Customer Reviews

Sangean HDR-1 Table Top HD Radio Receiver

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

After owning a Sangean WR-2 clock radio for a year and a half and growing more fond of it, I decided to get another upscale radio for my office, a radio with a remote control so I could avoid computer interference by keeping the radio a good 6 feet away. After reading about HD radio and Sangean's entrance into the market, I decided to take a chance. Worst case scenario, I figured, is that it would be another high-grade radio like my Sangean WR-2. Like the WR-2, the HDR-1 has a high-grade feel, a solid construction, memory presets, a remote control, and strong sensitivity on AM and FM. However, the HDR-1 is definitely an upgrade and you might consider that it has the following advantages and differences:

1. Two speakers instead of one.
2. Easy-to-use (simply plug in) AM external antenna for hard-to-get stations.
3. HD quality is clearly discernable, clear, full, no static, no "birdy," no chirps.
4. Some HD stations have multi-broadcasts.
5. Most functions have to be performed with the remote. For this reason, I don't see this as a bedside radio. Who wants to squint at their remote in a dark bedroom? More appropriate for a bedside radio is the Sangean WR-2 or the Eton Sound 100. But for office or anywhere that requires a distance between you and your radio, the HDR-1 is an excellent choice.

Update: Be aware that in AM it takes a few seconds before the radio "kicks in" to digital mode. The sound is so good it's hard to listen to non-digital AM stations. Even the strongest station in Los Angeles, KFI 640, sounds bad because it's non HD. One last point: I'm more and more in love with the speaker sound. I can't even play them as loud as I want to as I'm working when I have the radio on. But these dual speakers really shine.

Second Update: 1-19-07: After 3 weeks, I've discovered a weakness on AM: Rainy weather compromises the HD signal. This problem is compounded by the fact that the radio has weak conventional AM (much weaker for example than my Sangean WR-2 and my Eton/Grundig S350) so that when it's not in HD mode the AM sounds bad, a constant crackle in the background. FM remains strong in both HD and non HD mode, but Sangean needs to address this AM weakness.

de K0UNX. I know radios.

A year ago I purchased the Boston Acoustics Recepter Radio HD, one of the few available at that time. I used it for a weekend and returned it immediately. It would pick up ONLY HD, not standard AM or FM stations. The receiver was so weak that even strong local stations in the Denver market didn't hold lock, and would have to rebuffer.

Last week, I decided to give the Sangean HDR-1 a try. Yippee! This one is a keeper! It picks up BOTH HD and STANDARD AM/FM stations. The receiver is much more sensitive than the BA model, and easily holds lock without even raising the FM antenna. The audio is clear and strong enough to fill the whole yard.

I was also impressed with the EQUALIZER. I'm an "old-timer", so I have high-frequency loss. Conversations sound "muddy" to me. This radio allows me to tailor the frequency response so that it sounds good to my failing ears.

Having an auxiliary input is VERY WELCOME, so I can use it for my XM radio or iPod as well.

One other really nice feature is NON-VOLATILE RAM, so it doesn't have to be completely reprogrammed after moving it from room to room or a power failure. You need to reset the clock, but that's all you lose. Being retired, I don't even care what time it is, so thats no show-stopper for me. I'm very happy not having to reprogram all the stations and equalizer.

Congratulations to the Sangean team!

I am returning this radio, even though the sound was very good and -- except for one difficult station -- the reception was also very good.

I bought this to use as a bedside clock radio. It has no real controls except those found on a poorly laid-out remote (the bose for some reason also just uses a remote only). If you lose the remote, or even if you can't find it in the morning, you can't operate the functions. Changing the clock time, changing the alarms or putting the radio into sleep mode all take endless button pushing on the remote. It got very frustrating after a while, but because I liked the HD sound I had planned to keep it.

That was before I found out that the radio alarm would sometimes just not go off. Then the machine sometimes jammed up when setting the functions and refused to respond to the remote or the on and off switch until the unit was "reset". Resetting the unit means unplugging it, unplugging it means you lose everything but your presets (you have to go through all the cycles to set the clock and alarms). The final final straw that caused me to return it and find a new radio was when it started losing the signal from a local station (but not the sister hd stations transmitting on the same frequency).

So, in sum, I liked the look, I liked the sound, I liked the hd stations, I hated the required remote, I hated the difficult and cumbersome user interface, I hated the buggy operation.

I purchased this radio a week ago and was disappointed with the poor reception. In my case, the AM reception is poor. The FM reception, with the built in antenna was OK, but, the radio will not go digital unless it has a strong signal. I recommend an antenna like the C. Crane 'FM Reflect'.

After I connected the C Crane antenna, the FM was better than my component FM receiver with a similar antenna.

I am now receiving most all of the Los Angeles stations (about 45 miles away) with good digital reception. Some stations offer three digital channels, and I get those.

