Customer Reviews

Radiosophy HD100 Digital HD Radio Receiver

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I have been wanting to try HD radio but was unwilling to spend big bucks on a larger radio until I know whether or not I would like it. I bought this to "try" HD and not be out as much. It turns out that I really like HD radio: my area has a lot of great HD stations and the sound quality IS better than regular FM. I have had satellite in the past, liked the programming but got tired of the price; HD is a reasonable substitute. DO check you area before buying any HD radio; not all areas have HD yet.

The radio itself has small speakers- so don't expect to be overwhelmed. It does sound surprisingly good for the size, however, not nearly as cheap as one might think. The controls are intuitive but it does come with a good instruction manual. This radio is very portable and attractive, perfect for an office or where lower volume is needed. There is no remote, but all necessary controls are located on the front of the radio. It has a great "seek" feature that can seek all stations in your area or just HD stations. There is a HD station indicator light to show when you are locked into an HD station; there is no light for regular analog. There are easy to operate preset buttons that will hold 5 FM and 5 AM stations.

I have not noticed any problems with the power box overheating, but then I always unplug these types of power boxes when not in use. Most will get really warm if left plugged in all the time.

There is a clock radio included in the controls and auxillary jack in the back. It comes with an attached FM antenna and an AM antenna.

I am very, very pleased with this radio. Should Radiosophy come out with a larger unit, I would gladly buy it but keep this one for its portability, decent sound, and ease of operation. I recommend it.

Do you want high quality AM sound? This might work, if you're very close to the radio station.
PROS:
-- lowest price
-- compact
-- good FM, multichannel performance

CONS:
-- tiny speakers deliver tiny sound
-- radio draws 10 watts of power either on or off: if plugged in, this costs me about $15/year for electricity, even if it's shut off.
-- marginal AM performance: almost no AM HD stations during night hours; an HD station 4 miles from my house cannot be received in HD. Regular AM is good: much like any other $20 radio from Amazon.

Summary:
This is the lowest price. But consider spending $50 more for another brand. HD radio from a receiver with 4 watts/channel is never going to give satisfying sound.

It took a long time for a cheap HD radio to come on the market. Compare especially to the wide availability of cheap sets for DAB, the HD equivalent, in the UK. And this one is arriving at just the right time, at least big city radio markets where HD streams are proliferating. But I've had problems with this model. I had to return the first one I got after only a week of use -- massive crackle over the audio made it unlistenable. The same issue started to affect the 2nd model that I received, but not wanting to face yet another return I found that I could control the problem by keeping it unplugged when I'm not using it. This defeats the clock purposes that the radio has, but also seems necessary to keep the heat down on the power supply unit which runs EXTREMELY hot when plugged in (see also previous reviewer's comments about electricity consumption). One other thing -- the headphone volume is unbalanced relative to speaker volume; has to be turned up way high to hear through the headphones, which you then need to remember if you unplug the headphones while the radio is on.

Overall, I'm getting decent use from it (e.g. in Washington DC market, there are now 2 sidebands on WAMU public radio, plus all streams of C-span, plus additional rap and rock music channels on the commercial stations).

BUT: I'm not convinced that all the technical problems were resolved before the radio was put on the market, and it's still really a radio for just one room in the house, and yet not with the speaker quality to make it the main radio. It should have the advantage of not needing subscription fees or antenna access to the sky (as with XM/Sirius). But this is not the radio to drive those advantages home.

Before purchasing this product on the Internet I checked other HD radios.
The more expensive ones: Sangean, Boston Acoustic, had good frequency reproduction, to a much lesser extent the Accurian which sounded dull.
But all of these had poor tuning reception, perhaps because in the stores
the reception was inadequate. Also they were bulkier and somewhat uglier.
None of them sounded as good as my vintage 1970 Grundig portable AM-FM. Like all Grundigs, it had an unbelievable sound, with just one oval speaker. No radio today, has such sound, except perhaps the much more expensive and bulkier Bose models. Thirty years of progress in reverse, too bad that Grundig no longer produces these superior radios, only a few shortwaves.
Now, back to the Radiosophy HD100. I just bought it and let me tell you,
it's a great HD radio. Do not expect any kind of HI-FI from the tiny
3" speakers. But they do a good job of reproducing clean music and speech. The unit is made and sold by an American company. They believe in what they do. The tuning here in Center City Phila is excellent for FM and HD (Not as good for AM, electrical noises) But the HD is superb. Perfect auto tuning on all HD stations, flawless reception with no noise
or any other disturbances.
Price is good (well worth the $ 99 tag)Amazon shipped it to me with free shipping. Good deal.
Small size fits everywhere, only the bulky power supply is a pain, wish
they had it built-in. Overall great, you'll love this small wonder.
Louis, Philadelphia 11/30/2007

