Hello all,
I listen Radio only in Low-Fi Internet at www.radiotime.com (over 100 thousands stations world wide for free).
For me radio has to be a Low Fi sound quality, with interruptions, statics etc, it is very romantic this way, HD radio is to clean and sterile for these ears.
Also I love Stereo SACDs, no DVD-A or BluRay(music). HD Radio and SACDs have no much in common to make a disputation.
Regards, Gustavo
hi gustavo,
if you ever heard a quality broadcast on a quality tuna, you would change your tune about fm being a lo-fi sound quality medium.
it is easily comparable to the finest digital and analog playback systems. and, if a stations happens to be broadcasting a live ewent, which happens occasionally, it can be even
better.
regarding the sony xdr f1hd, i have found my stock xdr eminently listenable - but *only* with an ase z-man tube buffer between it and my tube preamp. otherwise, it's yust too sterile... w/o the z-man, it is ok, but only in small doses; too fatiguing for a long term listening session. fine for background music. (something like sirius, on the other hand, literally gives me a headache after listening for a half hour or so, even as background music, and the only time i tried an actual listening session in the "sweet spot", it lasted all of 10 seconds before i literally jumped for the remote to turn it off - it was truly painful, similar to hearing someone drag their fingernails across a blackboard.)
i am definitely interested in modding an xdr; i think mike williams does great work, but i think his $150 audio mod is over priced a bit. (
http://radioxtuners.com/Sony%20XDR-F1HD.htm ) i'd send him one to mod in a heartbeat, if i could get the deluxe audio mod and the switch to force analog for $100 total; the other mods do not really interest me. raising it for cooling is a great idea, but i have already done so, sticking it on some ~1" aluminum blocks i had lying around, for a measured 10-15 degree drop in temps as measured at the vents on the top... if you can diy, there are mods shown here:
http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htmthe xdr f1hd is generally considered to be about the best performing hd tuna around (wayner, i need to check out the onkyo sometime.) i find it sonically close to my best tunas, but only w/the tube buffer mentioned above. on noisy stations, it is far and away the quietest tuna i have heard, even including such stellar performers as modded sansui tu-x1, modded sansui tu9900, modded accuphase t109, modded hk citation 18, rotel rht-10, accuphase t100, yamaha tx1000, etc; all which i owned or still own...
ymmv,
doug s.
