Why bother when you have internet FM?

For discovering music, internet radio is impossible to beat. For enjoying music, I have never enjoyed radio more than on a solid station playing on my Yamaha T-2. Not to confuse the comparison but the new SDR technology is very impressive. I have a new SDRplay RSP1A which has a 14 bit ADC that sounds great when combined with a good DAC. If you have a difficult station, the RSP1A, a good antenna and PC software (I use SDRuno) I doubt you could beat it's capability.

https://www.sdrplay.com/docs/RSP1Adatasheetv1.9.pdf
 
It's like vinyl records v. digital. Relative merits of each aside, the process, the romance, the ritual, and the tactile part understandably appeal to some people.

Being an old radio guy, I still get a rush out of the magic of voice and music traveling great distances over the ether. I like to see the dial glowing in a dark room. I like the feel of spinning a knob and the resultant pleasure of watching the dial pointer move. I like seeing the meter jump. It's magic to me. And like some who cling to vinyl and like pops and scratches, I can still get into static and fading and multipath distortion if I'm in the right mood.

The biggest problem with radio nowadays is the lack of decent source material. Or if you are a digital person, "content."

Chris Coyle, Radio Dork
I'm with you Chris. There IS something magical about radio. It's like fishing. Radio is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna' get.
Real men use tuners!!!
 
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I'm with you Chris. There IS something magical about radio. It's like fishing. Radio is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna' get.
Real men use tuners!!!
Exactly!! Like listening to The Supremes right out in the open:)

btw, I heard Abba is getting back together...
 
How's reception, compared to, say, your T-2?

You can pick up and fine tune FM reception to a degree on the RSP1 with SDRune software that you would only dream of on most any typical analog or digital tuner. Going into a quality DAC the RSP1 competes quite will with the T-2 in sound quality. With that said, on a strong signal the musical quality of the T-2 is a step up from the RSP1.
 
You can pick up and fine tune FM reception to a degree on the RSP1 with SDRune software that you would only dream of on most any typical analog or digital tuner. Going into a quality DAC the RSP1 competes quite will with the T-2 in sound quality. With that said, on a strong signal the musical quality of the T-2 is a step up from the RSP1.
Quite reasonable results at that price point. Can't say I'm quite tempted yet, waiting for something
magic, I guess (price/performance). I currently have an Onkyo T-9090 II, T-4711, and the Sony digital,
so I'm not lacking sensitivity and selectivity, at least.

And to stay on topic, obviously I still use the radio, but only rarely for music now. The local college
station has to be in the right mood.
 
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