Quote Originally Posted by Smokey
I agree with you there. I have Hitachi analog Tuner (FT-440) which looks like a tank and sound much sweater than integrated receiver tuner.

But on the same note it might worth mentioning that no matter how much they improve FM, it is still inherently a Mid-Fi medium. And that is mostly due to its limited bandwidth (200khz) which can not be changed. That bandwidth only allow bandwidth allows for broadcasting a 15 kHz bandwidth audio signal.



Until Elapsed mentioned it in his post, I thought HD stand for High Definition radio and was expecting a much higher quality sound than FM (like moving from NTSC TV to HDTV). But all this talk about low bit rate, compressed sound and lossy format for HD radio make it sound like it is going to be DOA (Drumstick On Arrival ) even before it takes off.

May be I had my hopes too high
Smokey,

thanks for the info regarding bandwidth. I didn't realize that. Clearly if there is such a limit in bandwidth (can that be changed?) then there is gong to be a limit to sound quality.

BlackRaven is of course correct, and for the most part and for most listeners, the interference problem does ruin it. I do enjoy listening to Sirius, but sometimes I hear the limit in soundquality. I must admit that HD Radio seems interesting, because its essentially the same given the digital broadcasting technology, and more importantly - ITS FREE!! The broadcasters win, because they get advertising dollars.