MY Stock Radio XM Sucks, How's Yours?

[Nickm11]

2013 Altima SV stock radio

I've talked to Nissan and XM, but yet to take the car in to the dealer to have the radio checked. It's 25 miles away.

The MP3's on my USB stick sound great, the FM isnt great, but acceptable.

The music on XM is almost totally mono coming out my center speaker.

My question to you is, how does your XM music sound in comparison to USB and FM?

[VandyZ]

My XM is not great either. When i had it before in another car it went through an FM modulator and i swear that sounded better. I think between the addition of stations and the merger of XM and Sirius that the quality has gone down hill.

[Nickm11]

Originally Posted by VandyZ

I think between the addition of stations and the merger of XM and Sirius that the quality has gone down hill.

I think it has to do with the design of the radio!

[whozplaying]

I have an SL and I don't care for what seems like everything coming from the center speaker on the top of the dash. No stereo separation

[LMK5]

In my SV I'd say the sound from XM sounds equal to or better than FM, but not as good as CD. I haven't tried the USB yet.

I have noticed that the volume is lower for XM stations than it is for FM.

[d cleve]

Originally Posted by whozplaying

I have an SL and I don't care for what seems like everything coming from the center speaker on the top of the dash. No stereo separation

Do you have the bose sys. there might be a ajustment for the center speaker if it's not the bose sys. you don't have a center speaker.

[flipn0tic]

I haven't noticed any difference in sound quality. I'm no audiophile though. The only thing I've noticed is that it is about 8 notches lower in volume than the FM/AM radios. When I switch from XM to FM, I have to remember to quickly turn down the volume or my speakers will be blasting.

[CHiP]

Here is the reason for the poor sound quality. I took Wallybear's quote from this thread:

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/201...-features.html

Originally Posted by Wallybear

The sound quality of XM has to do with the bandwidth available to transmit all those channels. The satellites compress all the channels into one signal that is then decoded by the radio hardware in the car.

The fact that you can hear the difference in quality (expressed as dynamic range, or "depth" of sound...like the difference between AM and FM) is due to the high-quality of the speakers and amps in the Bose system (particularly). In other words, XM and AM sound pretty "flat" compared to FM and CD and streaming over 4G.

They (meaning the XM folks) have no "intention" of improving the overall quality of their signal because they actually want to have more channels, not better quality. They will, however, do what satellite TV does: compress some channels more than others. For example, the comedy channels (with little need for a wide dynamic range) will be compressed more than the most popular music channels.

I hope this info helps you to understand what XM is, and isn't.

Peace.

[whozplaying]

Originally Posted by d cleve

Do you have the bose sys. there might be a ajustment for the center speaker if it's not the bose sys. you don't have a center speaker.

I have the bose and I don't see a center speaker adjustment

[Nickm11]

Originally Posted by CHiP

Here is the reason for the poor sound quality. I took Wallybear's quote from this thread:

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/201...-features.html

So your saying the problem is XM not the radio? It seems to me Nissan should have given us a radio that decodes better.

[charger57]

The sound quality in my SV (no Bose) isn't terrible, but the XM is noticeably quieter than the other sources.

[CHiP]

^ Yeah, same here.

Originally Posted by Wallybear

The sound quality of XM is lower than any other input available in the car except AM. FM is much better. CD is great of course (especially in the Bose-equipped cars) and streaming Bluetooth over 4G (not 3G) is superb (especially the Songza service).

When I switch between sources (ie-iPod, FM radio, CD), XM has the lowest sound quality. I had to adjust my settings to where sound output is the highest with XM and reduced everything else just so they all sounded somewhat equal.

[Quantum_Mech]

Which channel are you listening to? Wikipedia claims that the maximum bitrate for an XM channel (with the exception of XM HD Surround channels) is 64kbps AAC, so I wouldn't expect high sound quality from that. I haven't done any serious tests, but in casual listening, I found that the sound quality of XM in a 2012 Lexus ES350 and a 2013 Altima is the same, and both are lower quality than broadcast FM.

So, if you're saying that XM sucks compared to FM and USB, I'd agree, and I think that's just the way XM sounds--nothing to do with the Altima radio. But if you're saying XM in the Altima sucks compared to XM in some other car, that hasn't been my experience, although my experience is very limited.

[Nickm11]

Originally Posted by Quantum_Mech

Which channel are you listening to? Wikipedia claims that the maximum bitrate for an XM channel (with the exception of XM HD Surround channels) is 64kbps AAC, so I wouldn't expect high sound quality from that. I haven't done any serious tests, but in casual listening, I found that the sound quality of XM in a 2012 Lexus ES350 and a 2013 Altima is the same, and both are lower quality than broadcast FM.

So, if you're saying that XM sucks compared to FM and USB, I'd agree, and I think that's just the way XM sounds--nothing to do with the Altima radio. But if you're saying XM in the Altima sucks compared to XM in some other car, that hasn't been my experience, although my experience is very limited.

I didnt know it was that bad. When I do mp3's for the car I do at least 224 bitrate. Perhaps your right, but someone's got to do something about the audio, it really sucks.

What are the best audio channels on XM? Is there a place to find out?

[Nickm11]

C/P from the Hydrogen Audio Forum. Posted July 15, 08

I dont know if it's the same today. Can someone please explain the numbers below?

