Customer Reviews

Sony XDR-S3HD HD Radio

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I've been searching for a HD radio that I could live with for some time now. I finally found one that is worth the money. Sony did so many things right with this radio that other manufacturers should take note.

It has a beautiful wood cabinate with a cloth speaker grill. The display is very legible and shows a wealth of information at a glance. The sound quality is top notch. It fills my bedroom with a warm inviting sound that I could listen to all day. The reception is above average, never drifting off station and never any static. It pulls in distant stations with ease and even pulls in AM stations well.

The menu system is the best of any HD radio that I have tried. Very intuitive and easy to master.

I have tried other HD radio's from Polk iSonic, Sangean and Boston Acoustics. I like this one the best out of all of them. The iSonic had more features and a slightly better sound but it's software was buggy and it often did strange things not to mention that it ran so hot you could fry an egg on it. The Sangean only had one control knob to navigate through the numerous menu options. It was cumbersome to operate and the bass was way too overbearing for my liking. The Boston was a good little radio that was primarily designed to be an alarm clock. The display didn't show much information and overall I didn't like it as well as the Sony.

The Sony does have one flaw. There is a cooling fan on the botton of the unit that I can hear. Sometimes it sounds like the bearing is bad. When it is running correctly all I hear is a slight fan noise. If it were on my night stand it would be irritating. To combat this problem I placed it across the room on my dresser. I just wonder how long the bearings will last in that fan......

I needed a table-top radio for my new office. I did a fair amount of research but was frustrated with the dearth of reviews (zilch on CNET, etc.). I did a test drive of a demo unit at a store and it sounded ok, and the HD aspect seemed to work. I ordered a unit and have had it for about a week. No problems with the reception. I am now able to pick up the local NPR FM station, along with its two additional digital "bands". I listen at low volumes at work, so I generally don't crank the unit. It seems to sound better when it's louder. The remote is nice and workable. One thing that bothers me is a slight hissing sound that is noticable at the lower volumes I listen to. It's not a reception problem. It's there when line-in is activated as well. It is lessened when the treble is turned down, but that, of course, softens the sound a bit too much. If the radio is beyond arms length, the hiss may be less of a problem, but my desk is such that the unit is fairly close. As a sidebar, I am annoyed by those posters who seem to have a chip on their shoulders when it comes to HD radio. I imagine that they are satellite subscribers who are invested in that technology. It's pointless to slam HD radio. It's not comparable to satellite. I just wanted a decent radio with some added options (the three NPR bands are worth it for me). I had XM for awhile but I'm tired of being "nickeled and dimed" to death.

Packing:
Packing is extremely good. The radio and power supply are enclosed in a hard fiber (like egg carton material, only thicker and harder). Plastic wrapped, etc.

Power Supply:
The power supply is separate from the radio. It is the heaviest power supply I've ever seen for this type of equipment (looks like it was designed by the Germans for the battleship Bismark!). There's a 6-ft cord from the radio to the power supply, then a 6.5 ft cord from the power supply to the electric outlet--it has a two-prong polarized plug. This is nice to have a regular electric plug so one doesn't have to figure out where yet another power supply can be plugged directly into the wall electric outlet.

FM Antenna:
The supplied FM dipole antenna works extremely well. It has plastic eyelets so that it can be tacked to the wall with push-pins or thumbtacks (takes 3). The antenna cord from the radio to the center of the dipole is 7-ft, so this should be adequate for anyone's setup. If one lives in an outlying area, I suggest either the Fanfare FM Antenna (ccrane.com) or the Magnum Dynalab ST-2 FM Antenna; whip antennas that can be installed indoors or outdoors. Or the Terk FM-50, installed in the attic or outdoors.

AM Antenna:
The supplied AM loop antenna works well. The instructions on setting it up could have been a bit more detailed. At least they were written in real, not pidgin, English!

Tone Settings:
I have Treble set to +1, Bass to +2, and Surround to ON. This gives really good sound. Piano, cello, violin and voice sound natural.

