Directv music channel versus AM/FM Tuner ?

I will say that XM is a lot better via DirecTV than through a satellite radio either car or home style. I had the free trial in my Honda and music was bad and talk, done at an even lower sampling rate, was worse. I would have liked to have the variety but the sound is awful using a Sat radio. If the quality was as good as DirecTV I would still have it in the car. I emailed them asking about sampling rates they use for both and they said they could not release that info.....

ET

I had the digital output from my dish HD receiver running directly into a B&K Ref 30 running 5 channel stereo. The Dish supplied Serius sound was incredibly good-like 96/20 untill a few months ago. Then, they replaced my favorite channel, serius 18 the coffee house, with contemporary alblum rock. Now it sounds like high compression MP3-really unlistenable. Don't know if the now XM owned serius downgraded the feeds to Dish or whether Dish downgraded the signal to add more HD bandwidth. But it really sucks compared to the previous outstanding sound quality and I really miss the Serius exclusive acoustic versions on many great songs recorded in their own studio.

Audiofeil:
I have a questions regarding about both MR-71 & MR-77 of yours.
which one of the two tuners sound better?
I never audition both but friends telling me to go for MR-71.
My system are:
pair of Mcintosh mc-225 (run as mono)
single Mcintosh mc-2100 .s/s.
Cary SLP-98L...pre
Jm Labs 936...speaker.

To Agon members,i am using Direct Tv XM for temporary only as everyone said it's good for backround music especially for family & close friends get together party.

The MR-71 is the best sounding tuner Mac has ever made. It is not the most selective or sensitive; that title belongs to the MR-78. However, in stock form, none of the other tuners sound better. The MR-67 is close.

The MR-77 is the high value Mac tuner. Frequently found in good shape for under $600, it has many attributes of the 71 and 78 but costs less than both.

Hope that helps.

As to the XM direct TV question the feed is perfectly suitable for background and party music. Also the quality of XM from Direct TV is noticeably better than the XM tuner I tried. That said It cannot compare with good FM.
To chime in on your Mac tuner question (I currently own a 1500 receiver, two MR74's and two MR73's and have owned an MR78) I won't disagree with the MR71 being the best sounding as I have not had one to listen to long term (and the 1500 receiver is supposed to be the MR67 eqiv)but The MR74 is easily the best combination of sound and signal capture. Audio wise it is the reason I sold the MR78 and to my ear it is better than the MR77 as well. Also it usually sells for about the same as an MR77. I paid around $400 for both of mine on eBay plus about $150 for a alignment/tune-up from Terry DeWick.