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In the Forum: Off Air Audio
In the Thread: HD Radio? Good, bad or ugly?
Post Subject: Hd radio/sony xdr f1-hdPosted by doug s. on: 12/4/2008
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hi romy,
i like fm. and i like comparing different tunas. in the past ten years, i have bought and sold at least a hundred different tunas. i presently have more than thirty. easily 90% of my music listening is fm, even in the "sweet spot". and, while i realize my rig isn't up to your standards, it is a high resolution rig none-the-less. anyways, re: tunas, some of my faves include my modded refurb'd hk citation 18, modded refurb'd sansui tu-x1, stock rotel rht-10, stock aiwa at9700u, modded refurb'd sherwood s3000v, modded refurb'd sansui tu9900, modded refurb'd sony st-a6b, modded refurb'd heathkit aj1600. there's more, and there's a bunch of fine tunas i have since sold - like philips ah6731, modded refurb'd mitsubishi da-f20, accuphase t100 & t101, and modded refurb'd accuphase t109.
anyways, these fine tunas will sound better than the sony xdr-f1hd. however, the xdr is not as bad as you make it out to be, imo. in fact, w/an otherwise unlistenable marginal signal, it will outperform any tuna i have mentioned above. of course, you are right - if it doesn't sound good, who cares, how can you listen? this has in fact been my experience with xm & sirius - the sound is so thin, etched, compressed and grating, i cannot listen for even 30 seconds. even as background music, it gives me a headache after a half hour or so. i discovered that, cuz a buddy of mine has it, and i started getting headaches whenever i would go to wisit him. it was his satellite radio. anyway, the f1hd really is not anywhere near that bad. especially w/non-hd signal. it is not as good-sounding w/hd signal, and unfortunately, you cannot force it to analog, at least not w/o mods. i have found that this little shite-box actually will sound quite decent if run thru an ase z-man tubed buffer stage, w/a decent nos 12ax7 tube. nla new, there are other tube buffers awailable that would likely offer similar improvements w/the f1-hd. and, re: mods, there are actually quite a few that can be done, like the afore-mentioned forcing of analog on hd broadcasts. go here to check 'em out:
http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm
regarding hd radio in general, i agree it does not compare sonically to standard fm analog broadcasting, and i hope it fails in the marketplace. but, unfortunately for those of us who like to listen to fm as a quality source in a hi-rez home audio system, we are in the distinct minority. hell, we are in the distinct minority even among those who listen to any hi-rez systems in the home. 
and that, in itself is a tiny minority of the population! most folks listen to radio in the car, or if in the home, it's for background only. when i am in my car, i usually prefer to listen to the purr/growl/snarl/roar of the modded 3.0v6 in my alfa. 
i am in the minority there, too... 
best,
doug s.Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site