Volume:
I have the Volume set to 30 and this fills the living room with wonderful sound. I generally listen to KBPS 89.9 FM (Portland, OR) a classical music station which is received in HD.

Reason for buying:
FM HD radio is a big improvement over normal FM; there are no dropouts and the sound is almost CD-quality. (I don't know why it's so hard to find an FM HD radio or receiver. Manufacturers seem reluctant to embrace this standard. Try, for example, to find a Home Theater Receiver for less than $1000 and it is impossible! Only a high-end receiver is available at close to $2000 and it is high-wattage and will probably heat the room up about 10 degrees or so and do its thing to make the power situation even worse!) I wanted a simple FM HD radio that I could turn on in the living room and not have to mess with the main stereo; particularly in the summer when it puts a lot of heat into the room. I have a Sangean HDR-1 HD Radio/FM RDS/AM Digital Stereo Receiver in the bedroom which is an extremely good radio; however, it has its quirks, both intermittent and otherwise. It was also about $40 more expensive than the Sony (both units were purchased from Amazon.com); thus I thought the Sony would be a better value. (I have had the Sangean about 10 months; the Sony was not available when I purchased the Sangean; if it had been I might have bought the Sony.) The Sony is slightly larger than the Sangean; 11-7/8" W x 4-3/4" H x 6-3/4" D versus 11-3/8" W x 4-1/2" H x 7-1/4" D. The Sony also is a lot heavier piece of gear, 8 lbs (with power supply) vs 4 lbs, and sounds slightly better than the Sangean. Additionally, it has Tone Controls and Surround Sound which the Sangean does not (except for ON and VOLUME, all of the Sangean controls are on its remote; god help you if you don't have a spare CR2032 lithium button battery). And the Sony Remote Control looks like a normal remote, not a credit card powered by an expensive button battery like the Sangean. The Remote Control takes 2 AAA batteries which are not provided by Sony. So, you'll have to buy your own batteries for the Remote Control. Both the Sony and the Sangean have Line In capability (Sangean calls it Aux In) so one can listen to, for example, a portable DVD/CD player in higher quality stereo. Both have Headphone Out plugs which can be used to input the units to a regular stereo system. The Sony has twice the number of presets compared to the Sangean, 20 station presets each for AM and FM; whereas the Sangean has only 20 total, 10 AM and 10 FM; either are more than adequate. I'm not terribly enthralled with the semi-gloss brown paint (or paint look-alike) finish--I'd have preferred either a gloss black like a Young Chiang piano or a semi-gloss black like a Rolls-Royce, only without the expensive and quaint orange-peel effect (hint to manufacturers--if you must use paint or paint look-alike, use black).

Pro:

1) works well, sounds great (I use an external amp, speakers and antenna)

2) internal speakers are ok

3) cabinet is ok (looks like wood without grain)

Con:

1) Has a clock and alarm, but is a few features short of a clock radio (snooze button, gradual volume increase, buzzer if music doesn't work)

2) Takes a strong signal to get HD. Roof antenna recommended.

3) display is way too bright. Plan on adding some film/gel if you like to sleep in the dark.

4) a little bigger than I'd like.

This is a great product. I live in Seattle and we have two NPR stations. Normally I can only receive one of these stations because I am too close to the transmitter that broadcasts one station's signal while stepping all over the other. This radio allows me to receive both stations in HD. They come in crystal clear. As a bonus, the stations broadcast multiple HD signals so I essentially now have 5 NPR signals to choose from vs. only one in the past. There are tons of other HD stations that are being broadcasted in this area. I especially enjoy the local classical music station which sounds really good in HD.

Unlike others, I found this radio very easy to set up and use. I have yet to crack the manual. Someone also mentioned that the display is too bright. This may be true of the default setting but there are two less bright settings, the lowest of which is perfect for use in a bedroom with lights out.

Lastly, i am no audiophile but this radio delivers great fidelity. I have not experienced the hiss that one reviewer reported. It has a beautiful rich tone and thanks to HD, the signal is devoid of any static. This thing is a winner.

