Review submitted by Jason M. Page
Author’s Rating:
I am a long time owner of Squeezebox products and was pretty excited to find out about the little table top Squeezebox Radio model. I picked one up and thought I would share my thoughts.

The first thing you notice is how much heft this little player has. It is really well built and the fit and finish is superb. It has plenty of weight and solid rubber feet so that it won’t skid around on your night stand or table top. The screen looks great and all of the buttons have a nice solid tactile feel. Compared to many other cheap wireless network streaming radios, this device feels an entire order of magnitude better in its construction quality. The only disappointment here is the lack of back lit buttons, for using the radio in low lighting. It’s also worth noting that the entire radio has a high gloss finish that will be a magnet for fingerprints. Looks great though!

The biggest challenge for most consumers with this device will be the initial set up. You need to create an account at [...] in order to set up your new Squeezebox Radio. The device uses this connection to play free internet music services as well as download software updates, etc, to the Radio. I already had a Squeezebox account so this was not a huge challenge for me, but it might be for some people who might be confused that they need to set up an account before they can use the device. There is an option to set up the account from the device itself. Don’t do this (it is slow and tedious)! Go to the website and set it up in a few seconds and then just type your login and password on the device.

Other than the laborious task of entering my full email and password for [...] the rest of the setup is very easy. The Squeezebox Radio supports push to connect wi-fi set up which is common on many newer model wireless routers. It’s similar to programming a garage door opener. Simply point the Squeezebox Radio at your wireless network and for 120 seconds it will try to connect with the push to connect functionality. Then just push the connect button on your router and it’s automagically all set up.

Once set up the Radio will update its firmware and reboot, a process that takes a few extra minutes. After that you are good to go.

In addition to the many built in free online services, you can also play your own music through the Squeezebox Server application. I run the Squeezebox Server application on my HP EX495 Windows Home Server but you can also run Squeezebox Server on any Mac, Windows PC or even Linux box (there are even installable distributions for many Network Attached Storage units). This allows the Squeezebox Radio (and any other Squeeze players) to access all of the music on my home network. It’s absolutely wonderful to be able to take the little table top radio anywhere in the home and listen to your entire music collection.

Sound quality is very good, easily enough to fill a small to medium sized room. It gets quite loud with little to no distortion and the controls are easy to use to change tracks, change volume, etc. Wireless strength is superb. I get a full signal anywhere within about 40 feet of my router, and the radio works anywhere on my suburban property with no audio hiccups or dropouts.

In addition to the intuitive controls such as “home”, “play”, “stop”, “back”, etc, the unit also features six programmable “preset” buttons similar to what you have on a car radio. Setting these up is a bit more of a challenge than you would expect. You are supposed to be able to hold these down on any song, album, playlist, etc, that is being displayed in the radio menu and have it added as a preset. Unfortunately some items don’t add correctly and must first be programmed as a “favorite”. It turns out that you can only add favorites for some items (such as playlists) from the Squeezebox Server web based menu, which is quite inconvenient. I don’t doubt that Slim Devices (the arm of Logitech that makes these devices) will fix this soon enough.

Other minor glitches include some weird alarm behavior (it will show the time of the alarm when it is going off but strangely won’t show the current time, which is annoying if you have hit the snooze button a few times and need to know what time it is), some auto dimming issues (the auto dimming works great but gets almost TOO dim in a dark room to see the radio) and a few other very minor nits.

Slim Devices have a long history of enhancement and improvement of device firmware, so I would expect a lot of these issues to be worked out in the coming months. Additionally there will soon be a battery pack and small infrared remote for the Squeezebox Radio available as a $[...] add on purchase. Personally I think at $[...] the Radio should include these items, but considering the great sound of the radio, the high quality screen and the superb fit and finish it is justified that this device costs as much as it does.

Also worth noting is that if you have an iPod Touch or iPhone you can get the iPeng application $[...] from the Apple App Store which makes controlling and programming your Squeezebox Radio an absolute breeze. iPeng is really a must have if you have these devices and want a wonderful pocket control that works from anywhere in your home. Beats the pants off of what Sonus has to offer!

//Update 1 (Nov 2nd 2009)

Yesterday my SB Radio lost all of the preset buttons which is most annoying. It also turns out that many of the requests for fixes around the alarms functionality have not been addressed and don’t appear to be scheduled to be addressed in the next release or two of the software. If your primary use will be a night stand alarm clock I would recommend holding off for now until Logitech addresses alarm functionality issues. If the issues are not resolved I will reconsider my four star rating as it should then be a three star product.

