XM Radio

[Darkanion]

I don't have it. I just push the seek button, and listen to another station.

There are choices!?? Mine always says "CD"..!??

 

[OldCracker29]

I don't have it. I just push the seek button, and listen to another station.

There are choices!?? Mine always says "CD"..!??

Yep, there is always that option to.

 

[User5543]

I've actually had a few friends, young and old, listen to a CD then back to XM, and back to CD again. And regardless of age, some people just honestly can't tell the difference. To me, it's a night/day difference.

That's how I was on my first road trip in the SD.. I listened to XM for a while, kept fiddling with the audio settings, trying to make it sound better, and then I went back to a CD I had just bought... "What the...???" I flipped back to XM.. back to the CD.. "F' that! I ain't paying for that sound quality! At least now I know it's not 'the crummy Bose speakers'!"

Some channels seemed to sound better than others.. But, those weren't the channels I wanted to listen to..

Yeah, XM did kind of improve the audio quality a few years ago with some of the channels. But it was very minor and nowhere near CD. And because of the compression, in some cases FM actually sounds better.

But you will note if you browse the XM website, you don't see much about audio quality other than "no static" and it's "clear."

Also another point I do bring up often, is that in most cases, the better stereo you have, the worse low quality sources are going to sound. Some do have really good EQ's and DSP's that can help. But you can only do so much with it. And as well all know, that is a weak point for Bose.

But... give it a good source, and it actually sounds fairly descent.

 

[Zembonez]

Much like anything else, you are going to have the masses who think more is always better (MP3 players for example). These are the quantity over quality thinkers and there are a LOT of them. Some will even argue that their iPod is hifi.

Then you have the small group that believes quality is paramount.

I Like quality. I'm used to fairly high end home audio and I Like high quality sound reproduction. Very little in the way of OEM car audio sounds anywhere near great to me. I have heard some that sounded pretty good... but there was a lot of room for improvement. Bose systems are the most over-hyped mediocre systems around IMHO.

 

[User5543]

Much like anything else, you are going to have the masses who think more is always better (MP3 players for example). These are the quantity over quality thinkers and there are a LOT of them. Some will even argue that their iPod is hifi.

Then you have the small group that believes quality is paramount.

I Like quality. I'm used to fairly high end home audio and I Like high quality sound reproduction. Very little in the way of OEM car audio sounds anywhere near great to me. I have heard some that sounded pretty good... but there was a lot of room for improvement. Bose systems are the most over-hyped mediocre systems around IMHO.

Well, when it comes to Bose, their quality is all over the place. I remember my first Bose system in my Grand Prix. It was pretty horrible. No EQ adjustment, flat sounding, no bass, no treble, etc. Based on that experience I'd never touch anything with Bose on it.

But move over to the new CTS, for example, and it changes everything. Throw in a DVD Audio disc with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound and you'd never think of Bose the same way again. Yet they still put their name on systems in other vehicles that sound pretty bad.

As for the SD, I'd say it's definitely above average and better than it was in previous trucks - IF you have a good source; but certainly not the best they can do.

I think they need different levels or "models" so people know what they are getting when they see that Bose logo on their stereo. The price they paid is kind of a good indicator, but clearly not good enough. That would go a long way towards helping their reputation.