Updated on 1/7/08 - I use this radio in my home office, which is very quiet. In this environment, the power supply on this radio buzzes pretty loudly when plugged in, which is such to say, all the time. I returned it to Amazon and got a replacement XDR-53HD which has the same problem.

This is my 2nd HD Radio that i bought this year, and im surprised that this one is the best one i bought! I used a Sangean brand but this Sony rocks it out! The radio is both beautiful both outside and the sound coming from it is very nice! It has a alarm which wakes me up in the morning, you can actually control the sound properties of the radio like the bass and treble, the sangean didnt do this, there are real controls on the top that you can select items off of, easier than the sangean. I love this radio and everyone should get Sony's 1st HD Radio!

The radio part is excellent. The clock radio part has some problems. First there is no snooze button. Second there is only one preset for alarm time. Initially as set up, when the radio awakened me in the morning, the display did not show the current time. Later I found another display option, so this problem is cleared now. Also the buyer should realize that HD (hybrid digital) radio is not a standard yet, although there seem to be several to many in my local area.

I treated myself to this radio for my 50th birthday present to myself. I work in radio, so I consider myself a relatively demanding consumer. The radio just blows me out of the water it's so fantastic.

I live in South Seattle and two of the NPR stations are a bit fuzzy for me on traditional FM. The same holds true for the Classical station.

But with this radio- those stations are CRYTSTAL CLEAR HD- using the antenna that came with the unit. The area music stations are great on HD too.

With HD- each station can have a sub programming station as well. One of those in the area happens to be the BBC World Service- which I love.

I was up and running with it- out of the box- plug and play in ten minutes.

The sound quality is great and the remote is such a bonus. One can also adjust the brightness of the backlight significantly. I'm just tickled with this gift to myself. I love it. Five stars, absolutely. INCREDIBLE.

There are only a few HD Radios available now, and there seems to be little publicity from the manufactures or the radio stations themselves. That said, I purchased a refurbished Sony from Amazon and it arrived as advertised. The setup was fine but the directions could be clearer. Sony sought fit to provide directions on a fold out sheet which is a little clumsy. In this era of increasingly technological gadget, I find it inexcusable not to offer clearer setup. Although to be fair I had used all the presets and set everything up in less than hour. Now, for the comparison between HD and Satellite. I purchased my Sony XM radio in 2002 and paid for the monthly service until Dec 07. HD has no additional cost so give the nod to HD. This is a big savings over five years. Quality is the next issue. FM/HD is clear and offers a plethora of stations for those of us that live in metro areas. I live outside Seattle and there are well over fifty stations that broadcast in HD. You still get the same number annoying commercial spots unless you listen to NPR and their affiliates. Finally, sound quality is comparable to satellite radio and far better than the $350 Bose Wave Radio that I've listen to for the past six years. Sony XDR-S3HD HD Radio

This compact HD Digital radio is small enough to fit on your night stand.
It features a scan to locate stations in your area and set-up and programing is quite easy but takes a few minutes to experiment with the settings. The illuminated screen can be adjusted for brightness, especially for night use. It has a sleep timer which I find very useful in lulling me to sleep. As for the sound quality, that will depend on how strong your reception area is. It is supplied with 2 wire antennas although I use a slightly more sensitive small antenna that I bought at Radio Shack for under $25.
An example of the new technology in my area of Boston is that I discovered that WGBH the PBS station here which broadcasts on 89.7 actually can now slit their signal into three separate programs. For example: WGBH-1 is their regular broadcast schedule, WGBH-2 broadcasts classical music 24/7 without the usual fund raising and corporate credits and WGBH-3 is their Cape and Island Station which has a separate programing schedule. So, you get three for the price of one. Yes you can get all this on-line if you have a speaker setup on your computer.
In summary, the Sony XDR-S3HD is worth the discounted price I paid for it and eventually all programing will be digital so we will need to step up to receive the new technology for radio and TV. It also delivers better sound quality in AM although I don't listen to any of the AM stations in the Boston area.
Hope this review was helpful. Enjoy!