Are there any good HD radio tuners?

[KevinCorr]

There is currently a Denon high end multiroom tuner being sold on ebay. It lists for 900 dollars but is being sold for about 13cost me about 160. 0, basically because it wasn't selling. It is a modular system so addition to the tuner you have to get an HD module. The total cost me about 160. I find it is a very nice sounding tuner, a bit overkill for my needs, but a great price. The model is the Denon tu-604CI. Denon still has it on its sight at the original price.

Looks like the same deal that Exhippy got.
I don't see that there are any HD cards now for those left on ebay.

Shipping rant:
Emma's AV Outlet does not ship to Alaska. Don't ask me why. It really pisses me off though. I use to write to every one asking for an explanation but never got a coherent one. Now, I don't even bother. If the buyer pays shipping it can't possibly matter to the seller which of the 50 states you are in. It is one of the great mysteries. I guess if you are an ebay seller you could throw a dart at a map to choose a state not to ship to. They are all invited to the theological place of eternal punishment.
Even when they offer free shipping I have offered to pay the shipping but I have only encountered one (who uses USPS) that changed his policy when I pointed out that the PO does not discriminate. That is relevant because it is the guy in Eugene who mods the Sony HD and sells them one by one on ebay. Unfortunately they have been selling pretty expensively.

 

[91r100gs]

Is the SONY XDR-S3HD FM/AM DIGITAL RADIO a hi fidelity turner. It has a 75 ohm antenna input. and a headphone output which I am assuming could be sent to a aux input on your amp. What is one in good condition worth?

 

[N8Nagel]

I think the one that most people are thinking of when they are recommending that you find a Sony is the Sony XDRF1HD component tuner; the comparable Sangean is the HDT-1X (the HDT-1 is the same but does not have optical output only stereo RCAs) I don't know if the table radios are any good or not.

 

[91r100gs]

Thanks for the reply, saw a used one available for a bit over a $100. Thought it would be neat to tinker with. I guess the list price was $200 when they were available new. I have a very good analog tuner, so was just wanting to have a new toy.

 

[eddiemg24]

Denon tuner

I would contact the ebay seller directly to find out if they still have them even though there are none posted. I thought I might have a defective one and the seller had a replacement. By the way it wasn't defective.

 

[KiM3Ce]

I posted a detailed review of the Day-Sequerra M4 here:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=545753

I had a Sangean HDT-1X before but sold it. For me with strong local signals and good tuners for the analog band, I preferred analog broadcasts over HD. The analog section of the Day-Sequerra is very good but not the best I have heard.

 

[KevinCorr]

I posted a detailed review of the Day-Sequerra M4 here:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=545753

Interesting.
One just sold on ebay for $663 with only 4 bids. I think the seller participates on the yahoo fm forum.

 

[mdewire]

The little Sony is a jewel for the price and sounds great if the station is doing it's job. The McIntosh MR88 is the king of FM/AM/HD tuners but in a completely different price range. Sounds better than the Sony and it should.
HD broadcast signals use far less compression than analog FM which is easy to hear. You will need to be closer to a station or use a better antenna to get the most from HD as it is 5 or 10% signal strength of the main analog signal.

Thanks,
Ron-C

I can highly recommend the MR88 as well if you really love FM radio. The tuner is an investment but well worth it to me. I am lucky in that I live in a market that has many HD radio stations with a great Jazz station that is almost full time on 91.7 and a smooth Jazz station running 24/7 on 101.9 HD2.
The reception of the MR88 is really good and I live in an apartment with an indoor antenna. I wish I could install a nice Yagi on the roof so I could get the HD signal on 91.7 better. They are only delivering about 89 Watts of HD if following the 1% rule. I have the Sony in my office setup and it sounds great through my classic McIntosh system.

 

[sKiZo]

I just ordered a Sony head unit offa Amazon ...

This one has the HD tuner built in, plus a lot of other bling I'd never use, but seems to be an inexpensive way to get into HD Radio. Should also be the newer chipset, with the same Sony quality found in the uber rare and expensive home tuners. I figure to use the line outs and feed those into a tape loop. If it works, wouldn't take much to build a box for it and set it in the rack. If not, stick it in the truck.

For power, I was originally intending to use an old 12v ratshack supply, but then I stumbled across this ...

That's a universal 12 volt 6 amp PS for the new style computer monitors. Perfect for this sort of thing.

