HD Radio - sound quality? ('14 BRZ)

[Deathalo]

Originally Posted by Boxer486

HD Radio has better clarity but it's also low rez. It's a compressed format and the degree of compression is up to the radio station. The original HD Radio demos I heard were fantastic but it seems the current implementation is a shell of what it once was capable of.

See, I think this is spot on, some of my stations sound horribly compressed, while others, like my local sports talk or jazz/big band stations sound incredible (specifically the jazz/big band station, they really care about musical clarity), so I guess I can just blame the other shitty stations for sending out 96 kbps or lower crap.

[SirBrass]

That's b/c the radio stations don't want to use better quality source audio for the HD over the regular, but instead use the same crap compression for the source for HD as they do for FM.

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[Mikem53]

Originally Posted by Boxer486

HD Radio has better clarity but it's also low rez. It's a compressed format and the degree of compression is up to the radio station. The original HD Radio demos I heard were fantastic but it seems the current implementation is a shell of what it once was capable of.

I agree.. HD out of the Bespoke can make your ears bleed. It sounds like 1's and 0's are being thrown at you.. Worst digital signature I ever heard..
I need to stick a CD in the player and see what it sounds like.. Haven't used it yet, after 10 months now. Too busy listening to this cars many noises most of the time...

[Boxer486]

Originally Posted by Mikem53

I agree.. HD out of the Bespoke can make your ears bleed. It sounds like 1's and 0's are being thrown at you.. Worst digital signature I ever heard..
I need to stick a CD in the player and see what it sounds like.. Haven't used it yet, after 10 months now. Too busy listening to this cars many noises most of the time...

CD sounds waaay better! I thought the headunit sucked because I was listening to HD radio so much, then popped in a CD into the new Pioneers for late '13/'14, so much better.

[MysteryMachine]

Update: I had the wrong flash on my OEM Audio Plus which was making it worse. I now have the correct flash - HD radio is at least not physically painful now but its still a big fat disappointment. (not OEMAudio's fault - CDs sound amazing)

[nocturne1]

Hmmmm. This "wrong flash" thing concerns me. How he heck are we supposed to know if ours is flashed right?

[MysteryMachine]

Originally Posted by nocturne1

Hmmmm. This "wrong flash" thing concerns me. How he heck are we supposed to know if ours is flashed right?

I've only seen one other person post that had a wrong flash. I'd say if you get your oemaudio plus and something doesn't sound right even on CDs to email or call them. There are tons of posts here thrilled with the system (as am I now with the correct flash) and their customer service is amazing.

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[DoomsdayJesus]

Off topic: Anyone else not getting HD on AM radio too or is it just my local selection of stations?