//Update 2 (May 13 2010)

Logitech has not only not fixed many of the initial annoyances with the SB Radio, but newer firmware has in fact made the product less stable and reliable. It still does an admirable job of playing your local music library if you run the SB Server on a PC or Mac in your home, but the network streaming functionality seems to be having issues and I’ve found the alarm to be terribly unreliable. I would now under the current circumstances rate this only 3 out of 5 stars. It’s really a shame too, as the “Slim Devices” that originally brought us these problems was very open and communicative about issues and what was being done to fix them. Logitech has little interest in relaying useful information to its beta testers, err, customers and instead gives us the run around with if and when issues will ever be remedied.

Review submitted by William G. Schmidt
Author’s Rating:
I’ve had the Squeezebox Radio for just over a week but that’s long enough to decide what I like and what still needs some work. First, set-up was a snap. The radio found my wireless network instantly and I was able to enter the password and connect quickly. The radio them updated its own software so I was working with the newest release.

What do I like? The radio seems solid. It’s heavy enough that you can press the buttons with the radio on a nightstand and not have it slide. The front is angled back which helps even more. I’d call the sound quality – though not stereo – excellent. There’s no comparison between how this radio sounds and the Sony clock radio I replaced it with. It has a very clear, crisp sound.

What don’t I like? I had the radio only three days when it lost all it’s presets. I re-entered them and all has been well since. This is a well known bug. I am using [...] and NOT using my PC so the problem is likely there. Presets should be stored locally, not on a server. I saved all my presets as favorites so they MIGHT be there the next time this happens (then again, maybe the favorites list will be erased, too). I’d like to see an easier way to set the sleep timer. You have to use the menu and it should be a simple button press. Why not use the power button and cycle through sleep settings? i.e. ON … 45 … 30 … 15 … OFF? There also needs to be a simple way to snooze. Maybe the big button in the middle?

The auto-dimming setting gets awfully dark at night! I should be able to set a minimum brightness level that suits me.

And I’d love to see the apps include weather radar. Yes, this is a radio but it’s got a great color display and being able to watch live weather radar on the screen would be super. A general weather app that makes use of this display would be a plus! Come on Logitech, get with it! This radio has more possibilities than, well, radio!

Later: I’ve had the radio for a month now and am no longer quite so excited. I reduced my initial 4 stars to just 2 stars. This radio is buggy! My initial loss of the presets has now been followed by a loss of the volume control. There was absolutely no way to get it back besides a “factory reset” which removes every setting I so carefully made. You should be able to simply sit down and enjoy a radio, not beta test a product.

I am returning it within Amazon’s 30 day window. I’ve had enough.

Review submitted by G-Radio
Author’s Rating:
When the Boom came out, I wanted to purchase it right away, but the $300 price tag and the inability to truely make it wireless detered me. Now that the Radio is out with a lower price tag, battery capability and a color LCD, I was totally sold. I’ve had the Radio for about a week now, and I simply love it. Even the wife was jamming to it when I got home from work the day after I bought it.

So far I have only had one issue with it…I can not find a setting to set the Album Art size to full screen on the Now Playing screen. It says in the manual that it is under the Screensaver settings, but when I go there it doesn’t exist. I sent an email to Logitech support, but have not heard back from them yet. [Updated] Logitech just released a new software version that will correct this issue.

Another cool feature that I didn’t realize existed, was the ability to control the Radio from the web.

As far as sound quality goes, it is far better than expected. There is virtually no distortion even at maximum volume. I even plugged a set of Computer Speakers into the Headphone Jack and it didn’t make that much of a difference. The Base levels aren’t that deep, but they are there. I can put it in my livingroom and pump it up near max volume and hear it clearly throughout the house.

I haven’t tested the Wireless strength extensively yet, but I was able to hook it up in the garage (1 Floor below and 50 feet from the router) and the signal strength was near full.

Overall, I am very satisfied with my purchase and can’t wait to get the battery pack so I can just carry this thing around anywhere.

Review submitted by A. Dent
Author’s Rating:
The Squeezebox Radio is a first class, excellent Internet radio with clock/alarm functions. With the Flickr app installed, it will display photos stored under user’s Flickr account. Other capabilities which are nice to have but not likely to be widely used include its ability to stream audio from a computer or double up as an iPod speaker.

