Sound quality of XM radio Direct TV vs standalone


How good is the sound quality of XM radio? I have it on my Direct TV and run it thru my Creek integrated and decent speakers. It sounds just "ok" not anything special. Are the sonics better (much better?) with a regular stand alone subscription for the full XM service and using, say, a Polk XM tuner? If it's not much better, I don't think I'll pay the additional cost even though I would get twice the number of music channel offerings. Any help here? Thanks.
bmatth3790
Anyone have experience with the Delphi XM SKYFi2? I would mostly want XM at home, as I'm only in the car too and from work. This radio model supposedly works well with stereo system and in car.

You'd have to buy the optional home kit for that radio. Another optino is one of the XM2Go models which come with both a home and a car kit, and can digitally store up to 5 hours of programming for you to listen back through. I got one of these for my Wife this Xmas. As I said earlier, it works OK, but it's nothing I'd want to count on to actually sit down an listen to music. For walking around, and music in the car, or news, comedy, talk shows, it's just fine. It also can be listened to like a walkman, but in that respect it does not work well - there it depends on its internal antenna and it will cut in and out depending on where you are. In a car the you can either use it with the line-output, or using the FM modulator, or it also comes with one of those cassete tape substitutes to play it through the cassette. The Delphi you mention looks allot better, IMO, uses an FM modulator and external antenna. They were all on heavy sale around Xmas...may still be. Can't really comment on the Delphi reception except to say that it seemed to have very good reviews when I researched it. The advantages of the XM2Go, were the much longer recording time (handy if you can't be there for your Dylan show - though I'm sure that quality goes down even further), and that the kit had everything you need in it for what came to less money. Also it seemed easier (bulkier) to manipulate all the controls.

Marco
Marco... thanks for that excellent response and great comments! I'll keep this in mind as I do further research. Best wishes.
I don't have any experiance with Direct TV but, I got the Polk receiver for Christmas and activated it about the second week of January. I had been using a Roady 2 both in my car and at home using the analog out to the pre amp. The sound from the Roady was OK for casual listening but definitely not CD or even FM quality. Of course I live in the mountains of Southern California and even with about 100 FM stations around the reception up here sucks, so FM is not really an option.

Anyway I first ran the digital out from the Polk into my Rotel 976 processor. The quality was considerably better than the roady but noticably harsh. I picked up a Scott Nixon tube DAC on ebay for $250 just for fun and to see if it would be any better though the tube. Just got it hooked up tonight so I'm still fooling with the interconnects and may try a couple of different tubes but so far I'm pleased with the result. The Scott Nixon definitely took the harshness (is that a word?) down a bit and the imagining and sound stage seems pretty good.

I'm starting to think I will need to invest some additional cash into a full on two channel tube system just for fun!! Of course I was looking for a good excuse to do that anyway. Now I have one!