Let ya know how it all turns out.

PS ... just to confuse the issue, Sony has another radio with the same number except for the HD on the end. Completely different units. This one is the Sony CDXGT710HD ...

 

[KKnight]

Now thats an idea... vs even considering a $5k+ HD Marantz, and the industry still wont make a good, current, affordable home HD tuner.. The specs are good enough for home use with mods.

Have to say this again- Sony still wont confirm specifically, exactly why they discontinued the XDF-F1HD.

 

[Rockyhill]

I just ordered a Sony head unit offa Amazon ...

This one has the HD tuner built in, plus a lot of other bling I'd never use, but seems to be an inexpensive way to get into HD Radio. Should also be the newer chipset, with the same Sony quality found in the uber rare and expensive home tuners. I figure to use the line outs and feed those into a tape loop. If it works, wouldn't take much to build a box for it and set it in the rack. If not, stick it in the truck.

For power, I was originally intending to use an old 12v ratshack supply, but then I stumbled across this ...

That's a universal 12 volt 6 amp PS for the new style computer monitors. Perfect for this sort of thing.

Let ya know how it all turns out.

PS ... just to confuse the issue, Sony has another radio with the same number except for the HD on the end. Completely different units. This one is the Sony CDXGT710HD ...

Thanks for this find. A good backup if my XDR-F1HD dies. I worked from home today due to another snowstorm and listened to the Sony tuner much of the day.

 

[sKiZo]

Call it one of my better brain farts ... assUming it works. Don't see any reason why it shouldn't. Only concern really would be whether I can use a splitter to feed both that and my Sansui receiver, but hey, who needs more than one FM receiver anyway? Got a Magnum FM1 whip antenna outside hooked into a Magnum FM Sleuth, so signal won't be an issue. I can drag in Radio Free Albemuth on a good day. <G>

If Sony had any smarts, they'd offer a home dock for the mobile head units. Heck, I got a free one for my XM Roady ...

Like I say though ... careful with the model numbers. I also wish they'd pay a bit more attention to highlighting the difference between HD Radio and HD Ready. Those external adapters ain't cheap either.

And ya ... it's puzzling why HD Radio isn't pushed a lot harder. There's certainly plenty of stations to chose from. I got about 30 hits in my car when running an auto scan - more if I count the sub channels. Should be interesting to see the difference on a real antenna system.

 

[sKiZo]

Now thats an idea... vs even considering a $5k+ HD Marantz, and the industry still wont make a good, current, affordable home HD tuner.. The specs are good enough for home use with mods.

Have to say this again- Sony still wont confirm specifically, exactly why they discontinued the XDF-F1HD.

Mods? I'm thinking plug 'n pray once I figure out the power supply. Only other connections would be the RCA outs and antenna. I even got a spot I could tuck it in the stereo rack where I could just stick some feet onnit and leave it at that. I think this unit can even be configured to have a display that won't burn your eyes out like the XD series ... <G>

That was also a nice find. Seems to me it's only in the last year or so they've started providing power bricks for computer monitors instead of build that into the screen. Just got an HP widescreen that has that, which is what made me think ... huh ... this could work!

I may even try using one to replace a couple other bricks in my system. The Art DJ Pre II phono stage has always had "issues" with the OEM brick browning out under load. The newer ones have a 1a brick now - twice the power as the old ones - but can't help but wonder what it could do with 6a ...

PS ... the 6a power brick is probably overkill for this setup ... I don't imagine the unit draws much power at all if you don't use the internal amps ...

 

[RxDx]

Now thats an idea... vs even considering a $5k+ HD Marantz, and the industry still wont make a good, current, affordable home HD tuner.. The specs are good enough for home use with mods.

Have to say this again- Sony still wont confirm specifically, exactly why they discontinued the XDF-F1HD.

The industry eventually did make some good, affordable home HD tuners, but they still didn't sell in sufficient quantities. (And even that's wild understatement). The Sony XDR-F1HD is maybe 3rd or 4th generation... They quit making it because the main chip (they bought from someone else) was discontinued.

So now it's mostly down to high-end and auto equipment, which is kind of ironic. It's hard to feature HD as the main attraction in a multi-thousand dollar receiver setup. Station quality can vary pretty widely. And car noise pretty much kills any sound advantage.

