Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner by Sony
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Digital camera reviews of Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner
Digital camera Review: Tiny and Terriffic!
Summary: 5 Stars
Smaller than a box of granola bars. Able to get weak stations on a rudimentary antenna. Like many VCRs, its clock window is on all the time, black on a white background, too bad! Sounds great on a HD FM station. The difference between regular stereo and HD was much greater than I expected. The quality is that of the CD being played. Studio broadcasts by musicians should be spectacular! A huge bargain at the big mail-order outfits. Enjoy!Digital camera Review: What audio tuners should have been all along!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Sony HD Tuner is an outstanding piece of audio tech. This is what radio was meant to sound like.
Most people think HD radio is something new, like High Def tv. but it isn't. The technology for it has been around since then late 60's.
But radio stations wouldn't use it because it required a complete overhaul of their transmitting systems. Plus it is much cheaper to broadcast in analog
that in digital. And as one reviewer stated."Analog broadcasting hides a lot of flaws in the broadcast system. That HD broadcasting brings out.
With that said, I would recommend buying the Sony HD Tuner. and pair with one of the Pyle mini amps that have their own source inputs, and a good pair of
mini speakers such as from Sony or KLH.
By the way, a word to Sony. When will you be putting these great tuners into your stereo systems.
Digital camera Review: Perfect for Upgrading Home Stereo to HD radio
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this for my 85 year old mother for Xmas. I had it connected to her home stero in 10 minutes and she loved it! My only caution is to make sure you really elevate the dipole antenna as high as possible and spread it out straight. I didn't do this on the initial install because I was trying to keep it out of sight. As a result she got intermittent drop outs of her public radio classical music (HD is either great or you get nothing at all). Thumbtacking the antenna to about a seven foot height on the wall fixed the reception problem. I'm going to get one for my own system now!Digital camera Review: Small box, big value
Summary: 4 Stars
We listen to a lot of FM and after I bought the Sony I sold my vintage Sansui and Luxman analog tuners. The sound quality of the Sony blows them away on analog signals alone. As far as HD broadcasts, they are totally clean with no more brightness and harshness than CD's. You can listen to classical HD with the level high and get the benefit of its substantial dynamic range and, of course, there's no hiss or sonic garbage to intrude. That makes HD a worthwhile improvement over almost all of today's analog FM broadcasts. The Sony's audio is very neutral, very clean (almost tending toward the analytical, but that's a matter of taste); soundstage is a little shallow but OK; bass is just right. Maybe someday we'll be able to get digital output from HD radio but the Sony's analog is good. FM reception quality of analog signals is average, meaning it all depends on your antenna. You must have very good signal quality to get HD. The Sony switches from HD to analog if the signal fades- it can jump back and forth and cannot be overridden. The remote control is an awful thing- tiny identical buttons, dark gray print on black... the usual. The tuner forgets your presets if the power goes off for more than a few seconds and is a pain to reset. The unit seems awfully cheap in its' tiny plastic box, but the sound is excellent. Digital camera Review: This unit is all about "Sound Quality"
Summary: 5 Stars
IF this HD tuner has such great sound quality, why do so many users seem disappointed with the sound?
The answer is that the sound quality that people hear from their speakers is dependent not only on the tuner, but is necessarily limited by the poorest component in their system. After the signal leaves the tuner, it must pass through connecting wires, amplification equipment and speakers. The signal flowing through these components is analagous to water passing through pipes in a home.- If there is dirt anywhere along the inside of the pipes, dirt will flow out of the faucet.
So for people who play this tuner through a system that has at least one bad sounding component, the sound from the speakers will be bad.
This tuner is so good, that to experience the full impact of its capabilities, a very expensive system is required. I have two of these tuners, one for my home system, and one for the electronics lab at work. Both systems are very good. The work system has components all carefully selected for sound quality, and has an MSRP value of $3800. The home system has better components valued at over $10000 MSRP. The tuner in the home system sounds much better, but only when the particular program source is of high quality. We find that most popular music is very well recorded with respect to sound quality, but some of it is poor. And this fabulous souding HD tuner played through a $10000 system will not make a poor program source sound good. In fact, poor program sources tend to sound better on our cheaper system, because it is less revealing of details.
So it should not be surprising that some people will not hear the beautiful music that this tuner can reproduce. I don't mean to suggest you need a very expensive system to enjoy and appreciate it, but the result will inevitably be limited by the other components in the system.