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HD Radio: Is it worth it?

#1
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6/4/08 at 5:16pm
  • Joined: May 2008
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I have seen at least one HD Radio receiver available as a home theater addition. For the folks who have HD Radio, is it worth it? Is the audio quality better? Are the additional channels useful?
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#2
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6/4/08 at 8:11pm
  • Joined: August 2000
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Re: HD Radio: Is it worth it?

As long as there are commercials, it is not worth it to me. XM has a playlist that is deep enough and the music quality is adequate for me. If I want to do critical listening, I'll break out my CD collection.

-Robert
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#3
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6/4/08 at 9:02pm
  • Joined: June 2000
  • Location: Colorado
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Re: HD Radio: Is it worth it?

Of course, XM and HD radio are two completely different things. HD is free, thus the commercials. So, the comparison is rather pointless. It's like saying OTA HD broadcasts aren't "worth it" because you pay for commercial free HD satellite movie channels.

I'm also curious about HD. I've been wanting to get a mp3 CD deck for my car. Might as well get one with an HD tuner.


They flutter behind you, your possible pasts.
Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost.
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#4
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6/5/08 at 5:47pm
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Re: HD Radio: Is it worth it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnRice
I'm also curious about HD. I've been wanting to get a mp3 CD deck for my car. Might as well get one with an HD tuner.
I recently upgraded the 15 year old Pioneer CD player in my car with a Pioneer DEH-6000UB. I thought about going with a deck that had HD radio built in but the 6000 had all of the features I needed. Aux in for my XM SkyFi2, MP3/WMA playback via CD and the best - a USB port. It has native control of an iPod but I use it with a high capacity SD card reader and use a few 4GB memory cards I picked up for about $10 each. With my CD collection ripped to WMA at 320kbps, I can get 40+ complete CD's on each memory card.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

-Robert
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#5
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6/5/08 at 6:42pm
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Re: HD Radio: Is it worth it?

Thanks Robert. I rarely drive. Maybe 2,000 miles a year. I had a nice system put in the car when I bought it 14 years ago. I just want a new head unit that can play regular and mp3 CDs. The only other requirement I have is front/back pre-outs for the external amp. HD radio seems like a reasonable feature as well.


They flutter behind you, your possible pasts.
Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost.
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#6
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6/6/08 at 9:25am
  • Joined: April 2007
  • Location: las vegas
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Re: HD Radio: Is it worth it?

Quote:
is it worth it?
Probably. I've enjoyed playing around with it,,,

Quote:
Is the audio quality better?

Oh yeah - on my setup it sounds much better than regular radio broadcasts

Quote:
Are the additional channels useful?
Now there's where I have a problem - the channels available are limited, at least for now anyway. I like smooth jazz are there are no jazz HD Radio broadcasts in my area. But the websites where I get the channel info all say they will be adding new channels. So I guess in the future there will be more channels offered. It's usually news, classical, hispanic, talk, 80s, 70s etc., country, classic, dance, urban, alternative (just to list what I see most often ). ibiquity.com seems to have the most comprehensive station listings by city.

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