Tried the url below, but wouldnt open

Generally speaking, I know that satellite radio sounds like garbage and Sirius sounds even worse than XM because they use an inferior audio codec (PAC instead of HE-AAC), athough the bit rates are nearly the same for both services. But sometimes I still run into people who've been hoodwinked into thinking satellite radio is good (they even find web sites that make them think Sirius sounds better than XM) and it would be nice to have an authoritative reference where I can dump the goods on just how bad it is. To that end I found a great thread over at xm411 that has the bit rates for all the XM channels on it. Here it is http://www.xm411.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=33127

and here's a reprint of the critical section:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Low Transponder High Transponder
1 XM Preview 16,384 75 Hear Music 40,960
4 The 40s 24,576 76 Fine Tuning 65,536
5 The 50s 32,768 77 Audio Visions 40,960
6 The 60s 32,768 78 Escape 40,960
7 The 70s 40,960 80 The Move 32,768
8 The 80s 40,960 81 BPM 32,768
9 The 90s 40,960 82 The System 32,768
10 America 40,960 83 Chrome 32,768
11 Nashville! cm 49,152 84 XM Chill 32,768
12 X Country 40,960 90 Fuego sp 32,768
13 Willie's Place 32,768 91 Viva sp 32,768
14 Bluegrass Juncti 32,768 92 Aguila sp 32,768
15 Folk Village 40,960 94 Caliente sp 32,768
16 Highway 16 40,960 100 Air Musique fr 32,768
17 US Country 40,960 101 The Joint 32,768
20 Top 20 on 20 40,960 102 Sur La Route fr 32,768
21 KISS cm 49,152 110 XM Classics 57,344
22 MIX cm 49,152 112 Vox! 57,344
23 The Heart 40,960 113 XM Pops 65,536
24 Sunny cm 49,152 115 Radio Disney 32,768
25 The Blend 40,960 116 XM Kids 32,768
26 Flight 26 40,960 121 Fox News 16,384
27 Cinemagic 40,960 122 CNN 16,384
28 On Broadway 40,960 123 CNN HDLN 16,384
29 U-POP 32,768 124 ABC News & Talk 16,384
30 XM Hitlist 40,960 125 Weather Channel 16,384
32 The Message 32,768 126 CNN en espanol 16,384
33 Spirit 32,768 127 CNBC 16,384
34 enLighten 32,768 129 Bloomberg News 16,384 4,096
40 Deep Tracks 40,960 131 BBC World Svc 16,384
41 xL Bone Yard 32,768 132 C-Span Radio 16,384
42 xL XMLM 32,768 133 XM Public Radio 32,768
43 XMU 32,768 140 ESPN Radio 16,384
44 Fred 32,768 141 ESPNEWS 16,384
45 XM Cafe 40,960 142 Fox Sports Radio 24,576
46 Top Tracks 40,960 144 XM Sports Nation 16,384
47 Ethel 32,768 145 IndyCar Racing 4,096 16,384
48 xL SquiZZ 32,768 146 PGA TOUR Network 4,096 16,384
49 Big Tracks 40,960 147 XM Deportivo sp 16,384
50 The Loft 40,960 150 xL XM COMEDY 24,576
52 The Verge 32,768 151 Laugh USA 16,384
53 xL Fungus 32,768 152 EXTREME XM 16,384
54 Lucy 32,768 153 xL Laugh Attack 16,384
60 Soul Street 32,768 154 National Lampoon 16,384
62 Suite 62 32,768 155 Take 5 16,384
64 The Groove 32,768 156 Oprah & Friends 24,576
65 xL The Rhyme 32,768 161 WSIX cm 40,960
66 xL RAW 32,768 162 E! 16,384
67 The City 32,768 163 Sonic Theater 16,384
68 The Heat 32,768 164 Old Time Radio 16,384
70 Real Jazz 40,960 165 Talk Radio 24,576
71 Watercolors 40,960 166 America Right 24,576
72 Beyond Jazz 40,960 167 Air America 16,384
73 High Standards 32,768 168 Fox News Talk 16,384
74 Bluesville 32,768 169 THE POWER 16,384
174 Sports Guide 0 170 FAMILYTALK 16,384
247 Emergency Alert 4,096 171 Open Road 24,576
--------- 172 Sport Plus fr 16,384
Primary Payload 2,035,712 173 WLW 700 24,576
175 MLB Home Plate 16,384
176-190 MLB pbp x 14 229,376 16,384
190 MLB en Espanol 4,096 16,384
191-199 College pbp x 9 36,864 147,456
200 XM Live 4,096 32,768
202 xL the ViRUS 32,768
204 Home Ice 16,384
205-209 NHL pbp x 5 81,920 16,384
210 Boston 4,096
211 New York City 4,096
212 Philadelphia 4,096
213 Baltimore 4,096
214 Washington DC 4,096
215 Pittsburgh 4,096
216 Detroit 4,096
217 Chicago 4,096
218 St Louis 4,096
219 Minneapolis 4,096
220 Seattle 4,096
221 San Fancsico 4,096
222 Los Angeles 4,096
223 San Diego 4,096
224 Phoenix 4,096
225 Dallas/Ft Worth 4,096
226 Houston 4,096
227 Atlanta 4,096
228 Tampa 4,096
229 Orlando 4,096
230 Miami 4,096
244 Canada 360 4,096
245 Quoi De Neuf fr 4,096
---------
Primary Payload 2,039,808

The information was obtained by ripping open a player and hooking up electrical probes.

Has anyone seen/done something like this for Sirius? I know it's a little trickier because it's supposed to be vbr, but that just means you have to work a little harder.

I'm a big advocate of internet radio and portable audio players.