Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
161 of 181 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Cool toy, but not very good as a clock radio and not true hi-fi, July 17, 2006
OK, I'll have to admit up front that I became interested in this radio because the clock looked really cool. The HD radio seemed like a nice bonus but wasn't my main reason for buying this radio.
So, let me first review the clock. The dot-matrix display allows it to show nicely-rounded digits, but the digits are fairly small. Therefore those of you who wear glasses and plan to use this radio on a nightstand better think again. Even if you can read the clock, the display is VERY bright even at the lowest dimming level ... it casts a blue glow on the opposite wall and I can literally make shadow puppets on the wall. I had to point it away from the bed! Yes, it's that bad. I will probably end up moving it to another room or selling it for that reason alone.
Next, the radio. While the sound quality is fine, it is afterall a tabletop radio and doesn't have the sound quality of a true hi-fi component. I really can't hear much improvement of the HD radio over standard analog broadcasts ... listening to "standard" FM on my home stereo with its larger speakers still sounds much better than listening to HD radio on the Receptor HD. So there really seems to be little point of the HD audio on a tabletop radio other than the potential new features like muticast, etc. My next biggest gripes with the radio are lack of seek or scan buttons, and the kludgy station memory ... you can only add new channels to the end of the list.
So, in summary, this radio excels at nothing and fails miserably as a bedside clock radio. If you are an early adopter who just *has* to be the first on your block to listen to HD radio, go for it. Otherwise, save your money.
|
|
|
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cutting edge design and premium sound., December 7, 2006
I bought this after hearing the regular Boston Receptor clock radio in a store and looking into it on line. The HD version appealed to me because the one station I always wake up to (NPR) is now broadcast in HD in my city. I liked the idea of stereo instead of mono, simple alarm set/snooze function, a remote, and most especially wanted good sound quality (hoping to get even better with the HD, right?). I orderred it from Antonline, an approved amazon vendor, and it came in a few days and I dived into the box.
First impressions: excellent packaging, instructions, and construction. Powerred up: sound is amazingly good for a "clock radio" which is what I am using this for. I am sure you could get comperable sound out of a mini component system, or better out of a real Hi-Fi, but they can't wake you up, and for a clock radio this is truly unreal. I was annoyed that there is no seek function to the digital tuner, but it only took 5 minutes to program my stations into the 20 memory slots. After that you never need to seek anyway. I put my Wake Up station as #1 and #20, so it is a quick spin of the dial in either direction, no sweat. First off, the tiny wire attached as the FM antena out of the box is a joke. That didn't get as good reception as my existing clock radio. I quickly put the T-type antena which was included into use and got excellent reception instantly. My NPR station sounds normal with the slight hiss and pop of FM for about 6 or 7 seconds until the HD indicator comes on and all noise goes away with just crystal clear voices or music to hear.
I did think the bass was too prominent at first. So I read the instructions and adjusted the "bass boost" by pressing the dimmer switch for 4 seconds and the turned the nob to -2. It can go all the way to -6, so I am sure anyone can be made happy.
The diplay does have a range of 3 brightness settings, but I agree that the lowest was still a bit bright if you had your face right next to the radio as you were going to sleep. Solution: turn radio on, then press and hold the clock button for 4 seconds, the display will then show an additional setting mode, turn the tuning knob to Hardware and press, then turn to Brightness Steps and press, then turn to Low and then turn the volume knob to whatever you like as your low setting. I use 8, but the factory set it at 14 and it can go up to over 100. I just found this feature which was not in the instructions by accident, but it is nice. There are about 6 other adjustment that can be modified including a full graphic equalizer for both right and left channels or simple bass and treble if you prefer. Some of the adjustments are really advanced such as cutoff frequencies, digital delay, HD data diplay type, etc. but even if you somehow screwed something up there is a button to hit to Restore Defaults. Very flexible.
Design wise, the unit reminds me of an I-pod in that it is very simple in its controls and display, and truly intuitive to use. It has only two knobs in front and a few buttons on top. Times for alarms are set by twisting a knob, twist fast and it moves very fast, but twist slow and it can easily move one minute at a time (like an I-pod wheel), try that with buttons. I did try playing my Ipod through it and it sounds just as good as when on my Altec Lansing subwoofer assisted surround sound system for my computer. Very nice.
Bonus feature: I always hated getting into bed after the wife was asleep and having to turn the radio on for a split second to check and be sure the station was set and the volume was loud. If you don't check with a typical clock radio then if either the volume or tuning dial got bumbed, you are toast. Now I just press Alarm 1 buttton (or 2) and the digital display shows the radio call letters, the time, and the volume ( 1 to 100 ) which is set. Wow, silent reliable confirmation.
The HD station pickup is excellent for me, and the sound is a big improvement over the regular signal. I typically have it on the HD station 80% of the time and then listen to two or three other local stations which come in fine. Distant station reception is OK but not great. I think you would have to get an outside antenna if you wanted to grab really weak signals. I wouldn't get this unit for trying to listen to distant stations because a scratchy signal will sound just as bad in Hi-Fi as on a piece of junk.
Rating 5 of 5 stars: Excellent build quality, design, function, and above all else sound.
|
|
|
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Comparing Recepter Radio HD with Sangean HDR-1, January 11, 2007
de K0UNX. I know radios.
I purchased the Recepter Radio HD a year ago, used it for a weekend and returned it immediately. Even in the Denver market, with lots of very strong HD signals, this radio had trouble finding them. I'd be listening to a strong station, and the radio would lose lock, go silent, and rebuffer before coming back to life. This was one of the few HD radios available when I bought it. I have since purchased a Sangean HDR-1 and love it. Read my review under the Sangean HDR-1.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Saving...