Ken

Edit added:
I connected a "Terk Technology AM-1000 Advantage Passive AM Indoor Antenna " to this radio and was able to get standard AM reception up to the quality of my other radios. A note on connecting the antenna, the connections appear to be polarized. If you get poor reception with the Terk then switch the wires around. The sound quality of even standard AM is the best that I have heard on any table top radio.
k

Updated 3 Dec 08;

My latest opinion after owning two of these for a year and a half:
This is a good sounding radio. One person commented about the brightness of the display, hey, you can turn that off. I have had one of the HDR-1 radios on my night stand for about 18 months now. I use it to wake me in the morning. My main complaint is about the 'clock radio' features. If the power in your house goes out for any amount of time, the radio WILL forget what time it is and revert to some bogus default time. The other settings, such as alarm time and station presets are remembered ok.

Other than that, I love this radio. It does have two custom equalizer settings (along with the fixed ones) called 'my bass' and 'my treble'. The manual is not too clear on this, but, basically set the amount of treble in one and bass in the other. Then select either setting and both will apply.

If you do not live within about 30 miles (depends on terrain) of the broadcast stations, YOU WILL BE UNHAPPY with the HD part of the radio, as in, you probably will not have any HD reception.

I like the sound, on the weekends, I plug one of my ipods into the 'aux in' jack and listen through this radio's speakers. If I need to 'turn it up', I connect the ipod into my 1000 watt home theater system. I do prefer the lower volume and excellent sound of this radio.

Ken

I purchased this radio because our favorite smooth-jazz station became a hip-hop station, and we learned that the smooth jazz programming was available on the secondary digital channel. However, we could not get the second channel to work with any consistency. It worked in the kitchen, but not in the bedroom, where we had intended to use it. Another reviewer has commented on the user-unfriendly setup process, and I second those comments totally. But the deal-killer for me is that it just can't pull in the stations. I tried everything. It just doesn't work very well at all.

We live in suburban Dallas.

I'm sending it back. I NEVER send stuff back, but this was really unsatisfactory.

I was looking forward to getting introduced to some new music and checking out HD Radio. The problem with the radio is that it simply doesn't pull in stations. It gets only a small fraction of the stations I receive in my car. When it scans for FM stations, it comes up with 4-7. I live near San Francisco, and there are way more stations than that. I don't get NPR or my favorite jazz station, and the classical station reception is mixed. Perhaps most importantly, I checked the HD Radio website (HDRadio.com) and learned that there are at least a dozen HD Radio stations in SF. The Sangean doesn't pull in a single one! I am going to return it.

You'd think a radio this expensive would have better QC, but it has bad quality problems...mine was erratic on its set-up parameters, losing some, locking up on others. And it doesn't even hold the time a few minutes after a brief power interruption. Sheesh, even the cheapest 10 buck clock radio can do that! Buyer beware.

Sangean receivers used to be considered to have a "hot front-end" by ham radio enthusiasts, and holding a General Class license, I expected great things from this radio. This receiver is pretty poor and my $10 clock radio does much better! I have trouble pulling in AM stations that are 5 miles away!! Menus are convoluted and too complicated. Sound is very good when you finally can pull in an FM HD station. Worst part is the digital clock loses about one whole minute per week, so it is 10 minutes off at the end of a couple months and then I have to reset it. Very aggravating. A digital clock ought to be more accurate than that! You almost lose an hour per year!! Maybe this is Sangean's way of saving us from adjusting our clocks one-hour for daylight saving! For $250, this radio is just not worth it. I would return it if I had not purchased it with gift certificates so the cost was much less for me, personally. A fellow office worker has the Boston Accoustics HD radio and it is much better...not nearly as pretty to look at, but much easier to use, the clock is accurate and it even sounds a little better. Take a pass on this radio unless someone practically gives it to you, as in my case.
UPDATE:
Sangean has fixed some bugs and I sent mine in for warranty repair and now it keeps good time and pulls in stations better. Still, whenever there is the slightest power outage, it loses time AND memory presets for stations and the menus remain convoluted. It also has a very slight, low volume AC hum that can be heard when the power is turned off. I continue to love the sound of a HD radio station emanating from this radio, and this unit is attractive, yet it's overpriced and needs improvement. Boston Acoustics still looks like the better deal, and if you don't want HD, try looking at the Tivoli table radios.

I have purchased four HD table-top radios and this is the one with the best reception (I have placed them all side by side, the Sony, the Accurian (Radio Shack), the iLuv). I think the people who gave this bad reviewers wither did not set up the antenna optimally or do not realize that the HD signals are always weaker only the strongest stations will come in HD.

I do not recommend this as a bedroom clock radio, try the iLuv 168 for that, I love it.

This radio is loaded with tech features I have not seen elsewhere... such as a display for the HD signal strength adn much more. Those who are techical (geeks) or radio buffs will prefer this radio.

The cabinet is real wood.

I have been wanting to get an HD radio for some time. I decided to buy the Sandean HDR-1 to replace an alarm clock radio in our bedroom. We live in a rual area & were only able to pickup a small college HD radio station with the provided antenna. We were able to pickup many many regular FM & AM stations. Many of those stations are on the list as broadcasting in HD. The next surprise was when we went to bed. When we turned off the light we discovered that the display, set at its lowest setting, was so bright you could easly read a book with the light it provided. I decided to return the radio. On the plus side the radio looks good & the sound quality was very good.