PACKAGING, CONTENTS

As it’s the case with most Logitech products, the Squeezebox Radio comes inside a box where everything is packed nicely and securely, with enough padding to ensure that rough treatment won’t damage it. All shiny surfaces are protected by plastic film sheets. I experienced no problems or frustrations taking components out of the box.

The box contents include:

- the Radio

- power adapter with the US-standard 110V removable plug

- 3.5mm audio cord for iPod or other MP3 players

- folded poster with setup guide/manual/warranty statement

Logitech’s warranty is for 2 years from date of purchase and they would expect you to have the purchase receipt and to pay for shipping unless local laws prohibit that.

INITIAL SETUP

The physical setup is as easy as attaching the removable plug to the power adapter, plugging the adapter into a power outlet and connecting it to the radio and turning the on the radio. An Ethernet port (cable not included) is available for wired connections. I did not attempt to perform a wired network setup.

Once the radio is on for the first time, a language is selected from those displayed on the screen and then the radio will attempt to find a wireless access point. In my case, it immediately found my Linksys router and connected to it.

The initial setup completed with me creating a Logitech account by providing an email address and a password. At that point it’s possible to listen to the radio.

OPERATION

Radio

—–

Starting with ‘radio’, the array of options is almost overwhelming. The least intimidating way to get to listen to a station is by selecting ‘Internet Radio’. This will open a multi-layered menu with everything from Staff Picks, Local, Music, Sports, Talk, World and Search. If you pick World, the next layer would include Find a City, Featured Cities, National Networks, World Music. Find a City would open a listing of continents. If you pick Antarctica, believe it or not, you can select between All Stations or By Genre. It turns out that the only genre in that continent was Folk and there was actually a Folk station broadcasting off Antarctica. This was just an example to show the breadth and depth of the Internet Radio menu option. Once you like a station, it can be easily assigned to one of the 6 preset buttons that flank the radio’s color display.

Another way to get music off the Internet is through Apps. These are dowloadable setups that would let your radio channel some services, some of them free. There are 29 such Apps that Logitech allows you to download and use at the time this review was written, not all of them free and not all of them ‘music’. Staying with the music, the easiest way you can get an App to work on your radio is from Logitech’s site you access with your Logitech account – Logitech promises not to Spam you and so far I didn’t get any Spam from them. My favorite FREE music App/service so far is Pandora. It lets me, among other things, create my own ‘radio stations’ by simply entering one or more artists and songs names. Then, Pandora will play music that is compatible with my input. For example, I entered Pink Floyd, the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix for one of my ’stations’ and I get to listen to, besides theses three, the Doors, Led Zeppelin, some Cream.

The Settings menu is equally rich in options. It’s another multi-layered menu tree that controls just about every aspect of your Squeeze and I’m not going to go into details because it may take several pages. The good news is that the options are pretty well organized and it shouldn’t be difficult to customize the aspects of your Squeezebox behavior that you would like to modify. Thankfully, the ‘Restore Factory Defaults’ option exists, buried somewhere, 3 or 4 levels deep under Advanced.

Clock and Alarm

—————

By default, the Squeezebox will display the date and time when turned off. There’s no need to do anything to set date/time since it seems to ‘get’ the correct location for the time zone off your IP address. It’s possible to select a different zone through the Settings menu, of course.

The Alarm function is surprisingly rich. Any number of separate alarms can be set – don’t know if there is a limit. You can set the time, whether it’s a one-time or reoccurring and if it’s a repeat alarm, the day of the week it will play. The volume can be selected and then you can dive into another one of Logitech’s overwhelming menu trees that allows you to sound your alarm from the current playlist or play one of many Musical Sounds, Natural Sounds, or Sound Effects. Not much to complain other than you can’t hear a sample of the sound you selected or maybe I didn’t know how to play it.

Other Internet Apps

——————-

Normally, the Squeezebox will display the logo of the station you are playing or, if you are listening to a service such as Pandora, you will see the album cover the song came from. But if you install the Flickr App, you can display your Flickr pics instead. It’s pretty cool but it wears off quite quickly. The color screen is nice and bright but it’s also small and I get a radio because I want to listen to it, not to stare at a 2-inch screen. Again, it’s nice but I wouldn’t miss this capability if it wasn’t available.

