Santa brought me Sangean HDT-20 (with nudes)

[mac mini]

My local go to FM station is WXPN out of Philadelphia. I can stream it but sound quality isn't good so I decided to give the Sangean a try. There really aren't any other choices. I bought it from Home Depot online, nothing says HiFi like Home Depot. (Amazon had been listing it for $153 and over night pushed the price up to $199, so Home Depot it was)

Using the included dipole it couldn't receive any HD. But I placed an omnidirectional antenna on my attic joists and voila! I can receive seventy stations 33 of which are side bands. No static, no hiss. It sounds a lot better than streaming and its easy to use. Song titles are often displayed. A lot of the side bands are throw aways. One statin offers the Philadelphia Phillies 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Maybe its appeal is to insomniacs?

The build quality is plastic. Plastic tuning knob, plastic preset buttons. The presets are cumbersome to use. First press preset, and then press the preset button. It also has a headphone jack, fidelity is poor. And it has two alarm clock settings which I don't understand at all. It's a tuner...

But again, I really like the sound quality and ease of use. I just wish there were some other options in the market. I recommend it highly.

 

[Frank Sol]

Congrats

Try it with an external DAC -- report back

 

[mac mini]

I have hooked up digitally thru my DAC, Schiit Gungir multiubit, and RCA into my preamp, Schiit Freya. The RCA is bloated but I like it at lower listening levels or program material that lacks dynamics. But for the most part prefer the digital outputs.

I think what I would really like to try is a normal tuner with my same antenna. I've never been able to get FM in my home in stereo without hiss.

 

[Nick_G]

What WXPN stream are you using? This one should sound pretty good through an external DAC:

http://wxpnhi.streamguys.com:80/xpnaachi

It sounds pretty damn fine through the DAC of my JVC amp. I'd be interested to see how it compares with both the FM and HD signal.

 

[mac mini]

What WXPN stream are you using? This one should sound pretty good through an external DAC:

http://wxpnhi.streamguys.com:80/xpnaachi

It sounds pretty damn fine through the DAC of my JVC amp. I'd be interested to see how it compares with both the FM and HD signal.

I go right to XPN for the streaming. Your link didn't work but I believe the streaming service named in your link is the service that XPN contracts to do the streaming.

XPN broadcasts 2 channels: "WXPN" and "XPN2". When streaming the dynamics of both these channels sounds identical on my system. When listening to them through the Sangean XPN2 sounds identical to streaming. However, WXPN sounds better thru the Sangean than through streaming. So the primary station sounds better than streaming, the side band is identical to streaming.

 

[Nick_G]

I go right to XPN for the streaming. Your link didn't work but I believe the streaming service named in your link is the service that XPN contracts to do the streaming.

XPN broadcasts 2 channels: "WXPN" and "XPN2". When streaming the dynamics of both these channels sounds identical on my system. When listening to them through the Sangean XPN2 sounds identical to streaming. However, WXPN sounds better thru the Sangean than through streaming. So the primary station sounds better than streaming, the side band is identical to streaming.

That's odd that the link didn't work. If you copy and paste it into a media player like VLC it should do. It's playing fine here that way. I have it saved as a favourite on a Logitech Squeezebox Touch that is connected to the hi-fi system.

The stream that is accessed via WXPN's web page is 128 kb/s MP3. That link is a 256 kb/s AAC stream so it should be superior to the 'standard' stream.

 

[mac mini]

That's odd that the link didn't work. If you copy and paste it into a media player like VLC it should do. It's playing fine here that way. I have it saved as a favourite on a Logitech Squeezebox Touch that is connected to the hi-fi system.

The stream that is accessed via WXPN's web page is 128 kb/s MP3. That link is a 256 kb/s AAC stream so it should be superior to the 'standard' stream.

I did get your link to work, and also am able to access XPN thru iTunes "radio". Its an improvement over their website link. However, the radio is better. Thanks for your help.

 

[39cross]

Not much to see inside the box, is there? Price is now $176.90 at both the sites you mentioned. They met half way.
Glad to read that you like it!

 

[mac mini]

Not much to see inside the box, is there? Price is now $176.90 at both the sites you mentioned. They met half way.
Glad to read that you like it!

It is an empty box. Nothing about the thing exudes quality. When I opened it I was ashamed to have paid $153. I do like it because it is hiss free.

I'm gonna work on my antenna when the warmer weather comes and then pick up a conventional used tuner from the big auction site. It will be fun to make side by comparisons. I know the Sangean will win the side band comparisons. Hopefully a conventional tuner will be better for the rest.