Is HD worth it

[KlassikKountry]

Before I buy an HD receiver I have a few questions, how is the overall sound. I know MC/DMX have great stereo separation and sound, I run it through my home stereo from my cable box and they sound fabulous. My Satellite service XM does not sound as good, the stereo separation and overall clarity is not as good as the cable music outlets. Over the air reception is OK with most signals, I am a nut over stereo separation, I enjoy the channels broken down, especially on the 50's, 60's and early 70's tunes. My question is, how is the quality of HD broadcasts and the side bands, is the separation good and overall sound. Is the strength the same as the main FM signal, for instance, would the side bands of WJJZ carry as far as the main 106.1 Jazz format signal, that you can receive on your typical FM receiver, so on and so forth. Can I listen to Alternative on WYSP's side band and take it all the way to the shore, the same as the main signal. To sum it up, is HD worth it, the Boston HD ads are popping up all over the place, and it sounds impressive that you don't have to pay for a greater variety of formats like you do for Satellite and cable, and its still good old radio, portable and all that.

 

[JerseyShor]

> My Satellite service
> XM does not sound as good, the stereo separation and overall
> clarity is not as good as the cable music outlets.

What kind of receiver are you using.

Receivers that use FM modulators (MyFi/Roady/SkyFi) have horrible sound quality.

The XM SkyBox has about averge sound quality in my experience.

However for the BEST XM sound quality, nothing can beat an Alpine head unit.

 

[PirateJim]

> > My Satellite service
> > XM does not sound as good, the stereo separation and
> overall
> > clarity is not as good as the cable music outlets.
>
> What kind of receiver are you using.
>
> Receivers that use FM modulators (MyFi/Roady/SkyFi) have
> horrible sound quality.
>
> The XM SkyBox has about averge sound quality in my
> experience.
>
> However for the BEST XM sound quality, nothing can beat an
> Alpine head unit.
>

I think he was talking about the XM channels over DirecTV ...<P ID="signature">______________


New Jersey Radio Board moderator
</P>

 

[westlife]

No.

<P ID="signature">______________
It's a common mistake to not use punctuation in its proper form.
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/its.html>Be kind to your friend, the apostrophe.</a></P>

 

[Radio411]

> To sum it up, is HD worth it,
> the Boston HD ads are popping up all over the place, and it
> sounds impressive that you don't have to pay for a greater
> variety of formats like you do for Satellite and cable, and
> its still good old radio, portable and all that.
>

Well I shelled out a few hudred bucks on a new stereo and receiver for my car that I actually installed myself (just had to say that...I am still proud of myself to this day LOL) and when the HD signal kicks in it really is Clear and Crisp and I would most definitely agree that it equals CD quality sound. But I found out for certain that the HD signals carry far less than their counterparts. None-the-less in terms of HD for the car the only annoyance and pitfall that I have encountered so far is the HD signal fighting with the analog signal, thus causing some "skipping and fading" with certain songs. Aside from that, I know this is tertiary, but I would like to see more stations such as CBS Radio, scroll the Artist/Song info like Clear Channel outlets do!

All in all for me and to quell my curiosity, I DO feel as though it was money well spent. I am actually looking forward to already replacing my Kenwood receiver with an HD-2 one when they are available. Being in radio myself, I think it is a fantastic way for terrestrial radio to compete...

Just my Opinion!