There are other innovative apps that may have some limited use. The Amazon app for example, will allow you to buy your favorite music directly from the Squeezebox (wow!!!). The Facebook app will, according to the Logitech site, allow you to share your favorite music with family and friends, discover new friends with similar music interests or communicate with friends away from your computer. I didn’t try it yet.

More Features

————-

As if this wasn’t enough, the Squeezebox also allows you to stream music off your home computers after you install the Squeezebox Server on it – supports Windows (Vista/XP/2000), Mac, Ubuntu, Linux. Again, a nice thing to have but I simply can’t see why I would want to stream music to a device equipped with a small, mono speaker. I’d rather listen to music off my laptop since it comes out in stereo there. I suspect it works well but I didn’t think it was worth trying.

The Squeezebox also allows to connect and play an iPod or some other MP3 player – cable provided. And, again, it’s good to have this but piping iPod music through a little mono speaker… not worth it.

Finally, you can listen to the Squeezebox with headphones. It’s nice you can but I don’t think too many users would care about this capability.

MY EXPERIENCE

I find the Squeezebox to be an extraordinarily great Internet Radio device. Or rather, an Alarm Clock/Internet Radio. While limited by the small, single speaker to ‘mono’ sound, the quality of the output is quite impressive. I suspect there’s a large cache built in because, when listening to the same Pandora output on my computer and on the Squeeze, the Squeeze came pretty close to crystal-clear while my computer’s output was below par.

It’s impossible to say how many stations can be tuned to but the number should be in the thousands. It’s not always easy to find what you are looking for but quick and dirty searches are possible by simply entering the station’s call letters or you can go geographically by continent/country/city/genre.

Some of the available Apps are fun to use – something like Pandora’s customized radio stations should be close to one’s dream of music listening. Other apps can go in the ‘wow’ category as in “I can’t believe they can do this” but aren’t likely to be used much. The beauty of the Apps concept is that the Squeezebox is infinitely expandable as more Apps doing things we can’t imagine today can be added when available.

What impressed most about the Squeezebox were:

- extraordinary easy and quick setup on a Wi-Fi network

- the sheer volume of Internet radio stations available

- the availability of great Apps such as Pandora

- the Alarm/Clock function

- the color screen that displays interesting information such as album covers or stations logos and the name of the artists playing

- infinite expandability through new Apps

Some of the shortcomings include:

- ONLY 6 preset station buttons

- mono sound

- a simple remote control would make operation easier

- there’s no information in the broadcast quality (kbps) displayed anywhere or rating the station based on the quality of their broadcast

- it’s possible to get lost into some of the enormous menu trees

- completely dependent on Logitech for service – nothing other than maybe streaming music from one’s own computer would work if Logitech went out of business or stopped supporting the Squeezebox.

MY RATING

I really, really love this device and Amazon’s rating for “I love it” is 5 stars. Clearly, it’s not perfect but, for the price, this is close to the best one can get when it comes to the ability to listen to distant radio stations without involving a computer.

All we hear is Radio Ga Ga

Radio Blah Blah

Radio what’s new?

Someone still loves you!

_______________________________________

Note:

Please see the first comment to this review on the ability to expand the sound quality to ’stereo’ and ‘amplified’. I am not likely to try that because I have other options for listening to hi-fi, loud music but it’s nice to know that it can be done.

Review submitted by T. Frisco
Author’s Rating:
Over the years I’ve purchased several streaming music products, each of which had it’s limitations, some were just junk. This gives you good sound, no major setup headaches, and there seem to be a wide array of optional plugins to allow you to customize and build your music sources. Setup was fairly simple although typing in any text whether it’s your login credentials for a music service or your wireless network information is tedious on any device that doesn’t have a keyboard so just deal with it, hopefully you won’t have to enter this information more than once.

First, let me be a bit negative, this thing should really ship with a rechargable battery already installed. It should also ship with a remote control. I called customer support this mornng and I’ve been told that the accessory pack with the battery and remote will not be available until February 2010. It seems like they rushed to get the radio out before Christmas yet these accessories aren’t available yet. When I first read about the radio and its battery backup functionality I’d assumed that the battery was already installed.

