While looking at used Prii for sale, I noticed a picture of the dash of one Prius that said HD on the radio. Is HD radio standard on the latest model of Prius? Did it become standard with the 2012 model? Do any of the 2010-2011 models include it? It's not a must have feature, but it would be nice to get HD radio with steering wheel controls. I find it annoying that after 10 years of broadcasting this high quality and free signal, that even high end receivers don't receive it. I'd like to see XM satellite go away.
my pip has it, sounds kind of tinny tho. might be the stereo, but i often turn it off for better sound.
Does that mean the Prius HD radio is low quality? I installed a $40 HD radio (Dual brand) in a Camry 5 years ago, and it sounds fantastic.
i don't know anything about it. i'm not sure what others are experiencing, but most of the time, it sounds like a tin can, or drum like. iirc there's a thread somewhere, i think most liked it, you do get a lot more stations.
I like it - I think it sounds considerably better on than off. If anything, I'd say just the opposite - that off it sounds kind of hollow. Hard to compare it to anything but itself though - FM radios can sound considerably better or worse depending on design.
I have a Pioneer 33HD radio in my 2004 Prius. The sound quality improvement in HD is quite noticeable (especially on AM). JeffD
I don't see it on any trim level in my 2010 brochure. The 2012 brochure shows it standard on Threes and higher, but absent from the Twos.
The version in other Prii - but not in your trim level - is the digital FM version of this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hd_radio
We have digital FM. If we have digital AM, I wouldn't know it because there are no stations broadcasting that I am aware of. I find HD radio similar to SiriusXM. Satellite still gets the nod for better quality but it's difficult to notice in the stock Prius sound sound system in my PiP. The only problem I have with HD radio is that it cuts out when reception is poor. On regular radio, you'd just get some static and only on really bad occasions would you not understand what you hear. HD radio would be an abrupt pause like a skipping CD. We all know that Prius antenna is not a particularly good one so it happens often even though I live in the SF Bay Area. Still, I listen to HD exclusively because you have almost twice the FM channels. There are two channels on almost every station. iPhone ?
If you have HD radio, it should be labeled as such. While clarity is in the ear of the listener, most audiophiles would disagree, preferring instead to listen to HD radio. I find satellite to be of lower audio quality than standard FM radio.
Definitely. Standard FM generally sounds far better than satellite - HD radio all the more so. Satellite is the bottom of the barrel sound quality wise - barely passable - and bad enough that I often turned off music I would otherwise have enjoyed hearing during my trial period.
yes, i have the icon. assume it's for am/fm. and i get the multiple fm signals under the same station. i can't argue with the experts, i've always been happy with a reasonably priced upgrade of radio/amp/speakers, never felt the need for the base like the thunder i hear coming from cars around me.
When the digital signal drops out, a station's HD Channel #1 should fall back to the noisier analog signal. The transition is quite noticeable as the treble and bass drop out, but the program is still there. Channels 2 and 3 (and any more, if they exist) have no analog to which to fall back. The same applies to satellite radio.
My radio sounds pretty darn good on Satellite, FM, USB, Bluetooth from phone music player, etc. Never tried AM. I assume everyone knows there are speaker settings in the Display Audio settings that can change the sound quite a bit. I'm out in the desert and I get good quality reception all the time.
