DAT-heads Digest #533, Volume #7 Tue, 5 Jul 05 15:50:00 EDT Contents: RE: XM radio - how does it compare to FM? ("fluffhead") XM radio - how does it compare to FM? ("Martin Klingmeyer") Anyone taping Green River Fest ("Jim Kelly") ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "fluffhead" Subject: RE: XM radio - how does it compare to FM? Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 16:33:01 -0700 There was a lot of discussion of this in another group that I am a member of. After a bit of research the mods came to the conclusion that for XM broadcasts virtually every channel uses MPEG1 Layer2 for their audio-usually @224kb/s. Keeping in mind the 224 is the max rate and any broadcast could be lower at any given time. Stay Kind, Dana ------------------------------ From: "Martin Klingmeyer" Subject: XM radio - how does it compare to FM? Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2005 07:28:24 -0400 I think some of the other comments are unreasonably harsh in regard to the quality of XM. 1. Yes the programming is compressed. However I do not find it terribly troublesome. I do not consider my car a critical listening area; with the poor acoustics, road noise, and Amish buggies dodge, I can't really say the artifacts are bothersome. I admit sometimes the BBC and traffic channels are austere, but the music is pretty good. 2. If you are the kind of person who gets an XM radio, wires it up with gold connectors and Monster cable to your $200,000 custom home theatre to compare it to a SACD gold reference CD, you have entirely too much time and money on your hands. Consider getting some friends. 3. I have heard live recordings with the finest of microphones, and if this is the holy grail to which we should benchmark XM, we are misleading ourselves (I think we mislead ourselves about the finest of equipment too). Personally I prefer a professionally produced live show with associated XM digital artifacts rather than (a) phase problems associated with improper positioning; and (b) a drunk yelling in the left channel for 72 minutes. 4. Bottom line, for a $48 investment in the unit, and a $12.95 (or lower) fee XM is AMAZING. Despite the compression and unpublished specs, U2 still sounds like U2, and Al Dimeola sounds like Al. It is worth it alone just to be free of mindless "jocks" screaming at you, inane morning show, endless commercials, and over compressed/processed audio which I find more offensive than minimal digital artifacts. Plus you have assess to shows to which you would not normally have access. I strongly recommend it if you are a person with the kind of constitution that enjoys something for what it is, rather than what something can never possibly be. -M ------------------------------ From: "Jim Kelly" Subject: Anyone taping Green River Fest Date: Tue, 05 Jul 2005 15:32:48 -0400 If anyone is planning to tape the Green River Fest in Greenfield, MA later this month, please get in touch. I can't go due to a commitment to go to a wedding, but a few of my favoirties are going to be there (Steve Earle, Buddy Miller and Redbird, among others) so I would greatly appreciate some copies of tapes if anyone will be covering this. Stealth would be required as these guys are all taper unfriendly as far as I know (Buddy sure is!). Thanks, Jim ------------------------------ ** FOR YOUR REFERENCE ** To unsubscribe from this digest, please send email to dat-heads-unsubscribe@datheads.phish.net If your email address has changed, you may (optionally) send the message to dat-heads-unsubscribe-oldaddress=olddomain@datheads.phish.net and the old address will be removed. Problems or questions about a subscription should be addressed via these avenues and then if needed to dat-heads-owner@datheads.phish.net or postmaster@datheads.phish.net never the list itself You can submit a message for inclusion in the next digest via this address: Internet: dat-heads@datheads.phish.net Archives of DAT-Heads digests and related files are available on the DAT-Heads home page: http://www.solorb.com/dat-heads/ End of DAT-Heads Digest ******************************