Secondly, I attempted several times to set this up using WEP encryption. While a 26 character passcode is a hassle to enter anytime it was a real pain to attempt to enter it four or five times only to be told that the password didn’t work. I’ve entered it into enough other devices in my home (printers, laptops, PSP) that I know the code was correct. I’ve been needing to change over to WPA anyway as it’s more secure, once I changed to WPA and entered the passphrase it connected to the network in just a few seconds.

Now the positives, the audio is above average considering the size of the radio, it found my music collection and scanned all of the titles into it’s library, since it’s just streaming the audio it only took a few minutes to scan about 4000 songs. There are some opportunities with the album art, many tracks just show some arbitrary image of a CD.

As far as the plugins, Pandora works very well. I may even upgrade my pandora account to a paid account since I can skip more than six tracks an hour (once I have a remote anyway). The XMOnline plugin works very well too although it doesn’t seem to update the PAD data with the song names and artist info.

The Mediafly may or may not work, I created an account and linked it and picked a few podcasts out on Mediafly but they never appeared on my radio so it may just be me.

I’d buy this for anyone thinking about getting an XM Boombox or portable radio, just pay XM for an online account and this works as well as a boombox and given that a boombox has to have an antenna near a window all you need with this is access to your wireless network (or wired if you want to run a cable to it from your router).

I’m very happy with this product.

Review submitted by Tristan B
Author’s Rating:
Ordered this earlier this week, at first I received an XMAS100 boombox. Amazon was quick to overnight me the correct XMBB1 though once I reported the error. This gave me the opportunity to check out both the XMAS100 and the XMBB1.

I have the Delphi XpressRC headunit to be using with this boombox.

The quick and the short is I prefer the XMBB1, here’s why. It’s antenna has a neat little setup so it can be sleekly mounted on the rear of the unit flush with the surface, or you can extend it the full 21 feet to put it near a window etc. The XMAS100 only has the plug and no sleek interface to store it inside/on the unit, so the XMAS100 in my mind is for more of a permanent setup location. Also the XMBB1 runs off 8 C batteries, or the plug, whereas the XMAS100 only runs off the plug. These two features make the XMBB1 very portable, can take it to the beach, park etc and its all compact with its antenna and running off batteries. The XMAS100 does have a remote, but many of the XM headunits you’ll be attaching to this come with their own remotes anyways. The XMAS100 does look more sophisticated with its brushed aluminum finish, but the XMBB1 isn’t too bad either. Also the price of the XMBB1 is 33% cheaper than the XMAS100 right now. They both have AUX in for connecting another audio source if you wish. The sound on the XMBB1 is great, as is the XMAS100, can hear the base and its very clear. Hope this helps you decide.

Review submitted by DAB
Author’s Rating:
I purchased this with my Prime account on Amazon and got it via next day delivery.

The boombox comes with the adapters for the skyfi2, inno/helix, xmp3, roadyxt and of course all the xpress tuners including the XpressRC, which is what I have.

The SQ is really good, which surprised me since it was on $99. The handle makes it very easy to carry from room to room or even on outdoor outtings. It comes with a home antenna, which gives good reception. You can use 8-C batteries, which in my experience depending at what volume you listen generally last at least 10 hours.

By the way it also includes an aux-input if you wish to connect an mp3 player ect. It has an headphone jack as well.

If you have one of these XM Radios above, then I’d certainly recommend this Boombox.

Review submitted by D. Sanchez
Author’s Rating:
The Audiovox XMBB1 is an good addition to my xm radio accessories. With the various radio adaptors I can attach any xm radio I may purchase in the future or that my friends or family may have. The sound quality is very good and the amount of volume out of these little speakers surprised me. If you leave the antenna attached to the back of the radio make sure it is pointed in a southern direction or else the signal tends to waver. Fortunately it has a generous length of cable so you can detach it and place the antenna anywhere for a good signal. The addition of a auxillary audio input jack allows you to hook up an mp3 player which I find nice to have. The only thing that I wish was added to this radio would be a remote to control the audio level for the XMBB1, but if you have a remote for your xm radio you should be able to have control over changing stations and some volume control. Overall I’m glad to have made this purchase and would recommend it to other who would like a portable sound system for their xm radio.

Review submitted by F. F. Dumlao
Author’s Rating:
The unit looks great and performs well. The unit has plenty of power and conceals the power and antenna nicely.

The only issue I found was a slight hissing at the higher volumes. It may have something to do with my house which was constructed in the 1900’s but outside of that I haven’t had to uncoil the antenna and get good reception. I now have the option of taking my XM and Opie and Anthony with me to any outdoor activity to share with everyone.

