What is your opinion (personal experiences) on the quality of these various formats?

With all things being equal (a decent H/U supporting HD radio and a good DVD/CD player, optimum connections for satellite radio and iPod, and whatever else is needed to keep the “playing field level” (i.e., comparing similar amps. and speakers): How do you rate the quality these sound-delivery medias?
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- HD terrestrial radio
- Traditional terrestrial radio
- DVD
- CD
- iPod
- MP3
- Satellite radio (Sirius)
- Satellite radio (XM)

 

Top Tier:
- DVD = the best when done right meaning Dolby Prologic or other 5.1 system
- CD = potentially the best producer depending.
- HD terrestrial radio = Very good as good as the source.
- Traditional terrestrial radio = again highly dependant on the sound engineer but has the potential of being very good. Most stations are heavily compressed and over processed.
Vinyl records = (yeah, those big black things that your father has) = very good.

Middle Tier:
- iPod/MP3 = I play MP3's on my iPod. Recordings at 128-168 sound good but the MP3 is a very lossy format and artifacts are always there. I get fatigued after listening to the stuff after awhile.

Bottom Tier
- Satellite radio (Sirius)/ Satellite radio (XM) = highy compressed and processed - sometimes way too much. I listen to this only when nothing else is available.

 

Can’t believe I left LP’s off the list. How can you beat a Dual turntable with a decent cartridge and needle… playing Chicago. I suppose you could add a bottle of Lancers or Mateus to make it unbeatable. Well…those days are gone… too bad. --Spike