Hd Radio

[BRANDONH]

I guess this belongs here since its digital.
I have decided to try out HD radio and will report.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665401984

http://www.antonline.com/images/027242730304.jpg

[blackraven]

I'm looking foward to your review. I did a post on it several weeks ago. I was hoping some one would review it. I've been looking at this one and the Sangean.

[BRANDONH]

I'm looking foward to your review. I did a post on it several weeks ago. I was hoping some one would review it. I've been looking at this one and the Sangean.
From what I have read its mostly positive
http://www.flyingcompass.com/gear/products/details/B00168Q248/CustomerReviews/page:11/limit:10
I bought mine from ANTOnline.com
http://www.antonline.com/antonline.php?op=inventory&st=hd++radio

I first wanted to get a Magnum Dynalab MD-90 but man those things are expensive...so I thought I would try this first I have an outdoor High Gain HD antenna so I should pick up all that there is for me to receive in my area on HD radio.

But I will still post my own assessment after it arrives.

[blackraven]

Here's the link I posted a few weeks ago
http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm

[BRANDONH]

Here's the link I posted a few weeks ago
http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm
Nice!
That guy really knows his stuff and just to think all I plan on doing it just listen to the radio with it.
I read all the other review links he provided I think this will be a good purchase.

[BRANDONH]

The HD Radio arrived I will upload pics this evening.
It is simple to setup. If the station had a strong enough HD signal it will default to the HD signal (must be able to lock in 3 bars signal strength) if it is less it will choose the analog signal.

BTW you can not just choose one signal over the other it is not user switchable.
also I did not test the AM there is nothing here other than news radio.

FM Analog:
the stations that do not broadcast in digital come in very good fact I picked up signals I could not pick up before but with this little tuner if draws in the signal like a champ.
With a full bodied analog sound which surprised me.

FM Digital:
This all depends on the station!
They all came in strong and in some I think too strong. :yikes:
Where I heard definite audio clipping mostly the rock stations. And some I found the bass to be way to pronounced I love bass as much as the next guy but this was too much fact it was muddy on most of the rock stations maybe they think that's a good thing?
I will blame this on the station and not the tuner or the digital technology.
So only time will tell if they get it closer to audiophile quality (in my area)
That's the negative...the positive:

More stations to choose from, a whole lot more and if you live in a remote rural area like I do this is a real blessing.
On the stations that did a good job like the Jazz (which there are no analog stations at all in my area period) and the Classical were very good sounding with a nice flat frequency not too much bass and not too much treble with an amazingly wide sound stage, with a full bodied sound very pleasing the signal did not clip and was not too strong.

I like the unit well enough that I can recommend it especially for the price now I do not know how some of the more expensive units at greater than a $1,000.00 price tag will handle the overbearing stations clipping issue and too much bass and would have to assume they too will sound about the same but may not IDK.

The good stations will please the audiophile. But the poor stations sound very digital to me.
This unit will do me just fine for when I listen to the radio which is not that often because I prefer to play the Vinyl record.

[BRANDONH]

http://gallery.audioreview.com/data/audio//500/medium/HD3.JPG

[blackraven]

Very nice and thaks for the review.

Here's a pic of the Insignia HD radio at best buy. I think it is a Sangean Clone, it even has a digital optical and coax out like the Sangean HDT-1X version but its cheaper in price then the Sangean

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8910315&st=hd+radio&type=product&id=1217633559969

http://www.sangean.com/product.php?model=HDT-1X&prod_id=41

[BRANDONH]

Very nice and thaks for the review.

Here's a pic of the Insignia HD radio at best buy. I think it is a Sangean Clone, it even has a digital optical and coax out like the Sangean HDT-1X version but its cheaper in price then the Sangean

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8910315&st=hd+radio&type=product&id=1217633559969

http://www.sangean.com/product.php?model=HDT-1X&prod_id=41

The BB site does not provide much info on specs.
I wonder if it has forced analog option like the Sangean?

[blackraven]

My bet is that its the exact same machine inside. If you look at pics of the rear panel, its exactly the same. Only the front panel looks slightly different on the right side.

[BRANDONH]

My bet is that its the exact same machine inside. If you look at pics of the rear panel, its exactly the same. Only the front panel looks slightly different on the right side.