At least some cities have content worth pursuing. That was really a big part of the problem all along. The most popular programming already existed over the air. More programming just (further) fragments the available listeners. Most stations don't want niche audiences.

HD's time was really before streaming happened. Streaming won't (or at least hasn't so far) completely replace radio, but it sure stole some of its thunder.

As far as my own experience, HD doesn't help. The music I like now has never been on commercial radio. It's on a couple of listenable college stations (both non-HD), a few hours a week. That won't cut it.

For dxing purposes, the Sony is #4 in the herd, behind Onkyos T-4711 and T-9090 II, and a Drake R8, mainly because of ergonomics. The rest of these roughly match or better the Sony reception, and are easier to use.

 

[Punker X]

My 2012 Focus has a Sony Stereo with HD. Not as sensitive or selective as a XDR-F1HD. Not even close. Hardly listen to it. Listen to Sirus most of the time. There's good radio in Detroit area, but during the rush hours, its mostly all talk or commercials.

 

[dr*audio]

The industry eventually did make some good, affordable home HD tuners, but they still didn't sell in sufficient quantities. (And even that's wild understatement). The Sony XDR-F1HD is maybe 3rd or 4th generation... They quit making it because the main chip (they bought from someone else) was discontinued.

So now it's mostly down to high-end and auto equipment, which is kind of ironic. It's hard to feature HD as the main attraction in a multi-thousand dollar receiver setup. Station quality can vary pretty widely. And car noise pretty much kills any sound advantage.

At least some cities have content worth pursuing. That was really a big part of the problem all along. The most popular programming already existed over the air. More programming just (further) fragments the available listeners. Most stations don't want niche audiences.

HD's time was really before streaming happened. Streaming won't (or at least hasn't so far) completely replace radio, but it sure stole some of its thunder.

As far as my own experience, HD doesn't help. The music I like now has never been on commercial radio. It's on a couple of listenable college stations (both non-HD), a few hours a week. That won't cut it.

For dxing purposes, the Sony is #4 in the herd, behind Onkyos T-4711 and T-9090 II, and a Drake R8, mainly because of ergonomics. The rest of these roughly match or better the Sony reception, and are easier to use.

In my opinion, Sony didn't push the format and that explains the lack of sales. In my local Sony store they didn't have the XDR-F1HD and when I called the store, no one even knew what it was. In fact, there was no store in Cleveland that had it, ever. That's why I didn't buy one because I couldn't audition it first. How can you expect to sell something if people can't see it in a store to check it out? How can you market something with no sales people to push it, no advertising, and no market presence? It's almost as if someone at Sony was determined the product shouldn't succeed.:screwy:

 

[rcs16]

For American style HD-FM to succeed, many if not all stations should be adopting the standard. I myself, believe it will die just like Dolby-FM, AM stereo, quad did in the past.
People in Canada are totally out of touch with HD-FM. I do not believe that there is one station in Canada that has adopted this standard and we keep adding new stations/brodacasters to the dial, something that I do not believe is happening in the USA. Not even sure if Canada has approved the standard either.
Sony or any other mfg, has no control if HD-FM lives or dies.
Many mfg's are not willing to pay the royalties to find out nor are developing new FM radio's because they believe that the market is shrinking due to Sirrus radio and the internet.
The new generation does not seem to be as caught up in sound quality as my generation had. In other words they are digressing to low-fi instead of embracing advances in hi-fi audio.
Gee it has been many years and stations are finally adopting RDBS in Canada. I know we are slow in this country and really do not have any influence on what the mfg's decide to do = small potatoes.

 

[N8Nagel]

There are quite a few stations broadcasting in HD in my area, and lots of cars have HD tuners from the factory. But as others have noted, not a lot available for home use. For that matter, Sirius tuners are common in cars but you'd have to really like it to pay almost double to have a Sirius tuner in your home as well, although now you can stream it for a lot less (makes no sense, but that's the way it is)

Sent from my XT897 using Tapatalk

 

[sKiZo]

I've got a real decent Sirius receiver in the house ... it's called Dish Network. <G>

 

[91r100gs]

The audio quality on DirecTV's music channel's is generally very good. I listen to 6 or so channels frequently. On the Zen channel I could swear that sometimes they are spinning vinyl, every now and then you hear what sound like rotational clicks at 2 second intervals. For years I never had the TV and receiver hooked to my audio system, now I know what I was missing.