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HD really does approach CD quality with no static at all and at last I can listen to classical music in Florida. However when I connected it to an inexpensive passive RCA ANT1400M HDTV antenna that I already had it really shined. I had purchased the portable HD FM radio by Insignia and found it worked reasonably well with my stereo in the living room so I decided to buy the HDT-1X tuner, primarily because it had an optical connection which I planned to use with an AV/R that I was ordering. When the tuner arrived I hooked it up via the normal audio cables and found when using the supplied dipole antenna it pulled in stations much better than the portable unit did. So far I have been totally impressed with the great sound this unit provides in HD or normal FM stereo.
I covered it with a piece of electrical tape. I would recomend this product if you're trying to tune in HD stations. I'm not sure if this is suppose to happen but it does. My main complaints are, once you set the clock it disapears. I'm using an old TV antenna on my roof which works great. The tuner works fine once I hooked it up to a good antenna. I tried the antenna included with the tuner but wasn't able to pull in many stations. Also when the tuner is off, a bright red light is on.
I did return the unit for a refund and will now shop locally for a replacement.Amazon says it will take up to 4 weeks for an exchange unit. After I received the HD tuner and installed into my system the Radio would stop working after 20 minutes and then it would not turn on. I now think it is better to shop a local store were you can take a unit back and receive an exchange on the same day,Robert
1. So for someone to make the claim that by listening to an analog tuner, you're getting that "old-fashioned" analog sound isn't quite accurate. Another point to consider is that many radio stations use compression, to keep the volume steady (lower the high volume and raise the lower volume). the internal DAC built in the tuner. You will be quite surprised at how the Sangean performed in the review.
Things I like about this tuner. Same in reverse when you hear loud music, then the soft part comes on loud. There are usually 1 to 3 extra stations in each sub frequency. This drives me nuts when I hear music playing softly, crescendo to a loud volume, only to have the dynamic impact reduced by the compression. Whether you listen to a traditional analog tuner or an HD radio tuner, you're still listening to music that has been digitally ripped.
Go to positive feedback online archive and look up Issue 30. It offers both analog outputs (RCA) and a digital output which you can use to connect to a DAC or directly to your receiver's/pre-amp processor's digital input to help improve and/or modify the sound vs. You get "extra" radio stations in the sub-bands of each station's frequency; e.g. my old classical station who changed formats' broadcasts in HD. Things like cymbals, triangles, and high pitched instruments, a killer for digital to reproduce without digital harshness, are rendered quite well.
vs. Sound in the HD is good (based on the stations I listen to); full bodied, quiet background, very dynamic, musical sounding, better than listening to mp3's or ACC's at 256k. My home theater/hi fi system is composed of separates (pre-amp processor, amp, DAC, etc). It's toward the bottom of the Hardware reviews section under Sangean HDT-1 High-Definition Radio Component Tuner.
This is a good tuner to add to such a system. 3. Soundstage is convincing, both deep and wider than typical compressed formats (mp3's, AAC's, etc). Voices sound reasonable and full-bodied.
The Sangean unit helps to either reduce this effect or eliminate it since compression takes place in the ripping process. a Receiver.
A friend of mine who was the Engineering Director at my favorite Los Angeles classical radio station told me that his station now rips music from CD's or LP's, stores them then uploads it to an earth station in the Northern US, where it is transmitted to a satellite back to a mountaintop in L.A., where it's processed again into analog radio wave or digital (HD) radio wave. The Sangean HDT-1X outputs both analog and HD, so you can compare them side-by-side.A site that reviewed the Sangean with substantially more expensive audiophile tuners is (I have to spell it because of the no U R L rules) positive-feedback dot com.
2. This is how most stations transmit radio today, even my favorite Jazz station.
I wanted to update to HD radio, since my favorite stations were pitching it as well as compare it to my analog tuner. And yet, they sound excellent.
It's inexpensive.
The sound quality doesn't strike me as being any better or worse than analog.I'd give it 5 stars but for two issues:1. The tuner eventually loses the KCBX-2 preset and selecting either 1 or 2 will just tune to KCBX-1.For some reason, there's a slight delay (it says it's "linking") when it tries to tune KCBX-2 but not KCBX-1, even though both are broadcast in digital (one signal stronger). And for that, it works fine. This is a modest annoyance but, for the cost of the tuner, I'd expect better.And for energy efficiency geeks obsessed by vampire loads, the Sangean uses about 2 watts when in standby.
In other words, if preset 1 is for KCBX-1 (digital version of their analog broadcast) and preset 2 is for KCBX-2 (digital only broadcast, with separate programming). I should also have noted that reception with the tuner is excellent--using only the supplied antenna. This only happens after having been tuned to some other analog-only station. Not a lot to say about it since it generally does what it's supposed to do.Reception is as good or better than my receiver so I made it the default tuner for all stations I listen to. Some of the criticisms I noted in my original review (below) have been explained to me as more likely my lack of understanding, not a fault of the tuner (see comment). My house has a stucco exterior and I assumed I'd have to run an antenna into the attic to get around the chicken wire. Like other reviewers, I bought this specifically for the HD broadcast of our local Public Station, which has more and better programming than their analog-only broadcast. Price is a bit high2.
This "linking" delay might be the root of the preset loss but I haven't played with it enough to determine. Updated: Have owned this for six months now and used it nearly every day. Not necessary.Original Review:Chose this over the Sony based on other reviews suggesting the Sony ran hot. The station presets for the digital broadcasts don't stick.
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