I wanted to say if your sensitive to the sound of digital like I am don't bother with HD radio.
The more I listen to it the more I dislike its tone quality fact, some of the stations sound like MP3 to me.
Only the classical and the jazz stations sound good.
I even put a tube buffer between the tuner and the preamp to see if that would give it a more of an analog sound it helped but not a lot.
But this may not be that way in your area and it may not sound that way through a better tuner like the one your looking at.
And if you use your D/A it may sound better.
I think they need to work on the station side a lot more before it will win over any audiophiles.

[nightflier]

Just out of curiosity, any other brands/models out there? It still seems like this is a very small market.

Also, does the Sony have buttons on the top? If so, it kind of makes it looks like a clock radio. This also makes it inconvenient to stack anything on top of it or tu place it on a narrow shelf.

[BRANDONH]

Just out of curiosity, any other brands/models out there? It still seems like this is a very small market.

Also, does the Sony have buttons on the top? If so, it kind of makes it looks like a clock radio. This also makes it inconvenient to stack anything on top of it or tu place it on a narrow shelf.

Yeah there is the DAYSEQUERRA - M4C that's supposed to be audiophile but whoa the price!

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/80717

I don't listen to the radio enough to justify the price plus there really is not that many good stations where I live so the Sony will do me just fine.

The buttons are on the top but it gets real hot I would not put anything on top I had it resting on my HD-DVD BLU-RAY player because it was small enough but it was not going to get enough ventilation...hot running little sucker.

[nightflier]

The buttons are on the top but it gets real hot I would not put anything on top I had it resting on my HD-DVD BLU-RAY player because it was small enough but it was not going to get enough ventilation...hot running little sucker.

That's odd. I've had many different analog tuners, but they never ran that hot. I wonder if the Sangean runs as hot and if that's an HD thing. Any Sangean owners out there?

I also agree with FM tuners being overpriced, especially considering the waning interest in FM and the economy. I currently own an older Magnum Dynalab tuner, and while it's fun to play with all the dials and buttons, this also gets old very quickly. And the sound isn't revolutionary either (which I am tentatively attributing to stations more than the tuner) - it's OK, but nothing to rave about. That said, I get more enjoyment out of an old Nikko Gama 1 that I bought for $15. Go figure.

Anyhow, anyone who's dumb enough to shell out $1500- $8000 on a new FM tuner, needs to have their head examined. I bet I could find a $600 vintage or modded Marantz/Pioneer tuner that will blow it away in sound quality. And if it's the convenience of a remote they want, the latest Marantz tuner is pretty freaking fantastic too. I've had several models over the years, and the best sounding one I remember (and the one I should never have sold) was an old McIntosh MR77, believe it or not - that sucker was over 30 years old and still sounded better than anything I've owned since.

[BRANDONH]

That's odd. I've had many different analog tuners, but they never ran that hot. I wonder if the Sangean runs as hot and if that's an HD thing. Any Sangean owners out there?

I also agree with FM tuners being overpriced, especially considering the waning interest in FM and the economy. I currently own an older Magnum Dynalab tuner, and while it's fun to play with all the dials and buttons, this also gets old very quickly. And the sound isn't revolutionary either (which I am tentatively attributing to stations more than the tuner) - it's OK, but nothing to rave about. That said, I get more enjoyment out of an old Nikko Gama 1 that I bought for $15. Go figure.

Anyhow, anyone who's dumb enough to shell out $1500- $8000 on a new FM tuner, needs to have their head examined. I bet I could find a $600 vintage or modded Marantz/Pioneer tuner that will blow it away in sound quality. And if it's the convenience of a remote they want, the latest Marantz tuner is pretty freaking fantastic too. I've had several models over the years, and the best sounding one I remember (and the one I should never have sold) was an old McIntosh MR77, believe it or not - that sucker was over 30 years old and still sounded better than anything I've owned since.

I was actually thinking on the Magnum MD-90 and found one for a little under 1000.00 but I could not bring myself to fork out that much money for FM when I only listen to it occasionally.

yeah my 30 year old Yamaha C-4 is an amazing sounding unit. I think old school is the new cool.

[nightflier]

I was actually thinking on the Magnum MD-90 and found one for a little under 1000.00 but I could not bring myself to fork out that much money for FM when I only listen to it occasionally.

