Is FM bound for the graveyard?

stereocilia · « **Reply #40 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 05:50 pm »

Anyone planning to see the "Pirate Radio" movie? I'm not. From the trailer I gather that it's just another goofy take on the theme of rowdy fun-loving youth counterculture vs. the stodgy uptight authorities. (I've already seen Dirty Dancing and Breakin' so I've had enough of this plot) But, with any luck it might for just a moment give radio a little extra public mindshare.

By the way, I have a radio shack amplified aerial antenna on my house pointed toward the majority of the transmitters in Boston and my reception still stinks. My car tuna fares a little better, but at home I just stream it from the net.

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #41 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 06:08 pm »

Quote from: Dan Kolton on 17 Nov 2009, 08:39 pm

FM is not dead in the D. We have WRCJ funded by listeners and owned by Detroit Public Schools. Plays Classical all day and Jazz all night. We also have CBC Radio 2 from Windsor, Ontario. More eclectic programing than WRCJ, and WDET (Wayne Sate University in Detroit--my Alma Mater) which has some music but mostly talk. There are other good university stations I can pull from Lansing and Ann Arbor. Don't think any of these will go away any time soon!

I listen only to Satellite radio anymore. Hate the commercials on both of them, but I can listen to ESPN, Fox News, great muzak, and even NPR if I chose. Heck, one of the Dominski and Doyle fellas is my next door neighbor and that's not gonna get me to listen to FM. No Stern for me btw.

turkey · « **Reply #42 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 06:37 pm »

I got one of the Sony XDRF1HD tuners last year, and it has rekindled a lot of my enthusiasm about radio. It pulls in a lot of stations I couldn't get before, and improved reception pretty much across the board.

macrojack · « **Reply #43 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 06:56 pm »

I just ordered the same Sony HD radio from Amazon. They are selling it for $76.51 and free shipping. Beat that! It's cheaper than most tweaks.

Wayner · « **Reply #44 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 09:15 pm »

Quote from: macrojack on 18 Nov 2009, 06:56 pm

I just ordered the same Sony HD radio from Amazon. They are selling it for $76.51 and free shipping. Beat that! It's cheaper than most tweaks.

Maybe I should get that one too. Macro, does that come with a remote?

Wayner

Wayner · « **Reply #45 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 09:27 pm »

I just ordered one too. We should have got a group buy together!

Wayner

oneinthepipe · « **Reply #46 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 09:30 pm »

The Sony HD radio doesn't have a digital output and uses a built-in DAC, I believe. Wouldn't the sound better using an external DAC for D-A conversion?

Wayner · « **Reply #47 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 09:37 pm »

Only the most expensive HD radios have a digital out. I'm on the cheap.

Wayner aa

macrojack · « **Reply #48 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 10:05 pm »

Wayner - The Sony does come with a remote.

I doubt if Amazon would drop the price for or group buy. Is there any other reason to form one?

Wayner · « **Reply #49 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 10:18 pm »

I guess not. I took the 3 to 5 day shipping.

W

smk · « **Reply #50 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 11:33 pm »

The way I see it, if the economy continues to tank, free radio may see a comeback. But it's a crapshoot if anything worth listening to will be on.

jazzcourier · « **Reply #51 on:** 18 Nov 2009, 11:45 pm »

Thanks for the heads up on the SONY radio! Just ordered one from Amazon! This will be perfect for my den system,i was looking at 500.00 vintage McIntosh tube tuners and this just seems a more realistic as far as space,system matching and of course,price.Considering the main station i will listening will be KUSC-classical in HD.
OK........Anyone have any comments on the antenna situation with this four pounds of technology?

oneinthepipe · « **Reply #52 on:** 19 Nov 2009, 04:10 am »

Here are a couple of links about modifications for the Sony tuner.

http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm

http://www.radioxtuners.com/Sony%20XDR-F1HD.htm

Some of the mods on this link are UK-related.

http://ukradio.info/XDR-F1HD/

In consumer models, only a Sangean and an Insigna appear to have digital outputs.

Quiet Earth · « **Reply #53 on:** 19 Nov 2009, 05:57 am »

Quote from: oneinthepipe on 18 Nov 2009, 09:30 pm

The Sony HD radio doesn't have a digital output and uses a built-in DAC, I believe. Wouldn't the sound better using an external DAC for D-A conversion?

If "HD radio" means streaming MP3 then no, it wouldn't matter too much. I used the Polk Audio XM tuner for a while, upgraded the power supply a little, and used its spdif output into a better DAC. The better DAC just made the mp3 degradation more obvious. Same goes for squeezebox internet radio.

Quiet Earth · « **Reply #54 on:** 19 Nov 2009, 06:05 am »

Quote from: Brett Buck on 18 Nov 2009, 06:45 am

I have many fond memories of radio from various times. There's something about radio, at least the way I remember it, that is just more intimate, or "present" in an emotional sense. I remember driving across Death Valley about 15 years ago listening to an AM station in Barstow - "Voice of the desert" or some such. Maybe it was the situation, but it would have been a pretty lonely drive, but having the radio on, and knowing that there were maybe 500-1000 people also listening to the same thing at the same time, made me me feel like I was part of something. Something trivial, of course, but something involving other people. Same thing as a kid, 3 in the morning listening to a 1-tuber radio I made from plans in "A Boy and a Battery" with an earphone. You knew someone else was out there, also at 3 in the morning, it wasn't just me.