Review submitted by Fox fan
Author’s Rating:
I wanted to be able to listen to XM radio news stations at home. For me, this is a good choice since it will run on batteries (unfortunately it is a battery hog) and works great outdoors. It is not quite as good indoors but 80% of the time it will reliable pull in a signal anywhere in the interior of my vinyl sided frame home. There are some indoor dead spots but that can usually be resolved by simply turning the unit to re-aim the antenna which can be used remotely if needed. Obviously, it is not a stand alone unit since it requires an XM radio head. I have a Delphi SA10315-11B1 Xpress Which works great. I also use the Xpress in my cars which aren’t already equipped form the factory with XM radio and in another home unit which adapts to my Bose radio. I woud recommend the cheaper home unit adaptor if you don’t need portability and have a Bose or other stereo entertainment unit which has an audio input. In general it works better than I had expected.

Review submitted by Benjamin A. Zell
Author’s Rating:
I’ll start with my short satellite radio history. I’ve had XM radio for about six months now. My first radio was an XpressR, which was very good and had lots of bells and whistles, but definitely showed its design roots in the early 2000’s and was slow to navigate. Some jerk broke into my car and took that one. I replaced it with the XpressRC, which was a nice update to the XpressR, and much faster, but I kept having a problem where it would regularly lose all my presets and settings, so I returned it and replaced it with the XM OnyX.

I decided not to go with the SkyDock because while it is a cool idea, one thing I love about satellite radio is not having the need to hook my iPhone/iPod up every time I get in the car to have some tunes. With a regular XM radio, I get in the car and drive and I don’t need to do anything else. Wanting to try a newer model radio model instead, I went with the XM OnyX. I could barely find any reviews or anything online, so it was kind of a shot in the dark.

The OnyX is a solid radio with a nice design. I’d say it is more attractively designed and has better build quality than my two preceding radios. It comes with some color accent rings you can swap out, which is an interesting idea, but the color choices are only glossy black, matte silverish-white and matte blue. I wish there was a glossy red in there, but really even having that choice is a unique idea I shouldn’t complain about. The display is full color, however instead of seeing full-color channel logos and graphics, the only color you see is the background and text colors. While it is much more minimalist than the XpressRC, I will go out on a limb to say that I prefer the solid color background of the OnyX to the unnecessary flashiness of the XpressRC. Having the blue or red background looks really nice while in use in my VW Rabbit. Combine this with the design of the radio and it is a very attractive aesthetic upgrade for my car as opposed to the eye sores some other satellite radios can be.

Navigation is quick and simple. Up and down buttons change the channels while left and right flip through the categories. You have ten one-button presets. The only unneccessary button for me is the FM button because I use auxiliary input. I have always preferred a less-is-more approach to electronics, so I appreciate a design that isn’t littered with buttons and functions that you don’t use often.

Sound quality seems loud and clear. The aux signal is noticably louder than my Xpress radios. When I flip back and forth between XM and FM, the volume seems about the same, which wasn’t true with my previous radios.

When comparing this radio to the Xpress’s, I have to bring up the lack of bells and whistles. This radio is more basic. It does not have artist/sports alerts which were convenient on the Xpress’s. There are less display options, but the display is well laid out and is safe to view while driving (enough info, but not too much). There is no live pause or any buffer to rewind through– I never really made good use of that feature on my Xpress’s. There are no stock quotes or sports scores, which is fine because that is what my iPhone is for. It does not come with a remote which I don’t care at all about because I use it in the car and just use the online streaming at home. So really of all those things, the only thing I would have liked to have seen in the OnyX would have been the artist/sports alerts.

All in all, the XM OnyX is a solidly designed and attractive XM radio that I would recommend to anyone who wants to experience XM in their car. It is not the flashiest radio, and will not blow you away with features, but it is probably the best basic car radio that Sirius XM produces.

Review submitted by Simon Shin
Author’s Rating:
Overall: 4/5 stars

Build quality: 4/5

Installation: 5/5 (YMMV)

Operation of device: 3/5

Features on device: 2.5/5

“Bang for buck”: 4.5/5

Sound quality: 3.5/5

(Read near the end of my review to find out how to possibly save extra costs on XM subscription.)

What I was looking for with XM radio:

I wanted to get into XM radio with minimal dent on my wallet.