If you also consider that just about every FM station is also on the internet, it might be a better investment to get a really good Internet radio. What are the options there, anyhow? Most of what I've seen looks like a clock radio. Any higher-end component/seperates format gear out there for Internet radio?

[Rich-n-Texas]

What? Never seen an "internet radio", I gotta admit.

I listen to Internet radio stations whenever I want through my network attached receiver, and it doesn't look like any clock radio I've seen before. I have a few favorite stations bookmarked as well.

[BRANDONH]

If you also consider that just about every FM station is also on the internet, it might be a better investment to get a really good Internet radio. What are the options there, anyhow? Most of what I've seen looks like a clock radio. Any higher-end component/seperates format gear out there for Internet radio?

yeah I dont know about what is available in a separate internet radio tuner.
Over all the little Sony does a good job and its really not bad for 80.00.

Found a local HD-2 station that is commercial free and no DJ just classic rock all the time and it sounds pretty good, still not audiophile though but good enough for me.
I would think that HD radio and internet radio would be comparable in audio quality.
.
I just don't want anyone to think that it will sound anything like CD quality but it again has a whole lot to do with the station sand how much they care about the broadcast quality so some will sound like CD but so far many don't.

[nightflier]

The low quality is largely the result of parceled out bandwidth to different streams. Commercial stations looking to maximize ad revenue will typically have 2-3 other streams, but there's a good chance that non-profits (such as KUSC here is SoCal), will be of higher quality if they stick to a single stream. Theoretically, single stream HD should be close to CD quality.

[zepman1]

What a joke. I thought the whole point was for crystal clear, CD quality radio broadcasts? All I hear so far is that the quality is not that much better than analog radio.

Count me out.

[Rich-n-Texas]

1 & 1/2 words: XM radio.

[nightflier]

While XM radio doesn't have the multicast shortcoming (having to share bandwidth), it is still not CD quality because of other transmission factors. There really hasn't been a comparison of full-bandwidth HD radio and XM, at least that I have read about, but maybe there ought to be. Another issue with XM is that not all the receivers are of the same quality. Some, like the Magnum Dynalab are of exceptional quality (at that price it had better be), while many of the smaller, compact little jobbies are of much lower quality than what the medium is capable of, so that's another factor to consider.

[Rich-n-Texas]

My biggest concern is going to be reception. IIRC, you'll also need an antenna so geographic location will come into play as well don't ya think?

[blackraven]

Here's a very nice HD tuner, also does XM

http://www.rotel.com/NA/products/ProductDetails.htm?Id=22

[nightflier]

Here's a very nice HD tuner, also does XM

http://www.rotel.com/NA/products/ProductDetails.htm?Id=22

I don't see XM anywhere in the description. It says it will take input from up to 3 Sirius tuners and I really fail to see the point in that), but no XM. I'm also wondering what one gets for $900: basically an FM & HD tuner with RCA line inputs, right? While I do like some of Rotel's products, I'm not really seeing the point of this one. Or am I not reading this correctly?

[blackraven]

My mistake, I misread the info on the Rotel. I would never pay $900 for a tuner regardless. $300 maybe.

[Mike Anderson]

If you also consider that just about every FM station is also on the internet, it might be a better investment to get a really good Internet radio. What are the options there, anyhow? Most of what I've seen looks like a clock radio. Any higher-end component/seperates format gear out there for Internet radio?

Super high end:

http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_transporter.html

Good enough:

http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html

[nightflier]

The transporter is "Super High-End"? So what does that make Magnum Dynalab's $4K-8K tuners?

[Kevio]

I wanted to say if your sensitive to the sound of digital like I am don't bother with HD radio.
The more I listen to it the more I dislike its tone quality fact, some of the stations sound like MP3 to me.

HD radio, satellite radio, internet streaming and MP3 players all use the same basic "perceptual coder" technology. The two most important factors that determine audio quality are quality of the encoder and bitrate. The playback device is usually not the weak link so upgrading probably will not produce much improvement.

On satellite and HD radio, broadcasters have the choice of trading audio quality for more channels. They almost always choose more channels at the expense of audio quality.

Since the internet is overbuilt and many of us have broadband connections, there's not always such a pinch on bitrate over the internet. If you dig deep enough on radio station web sites, you can often find a digital stream that sounds better than the over-the-air signal. 128 Kbit Ogg Vorbis, Windows media or even Real. 128 Kbit MP3 is marginal.