I just don't know of and haven't had any similar experiences with any other medium. It's still like that at times. I occasionally engage in AM DXing* and you still find it from time to time. I mean, for God's sake, even utter bilge like Art Bell has a certain quality of connection and intimacy. But unfortunately a lot of the "stuff 50 ads in this 10-minute break" roboDJ crap has completely lost that feeling. And getting dropouts ever 30 seconds from multipath or continual hiss from various computer sources just makes it impossible to sustain.

Such a great post, my feelings the same. And Wayner's story about the cops checking in only find some kids diggin' the radio program - awesome! For a moment I almost went to the cupboard to grab the Sansui. But then I remembered the last time I did that I put it back a couple days later.

I miss the old days of radio.

Is that Sony HD radio any better in sound quality than streaming internet, XM, or squeezbox radio?

Wayner · « **Reply #55 on:** 19 Nov 2009, 12:32 pm »

I'm hoping it's as good as my Onkyo T-4555 HD FM tuner ($400) at less then 1/4th the cost. The Onkyo can produce some nice sounding music, but some stations become disturbed at sunrise or sunset. This is a radiation problem that I didn't think bothered HD, but it does on the Onkyo on some stations. I'm sure that distance has something to do with it, as well as power of transmitter, and maybe even direction. I'll get mine on the 23rd.

Wayner

doug s. · « **Reply #56 on:** 19 Nov 2009, 02:04 pm »

Quote from: Quiet Earth on 19 Nov 2009, 06:05 am

Is that Sony HD radio any better in sound quality than streaming internet, XM, or squeezbox radio?

i am not familiar w/the sound of squeezebox. but, the sony xdr-f1hd will absolutely crush the sound of most internet streaming, and sirius/xm. even w/o mods and/or a tube buffer stage. add those, and you will get sound almost, but not quite as good as the best analog tunas. however, if you have a difficult reception situation, the xdr-f1hd will outperform any analog tuna, period, re: its ability to get good quieting. all imo, of course.

doug s.

turkey · « **Reply #57 on:** 19 Nov 2009, 03:27 pm »

Quote from: Quiet Earth on 19 Nov 2009, 05:57 am

Quote from: oneinthepipe on 18 Nov 2009, 09:30 pm
The Sony HD radio doesn't have a digital output and uses a built-in DAC, I believe. Wouldn't the sound better using an external DAC for D-A conversion?

If "HD radio" means streaming MP3 then no, it wouldn't matter too much. I used the Polk Audio XM tuner for a while, upgraded the power supply a little, and used its spdif output into a better DAC. The better DAC just made the mp3 degradation more obvious. Same goes for squeezebox internet radio.

It's not streaming mp3, but it isn't quite CD-quality either. (It can get close, but most stations prefer to get more channels out of it rather than one high-quality channel.)

HD still isn't too bad. It's kind of a toss-up as to whether it's better or worse than good analog FM. Good reception with HD gives you far less noise than analog FM, much better bass, and more dynamic range (subject to the station's use of compressor/limiters). Top-notch analog FM is probably better than HD radio, but there's only one station in my market that I'd classify as top-notch for analog FM.

I did the mod so I can force analog reception. I think I get better sound from some stations when I select analog.

Overall I am extremely pleased with this tuner. I feel that without any mods at all it is better than probably 99% of the tuners out there. (Some of the mods people suggest are not useful IMO.) The little Sony probably gets about as much out of FM as it's possible to get.

turkey · « **Reply #58 on:** 19 Nov 2009, 03:29 pm »

Quote from: macrojack on 18 Nov 2009, 10:05 pm

Wayner - The Sony does come with a remote.

Unfortunately, you can't directly access a given frequency. It does provide presets, but other than that you just have to sweep up or down to get to the station you want.

doug s. · « **Reply #59 on:** 19 Nov 2009, 04:14 pm »

Quote from: turkey on 19 Nov 2009, 03:27 pm

HD still isn't too bad. It's kind of a toss-up as to whether it's better or worse than good analog FM. Good reception with HD gives you far less noise than analog FM, much better bass, and more dynamic range (subject to the station's use of compressor/limiters). Top-notch analog FM is probably better than HD radio, but there's only one station in my market that I'd classify as top-notch for analog FM.

I did the mod so I can force analog reception. I think I get better sound from some stations when I select analog.

Overall I am extremely pleased with this tuner. I feel that without any mods at all it is better than probably 99% of the tuners out there. (Some of the mods people suggest are not useful IMO.) The little Sony probably gets about as much out of FM as it's possible to get.

you say it's a toss-up as to whether it's better or worse than good analog fm. then, you say "i think i get better sound from some stations when I select analog." which is it?

personally, i have found the xdr-f1hd to sound better on analog than on hd, and that its reception capability is not better on hd - it is as good on non-hd as on hd stations.

re: the ultimate sonic qualities of the xdr-f1hd, w/o mods or a tube buffer, for serious listening, i find it to be fatiguing after a short time, but ok for background music. (i can't listen to sirius/xm even for background, for more than 15-30 minutes, w/o getting a headache.) w/a tube buffer, the xdr-f1hd becomes eminently listenable for longer periods, tho not as good as better analog tuna. i haven't tried one w/mods yet.

ymmv,

doug s.