If you are looking for a nice cost efficient way to get into XM radio, this is probably the only option to get you XM in your car within less than a hundred bucks (before adding fees for starting XM subscription for a year). It sounds like a lot when you calculate out the fees – purchase a XM device + set up XM subscription (+ applicable tax/royalty fees/start up fee) BUT considering the opposite end of the spectrum – purchase a stereo deck with XM features from a professional installer, I’m sure the cost could’ve been easily been upwards to 300-400 dollars *just for the device change* at a stereo shop!

Device is small and light – size of an index card if you held about a half inch of them. The device feels very light but solid. The feel of the buttons are slightly more stiff than I’d hope but overall amount of pressure to get a button pushed seems slightly more than I’d want for a small device. Build of cradle is tough and I like the minimal design of the cradle as it compliments the device very well. The attaching and detaching is fairly quick for the device. The display is very simple, not too flashy (shows a plain color background, station name, artist and song title) and not too flashy on the features (channel up/down, presets, and flip through channels by genre type, instant switch to traffic/weather station).

Installation:

Car installation on my Lexus IS250 is a cinch(non evasive, just jam wires in cracks), but instructions of installation leave a bit up to the installer to decide details. I was pretty distraught when I was trying to imagine the amount of work I had to do to get the anntanea wire snaked through not to mention the audio and car adapter cords. But it turned out the setup was fairly quick and only took a little over an hour as I spent some extra time making sure the wires were tucked away. On my Lexus IS250, I had no problems getting the wires tucked into the cracks/crevices and did not have to rip, tear or drill any holes. This process did not leave any damage to my car at all!

The extra time you put into hiding the wires under the lining/cracks, the more it pays off! I was able to hide almost all of the wiring, with exception to the part that traces up to the back of the unit.

My decision to XM was simple:

I’m too lazy to make music for myself (dusty ipod), I always wanted *fresh content*, but I hate the regular radio for 3 reasons 1)commercials 2)lack of variety 3)poor sound quality/static

This is the option for you if you’re in the same boat as me. Willing to spend a bit more for fresh music content, but looking for cheaper

alternative to more expensive avenues to get XM, and looking for quick results.

Sound quality:

A bit lacking on this part unfortunately. I have a very nice sound system and the clarity of the system can pick up the flaws in lower sampling rates (mp3s sound like they are missing something, while playing audio CDs have a full body sound and a clarity that can’t be matched by anything less than a 256kbps mp3 file). The sound quality, though the bands on the bass and treble are clear, I can tell the quality is kin to that of 160kbps mp3s, not really getting to that 256 kbps level unfortunately. It matches quality, of say, something like the streaming music from Pandora – as you turn it up, you may notice it is slightly lacking in that “punch”. I believe this is not a fault of the device but the actual stream of the music from the satellite. If anyone can chime in about this, it may be helpful to know if this is true?

Cost of new XM subscription:

So after I installed the device, I knew from prior research that the cost was about thirteen dollars a month for the full package (minus Sirius channels), but if I prepaid for a year or two it would be as low as ten dollars (which is the same month-to-month price for the package that only allows you to have music. I did a happen-chance search online for keywords like “XM promo” or “XM subscription discount” and found out people were getting huge discounts! For some people, a normal subscription cost of a hundred thirty dollars, was haggled down to eighty eight dollars! This is because there is a seventy seven dollar promo that XM customer service reps know about…its called the “half off a year subscription promo” – but this actually is a little less than half. Keep in mind it finally does come out a little more, the rep tacked on a music royalty fee of ten dollars, so final price for a year came out to eightyseven dollars. In any case, if you are starting a new subscription, I HIGHLY recommend you call in, rather than doing a new subscription online (they probably won’t offer something like this). Also, my rep. didn’t tell me that I could get this discount until I gave her the device unit’s ID code and my personal info (name, address, number). Oh and I talked to another friend today, and it turns out there is also a even sweeter deal, if you are a continuing subscriber, a couple weeks before the subscription expires, you can call in and ask for the twenty dollars for five months deal, apparently this is the greatest discount you can ask for – it comes out to four dollars a month!

As I mentioned before, this device definitely exceeded my expections and I am very pleased with the overall process to get me plugged into the XM world.