The first radio deceived was DOA. That was the bad news. A call to customer service was taken by an answering machine - a bit disappointing - but within 15 minutes the call was returned and the good part started. No questions, no hassle - we will send you a replacement with a return label for the defective unit. The new radio arrived within a couple of days and worked just fine.

The radio works beautifully, with minimal complexity, and good functionality. Sound is, as expected, crystal clear. This is not a high end stereo, but sound dramatic when plugged into one. All in all a good experience. HD radio at a good price point. Outstanding customer service. I would buy from these folk again.

This little radio sounds great and its features were easy for me to learn how to use. Its tuning and seeking features are especially nice and I am thrilled to have all of the extra channels without any extra monthly fees like it costs for satellite radio! I also really like being able to switch quickly to local radio stations for news, unlike internet or satellite radio. I've paid about the same price in the past for regular radios or other kinds of music players and have been very disappointed in the reception and sound quality. I am not disappointed with this radio - for the money, it has been a good buy for me - getting many hours of enjoyment out of it.

I wanted to like this affordably priced HD radio, but in all honesty, the quality is very poor. The sound is not good; the AM reception, even of the nearby 50,000 watt blowtorch station is poor; the clock never works; the lighted display is too bright and not adjustable; the buttons are not user-friendly. Spend an extra $60 and get a better radio. That's what I'm going to do now!

I just received my HD100 2 days ago and on vacation in an area in Florida where the AM reception is very poor but the HD100 picked up many stations and some in HD. The FM reception is really great and a quarter of the stations where in HD. Im from the Mid-West near a large city and can't wait to get back home because Im sure the the reception will be GREAT.
I have also checked out the other features of this radio and all work well, I had read a review that said there were no options for the alarm, WRONG!!!
I have been using the radio for wake-up.
I highly recommend this radio and the price is great for all its features.

Like many other reviewers, I was going to try this radio as a first HD radio and have really been impressed with this little HD clock radio. First off, I've never spent so much on an AM-FM radio - $70 (plus a $30 donation to the local radio station that was axing their bluegrass programs and moving them to HD). I'd probably buy this one again:
Pros:
= the sound is very good for a clock radio - two speakers are nice on a clock radio
= the telescoping FM mast antenna works much better than most clock radios (Sony uses a crummy wire that picks up mucho static, but not much signal)
= the clock settings are kind of confusing (never did read the manual - some day maybe)
= the only point of comparison is the twice as costly model at the local Radio Shack ("no I do not want to buy any cellphones today, thanks")
= customer service is really top-notch - thanks, Sue!

Cons:
= the LCD is too small to be useful as a clock (myopic 45-year-old eyes)
= the status LEDs are too bright - the blue one illuminates the entire bedroom
= first unit arrived DOA - Radiosophy sent a new one within a couple of days & emailed me a return shipping label

I'd buy this one again, but use some black tape for the LEDs and keep my old trusty standby RCA RP5420A alarm clock.

I bought the Radiosophy specifically for 24/7 access to BBC news, which is available as an HD channel on a local radio station.

It's more than adequate for talk radio: the sound is clean, and its small footprint works well in my kitchen. But for those of you who are looking for a standalone music-radio player, I would not recommend this product, unless you like your music at low volumes, and in the background. While the music sounds clean, the speakers just can't crank out much sound.

Furthermore, the power supply is large, stays warm, and if unplugged, resets the clock settings. If your house is prone to sporadic power outages, don't even think of using this as a clock radio.

The analog FM reception is just so-so with the supplied antenna. It's not nearly as strong as my ancient boombox.

Also, using the AM antenna messed up my HD-FM reception.

If you're looking for a low-cost tabletop HD radio for talk radio or quiet background music, then this unit will suffice, and is a good value. Otherwise, I would consider spending a bit more for a higher-fidelity unit.