the springs on.



Thanks for all the response about the XM. I guess it does make sense the quality would be worse due to compression, just didn't think I would notice it as much as I do.

 

gotcha.