***Update: After 1 week of use – I stand by the rating I give for audio quality – It is acceptable, better than radio and good enough but not really exceptional quality. Some stations not as good as others, clarity in treble seems to be lacking more than the body of bass. I hear subtle, slight distortion in treble and some mids (overall sounds a little flat). I noticed this morning something I didn’t notice before: Outside interference! The device (or 3.5 aux audio cord) was picking up some interference: I turned the station to channel zero, which is completely silent, and I can hear the interference very clearly. I also noticed when I rev up my car’s rpms, the interference is picked up and carries through as well. Its like a high pitch swirling sound at some varying frequencies. Its not completely noticeable but this morning, I could definitely hear it clearly (something I haven’t heard before with about its past 15 uses. I tried turning off the unit and undocking and after I put it back on, the interference was still there. After I turned off my unit *and car*, and started it again to see if it came back, and it finally was gone for the most part. Itt was significantly reduced but at volume at 100% on channel 0 (silence), I could still hear it faintly. It could have been an isolated incident, I am not sure what would cause it to happen? I am guessing the audio cord is picking this up so I decided to spend 7 bucks (final price) on a 3′ shielded audio cord which I found at this company called West Florida Components (cheapest I could find it). I hope this resolves this interference issue – I will post results once I test it next week or two.

Review submitted by Larry Tiggis
Author’s Rating:
I had been wanting to get sat radio for several years but didn’t want as much bells and whistles as just a good solid reliable product at a good price without all the upfront installation and product costs. Well, this is it! The Onyx was a very good price right before News Years, about half price for new product. I received the package from 6th Ave in 2 days as promised. The Onyx itself was very easy to install by myself right out of the box. There are a couple of options for mounting, I chose the vent mount to be close at hand for driver or front seat passenger, and to leave room on dash for GPS. The power connect dock is very secure, allows for easy removal of Onyx when I am not in car and does not have the volume problems I had heard about in sat radio. Controls are easy to use, very visable with color options on screen as well as removable ring options. After I had selected a channel on car radio to use, I activated via internet in the house, also chosing my plan, then back to the car, turned it on and viola! Sat radio in my car! It really was that simple. It has 10 presets, can set the jump button to last channel listened to, or directly tune to a station by using the direct button and entering channel number. If you want an easy to install, sat radio that is portable with available options but do not need all the bells and whistles such as recording, alerts, stock ticker scrolling, or any of the other distracting stuff, this is it! It doesn’t get any better than this! I would highly recommend this product! I always go to Amazon.

Review submitted by Tg2
Author’s Rating:
Well, I wanted to love this. It was easy to install and get going. The activation took a very long time, more than an hour.

But most troubling is the very digital artifact sound. It must be this unit because I have heard XM Radio before on ‘built-in’ radios

and have thought it sounded fine.

Am packing this up right now to return it…

Review submitted by Victek
Author’s Rating:
I’ve been using XM Radio for a few years and love it. There’s nothing like the variety it provides – much of it commercial free – along with the fact that channels don’t fade after driving short distances. It’s not perfect though. SAT radio suffers from drop-outs caused by overhead obstructions, such as when you stop under a freeway overpass or drive into your garage. If you want to use a SAT radio in your home be aware you will probably need an outside antenna. That said it’s a minor annoyance when driving which I’ve gotten used to.

Now regarding the Onyx specifically, I started out with an “In Dash” SAT radio because I didn’t want an external unit hanging off a bracket. I quickly regretted that choice. Channel changing was very slow, and the display was extremely limited – one short line that I needed to scroll and a push button to switch between station ID, performer, song title, etc. Very tedious and distracting. The Onyx solves these problems. Its’ screen displays channel number and name, performer and song title all at once. It’s also easy to preview what is on other stations without interrupting the current station. The color display is easy to read and there are a number of colors to choose from – nice touch. I had my unit installed by a local shop so all the wiring would be hidden behind the dash and I also opted for an FM Modulator to hard wire the XM signal into the FM radio. I don’t know if this is really necessary though – I didn’t try the over-the-air broadcast option. If you want to try installing the unit yourself, don’t mind using the cigarette lighter for power and have a convenient way to attach the unit to the dash then it’s worth a try. Where to attach the unit is worth thinking about. My choices were limited and I went with a bracket screwed into the dash. You can attach the radio to an air vent, but I thought this was pretty pathetic given how insecure and unstable it was.

After the Onyx was installed I called XM customer service and had my subscription transferred from the old radio, no problem. Highly recommended!