Delphi SA10000 XM SKYFi Radio Receiver
by Delphi Products

List Price: $149.99
Our Price: $119.00
You Save: $30.99 (21%)
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Category: Network Media Player
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Digital product summary information

• Satellite radio receiver for your car or home; includes wireless remote control
• Access to XM's 100-plus channels of satellite radio, featuring music, news, sports, and more
• Direct channel entry plus 20 presets; preview a channel before switching
• Requires separately available car or home connection kit and subscription to XM satellite service
• Measures 4.7 x 2.9 x 1.5 inches (W x H x D)

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Digital camera reviews of Delphi SA10000 XM SKYFi Radio Receiver

Digital camera Review: A bad investment and even worse sound quality
Summary: 1 Stars

This involved purchasing an FM modulator for about $40. The install cost another $100. Looked great. But sounds like crap. Once I got home and got the radio activated, I discovered that the sound quality is nothing like the quality of the XM I get from a factory unit that came in my other vehicle.

I went back to the installer and they said there's nothing that can be done to improve the sound quality. They said anytime you add something to an existing radio, poor sound quality can be expected. They said using the vehicle adapter kit, with the exposed wires, would not have made any difference. This problem, they said, is common.

The reception is fine, but there is a constant hissing sound in the background that gets worse as volume is added. It's on every station. It's so bad that we are going to have it removed from the car. The quality is just not worth listening to, even though it's wired to a high-quality Volvo factory system, which otherwide puts out great sound.

According to what I'm being told, a self-contained factory unit is the only way to ensure good quality sound. I get great quality in my factory-equipped truck.

I would recommend staying away from any add-on satellite receiver, or at least check out the facts with a reputable stereo shop before you make the investment. Everything I spent is down the drain.

Summary of Delphi SA10000 XM SKYFi Radio Receiver

Use of the receiver requires a paid monthly subscription to XM Satellite Radio ($9.95 per month, no contract required). You'll also need either a car or a home docking apparatus such as the Delphi SA10002 XM SKYFi vehicle kit or the Delphi SA10034 XM Portable CD audio boombox (whose use is by no means limited to the home). The receiver pulls in the signal, while a docking station provides DC power and traditional features like speakers, headphone jacks, and antennas, depending on the accessory. For this review we used the XM portable boombox. It bears repeating: the SA10000 receiver will produce no sound without an ancillary listening device.

The XM service offers good music with minimal repetition whichever direction you turn, all conveniently arranged by category or by channel. Using the remote's display button, you can even view the artist or the name of the song currently playing as you scroll past stations. XM's channels break down into 68 music channels (all of them commercial free), 33 channels of news (ABC, CNN, Fox, and a host of other mainstream networks), sports (led by 2 ESPN and 2 NASCAR channels), talk, and entertainment (Discover, E!, others), as well as instant traffic and weather updates for 21 major U.S. metropolitan areas.

Within the major music categories--rock, "hits" (pop), country, jazz/blues, and urban--subgenres abound, offering many exciting places to revisit classics and discover new favorites. Notably anomalies are channels devoted to new age (Audio Visions), progressive-rock/jazz fusion (XM Music Lab), rock bands lacking record contracts (Unsigned), and great moments and music from films (Cinemagic). There's even a channel for Starbucks' excellent HEAR Music, centered on jazz musicians and singer-songwriters and the musicians who inspired them.

Underserved are classical music (3 channels cover orchestral music, vocal music, and single movements of larger works), children's music (teens may enjoy Disney radio, but XM Kids is just plain soggy), world music (7 channels, 4 of which are Latin and 1 of which is devoted to music from Jamaica), and--most surprisingly--electronica. XM's dance and electronic music leans heavily on beats, going mainstream with hip acts like Royksopp, Moby, and Zero 7.

The receiver offers 20 station presets (2 banks of 10) and 10 memory settings, which recall artist, song, and station after the fact so you can make notes or hunt out CDs later.

To evaluate XM's sound quality we fed the headphone output from the SA10034 boombox to an integrated amplifier and speaker setup. Quality proved remarkably consistent channel to channel. Relative to our CDs and MP3 music files, the quality of the XM service sounds closest to 128 kbps MP3--wholly listenable and usually downright enjoyable, if not as smooth, full-bodied, and detailed as linear (uncompressed) CD sound.

Bass is decent--a little hyped on rock material, like FM radio--and the treble frequencies sound natural and free from most of the artifacts often heard in lossy digital compression. XM's classical programming sounds even better than its rock programming, with fewer artifacts and a wider stereo soundstage. Better than FM? For its silky background quiet and slightly wider dynamic range, we'd have to say yes. --Michael Mikesell

Pros:

• Simple setup
• Excellent sound quality
• Great indoor reception
• Consistent audio quality, station to station
• Commercial-free music channels
• Excellent pop and alternative-rock selection
• Dedicated progressive-rock/fusion channel
• Deep country/folk, urban/R&B, and jazz/blues offerings
• Includes a new-age channel
• Localized traffic and weather updates

Cons:

• Not usable without ancillary hardware (a headphone jack would be nice)
• No NPR (though XM Public Radio is a good approximation)
• Minimal electronica coverage
• Limited classical selection
• Weak children's offering

What's in the Box
Delphi XM SKYFi radio receiver (SA10000), wireless remote control, 1 CR2032 lithium battery, and operating and quick start guides.

With the SKYFi vehicle kit, the SKYFi radio receiver is easy to set up for satellite transmission through your car stereo.

The sleek, compact SKYFi radio receiver features a large orangish-red 5-line display (with adjustable font size) that displays song title, artist, channel category, and channel name/number information. It has control buttons for on/off, saving song information to memory, and preset programming (up to 20 presets), as well as a scroll wheel that enables you to quickly search through the channel categories and stations. The SKYFi radio receiver also comes with a remote control with the same control buttons as well as an audio mute control. The remote control uses a 3-volt CR2032 lithium battery, available at most retailers that carry electronic products.

The SKYFi radio receiver inserts neatly into the SKYFi Boombox for satellite radio wherever you want to take it.

You can listen to one station while previewing program information on up to five other channels. Additionally, you can save the song and artist information displayed on the SKYFi radio receiver to help you remember your favorite songs when you hit the CD store. The line-out level control adjusts the audio level if it is too high, causing distortion, or too low for your car.

What Is XM Satellite Radio?
XM Satellite Radio was the first satellite radio service to be offered in the U.S. It features a state-of-the-art broadcast center in Washington, D.C., two Boeing 702 satellites (providing 18 kW of power--the most powerful commercial satellites ever built), and approximately 800 terrestrial repeaters located throughout the continental United States for seamless transmission. Service is not available in Hawaii or Alaska.

XM Satellite Radio offers 101 channels, including 70 music channels, over 35 of which are commercial-free, and 31 news, sports, talk, and children's channels, broadcast coast to coast in digital quality. Basic service is available for a monthly subscription fee of $9.99, with premium channel(s) available at an additional monthly cost. Under the XM Family plan, subscribers get a discounted rate of $6.99 per month for additional radios.

XM's programming partners include Sesame Workshop, NASCAR, Associated Press, ABC News, CNBC, CNET, BBC World Service and BBC Concerts, Radio One, CNN/Sports Illustrated, Hispanic Broadcast Corporation, Disney, and ESPN.

What's in the Box
Delphi XM SKYFi radio receiver (SA10000), wireless remote control, one CR2032 lithium battery, and operating and quick start guides.

Satellite Radio

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