Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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117 of 117 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great FM & HD TUNER, May 21, 2008
First of all, yes, this is a tuner, NOT a radio, and Amazon should correct that! Also, HD radio is NOT High Definition radio. The HD stands for Hybrid Digital. So don't assume you'll have better sound in HD than analog radio! That said,
I have been interested in getting an HD radio to try out the format. Being an audiophile, I checked several audiophile review sites for the Sangean tuners, and they weren't getting too good of reviews. Also, their price is $200-250.
Then I came across a review for this tuner, and how much better it is, saying the FM analog portion alone is worth the price.
I have to agree, the FM tuner is much better than the tuner in my $1000 PrePro! Analog reception picks up more stations and the sound is great! Haven't heard analog FM sound this good since the 60's! Analog AM is also better than my Prepro (though not by much). Great sound, and only $99 ! This is a steal, grab it before they jack up the price! Audiophie FM tuners go for $200 & up. All this performance, and it's about the size of a car stereo!
There are about 20 FM HD stations here in Chicago, and it pulls them all in great, except for one, which keeps switching between analog and HD. There are some AM HD stations in Chicago. It would show which were HD, but none of them had enough strength to switch the tuner from analog to HD, so I couldn't judge AM HD.
Now for some things that need improving: there are 40 presets; 20 for FM and 20 for AM....not enough for FM and too many for AM. If you want to hear a HD station in analog, there's no way to switch it back to analog, you have to listen in HD. The dial glows like a cellphone, which is great while you're using it, but when you turn it off, it still glows, like a night light in a dark room. When powering down, it should dim. You can dim it down in the menu so it doesn't glow in the dark, but then when you turn it on, you can't read it because it's dark. Who wants to set the dimmer everytime you turn it on and off?
Overall, it's more than worth it.
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150 of 153 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very good tuner but some user interface issues hold it back, October 1, 2008
The receiver is a tuner that is very small and intended to plug into your existing stereo system in a living room setting and it does this very well.
Acquiring HD is the fastest I've experienced, not the 8 seconds it should be, but close enough.
There is a really handy arrow that tells you if there are more subchannels and if you should tune 'up' or 'down' to hear them. This is really handy since it takes a while to tune HD signals, even on the best tuners.
Sound is excellent. You hear the talk radio host sip his coffee.
Remote is handy and not as useless as others think.
Presets can be set to HD subchannels. This is a major, crucial feature, and I'm very happy with it.
On AM Radio, even if the analog signal has static and interference, the HD Radio signal still comes on with crystal-clear audio. This is a huge advantage.
Some issues:
The unit runs extremely hot when tuning HD, hot when running, and very warm when off.
The back light cannot be turned off and remains lit when the power is turned off--this is a major flaw.
No optical output is a major omission for something that is just a tuner.
You cannot input a frequency. You must tune up or down one step or use presets.
The radio does remember its presets when AC power is removed, so I'm not seeing what other reviewers said.
The tuning buttons are to the left of the preset buttons meaning that I accidentally hit the preset when I want to "tune up" or "tune down".
Tuning off an HD channel is easy to do accidentally and tuning back takes a while for the HD to come back.
The tuner machine picks up alot of its own digital hash on AM.
Nighttime AM HD is currently banned by the industry due to adjacent channel interference so your AM radio will go to analog when local sunset occurs.
One word about talk radio: Even though HD Radio has been around for a few years most broadcasting equipment in my area is not upgraded well enough to provide clean broadcasting, especially on AM talk radio stations whose old analog signal covered up a world of audio hurt that you can now hear in HD. Talk radio is hard to listen to unless it's a national show that is well produced and processed. You'll hear background sound, hiss, hum, and feedback which would otherwise be masked by traditional AM broadcasting.
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54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great radio, June 9, 2008
Compared to the current Sangean, the Sony XDRF1HD is smaller, costs less, and gets as good of a signal. I have it on my computer desk plugged into my PreSonus Firebox amp.
Nice features:
* sleep button
* remote control
Not so nice:
* no volume control from Sony itself (would not matter if my PreSonus amp had a remote control)
* does not remember channels or time after a power outage
If you have HD channels in your area that you enjoy, then this is a good box. I live in D.C. and basically got this box for the extra WAMU channels.
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