HD Radio Component Tuner

Very nice unit. Software is more refined and it works and receives better than the Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner and doesn't overheat. You can punch in stations by frequency and it remembers favorite settings if power is off unlike the Sony. It does lose the time if power is off though. It receives slightly better on AM than the Sony due to having an RF amp at the AM input. It falls short on AM by having just a two connection terminal strip for the antenna input but you can make up an F connector by soldering two short pieces of wire to a connector and mounting it in the two terminals in order to connect the cable to an outside antenna. I found that an 8' CB whip on the roof works very well to receive AM and FM and will get all the HD stations from Phoenix 30 miles away in the daytime. It won't receive any AM stations in HD besides the Disney channel at night when they cut the power though.

There is no reason for this to be listed under the satellite category, because you cannot access any of the quality content available with Sirius or XM.

Our local public radio station (WERN Madison WI) offers classical music programming, but not 24x7. They do, however, offer it 24x7 on their HD band, so I went in search of an HD tuner/radio. I found the Sangean and thought it worth a try given the reasonable price point. The HDT-1X is well made, offers a variety of output formats, is well made, reliable, and sonically acceptable.

While HD lacks the uncompressed audio quality of analog FM or CD (I run a Magnum Dynalab MD-100 for analog FM w/roof antenna), that is the fault of the medium, not the tuner. For background music and for the occasional need to "crank up the volume" when a favorite selection is being played, this tuner is very adequate to the task.

In short, for audio performance versus price, it is an excellent value.

DaveM

I ordered the Sangean HDT-1X tuner somewhat on a gamble. Our location gets notoriously bad TV broadcast signals due to being near interfering hills. Most in the neighborhood have gone to cable or satellite. FM reception has never been great, either, so I wasn't sure how this tuner would work. After setting up with the antenna in the box and going through the station seek function, I was amazed by the signal clarity from both analog and digital. The "near CD quality" claim for digital is not overblown. I have also found it easy to use. High tech AND friendly.

The AM side of the story is not so great, but in this area, better fidelity for talk radio is not necessarily a plus. If the programming quality ever improves, I might have to look into better antenna solutions. But I'm not holding this against the tuner.

Sangean has designed an excellent product in the HDT-1X. But its limitations are mainly a factor of the availability of HD Radio. While most stations except for those in very rural areas broadcast HD Radio, the little-known fact is that the power of an HD signal is only 5 per cent of the power of the normal (analog) signal. Without getting too technical, HD Radio "rides along" on the sidebands of analog FM. What this means is that it doesn't carry anywhere near as far as analog FM. I live in Southern New Hampshire and have a large rooftop antenna pointed toward the Boston area (50 miles away). I can get dozens of analog stations, but only FIVE that broadcast HD Radio. Bottom line: This is mainly a tuner for those who live in major metropolitan area. And when it receives HD Radio, it sounds great.