Pretty decent Ron. Not anywhere as nice as my one off upgraded AVA Pat-5 but better than most stations put out.
I got mine this morning, and while it's probably worth the $80, I was pretty disappointed with the sound on mine. It could just be my particular unit, but on HD, you can hear the noise reduction "pumping", with the noise floor going up and down dramatically as the overall volume changes. I think it would be a lot better with a bit of hiss but always at the same level. For the few seconds is stays on FM, it seems to sound noticeably better - and WAY better than anything else I have tried as far as handling multipath. While my earlier experiments (in the other thread) got something acceptable, it wasn't entirely fixed. It's dramatic switching from the Sony to the FM-3 and back. Even with the almost certainly inferior output circuits on the Sony, the RF/Multiplex performance is so much better that overall it's more pleasant.
Has anyone figured out how to lock it into FM mode (no HD)? I read the very sparse instructions and it didn't leap out at me how or if that could be done.
But even more dramatic is switching from either radio tuner to the same station with OTA digital TV. The station in question (KCSM in San Mateo, CA) broadcasts FM, HD Radio, and is a subchannel of their digital TV operation (channel 60.3 for those who are close and want to try it). The OTA digital TV sound is FAR FAR better - absurdly better to the point it's as good a source as any other I have. The reason this is so interesting to me is that this is about as good a test of the transmission medium as could be imagined - same analog feed from the studio, sent to three different transmission types. The front end of the operation must be excellent to brilliant because it sounds darn near perfect in the OTA TV feed, but it's very underwhelming over FM and just OK on HD radio. Now maybe the FM and HD aren't optimized (it sounds like may be over-modulating the FM signal, but without test equipment it's a little hard to tell) or maybe the Sony output circuits aren't very good, but it's not even in the same ballpark with the TV sound. Again, it may be a unique to my unit or the particular stations I am listening to, but quit a bit appears to be being lost using the Sony.
And for what it's worth, mine does not run inordinately hot - warm at most. Of course it's about 58 degrees in the house right now so who knows what it would do in the summer but I was expecting a lot worse.
The thing BEGS for someone who has the time to figure it out, how to break into the analog output as soon after the demuxing, and replace it with a nice 12ax7 or Op-amp output stage. It appears to have an outstanding RF front end, and improving the output should be pretty easy. If I can figure out where to cut the traces, I'll do it myself.
Brett
p.s. another note, and it probably doesn't really matter much to anyone, but the AM performance is absolutely dreadful - bordering on unusable. My GE Superradio III works much better, is much more selective, and sounds better (although awful) than the Sony on AM sounds through $7000 worth of the best audio equipment available.
