Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner

Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner This small tuner does what it's supposed to, and I can listen to HD radio in all its clarity for a very reasonable price. Its setup was easy and trouble free. [...]

The Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner has expanded my listening capacity by providing access to exclusive HD broadcasting on our local public radio station. The clarity of the sound is superior to the standard broadcasts. Additionally the Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner is compact in size and is an easy add-on to an existing stereo system. All you need is a stereo rca cable to begin listening to HD broadcasts. Additionaly the remote tuner gives greater control from the comfort of a easy chair or sofa. The unit also functions as a clock (an added benefit). The display has three illumination levels.

The unit is a tuner, not a stand-alone unit. It is exactly what I was looking for to complement my existing system.

Using it with a Nuvo Concerto. It picks up nicely, easily controlled throug the Nuvo and well worth it for $50 after the hd rebate.

Do to a failure of a merchant to supply a working radio/tuner no review is possible.

Sony XDR - F1HD:
This review is primarily for lovers of the sound of classical music, but it also contains info about a workaround to force the analog mode. If subtleties of sound do not concern you, rest assured that this tuner sounds very good and represents a genuine breakthrough in FM noise-free sensitivity and selectivity. Then just scroll down to the caps: "FORCING ANALOG."

I bought two of these, and have used them extensively for a few weeks. I have compared them against each other. Each sounds slightly different, but both are audio-quality `keepers' (after several days break-in) offering open, detailed clarity in a relatively relaxed manner.

Still, one sample is faintly bloated in the midrange and the other is just a bit ascetic in the midrange. Direct a-b of ongoing live applause is one way to notice this clearly. The truth lies in-between, but again these are subtleties. Should I buy a third one and keep my fingers crossed? For whatever reason, the lowest and highest portions of the ausio spectrum sound much the same on each sample.

The polarity of the line cord, as usual, has a great effect on the sound. As with any piece of audio gear I have ever used, one plug orientation brings the soundstage falsely forward, while the other orientation offers a more relaxed listening perspective.

Interconnect cables also make a major difference. I love the relatively inexpensive AR MS-230 Master Series interconnects.

Occasionally I still prefer the very slightly mushier, very slightly more recessed sonic quality of my several old Dyna FM-3's or of the excellent analog tuner in my Sanyo JCX-2900K receiver from the late 1970's.

Full disclosure: I am not tremendously experienced in the sound qualities of high-end supertuners, but my FM-3's and the Sanyo JCX sound musically similar -the sort of relaxed classical concert hall sound I like.

Conversely for sonic reasons my MR-78 has long been gathering dust, as has my Luxman T-117, Kenwood 600T, and a couple of old Mac and Sherwood tube tuners.

FORCING ANALOG: In my fringe location, there is a variation in signal strength with weather patterns. Sometimes these Sony tuners will achieve an HD lock, and then lose it and regain it, over and over again.

Unfortunately, once the HD lock occurs on a given station, when that lock is lost due to lowered signal strength, the Sony just mutes and waits for recurrence of sufficient signal strength to play the HD signal again. Ideally the tuner should drop seamlessly back to analog, but neither of these samples does that.

Only by detuning and retuning is the station heard again, in analog. But then the same variable propagation patterns repeat, leading to further sporadic muting.

By inserting an inline outboard variable attenuator into the antenna cable one can attenuate the received signal down to one bar, and still maintain noise free stereo analog reception. Thus attenuated, the signal usually will not again become strong enough to lock into HD and once again begin sporadically dropping out with signal strength fluctuations.

Radio shack used to sell such variable attenuators for under ten dollars (Radio Shack stock #15-678), and there were some of these NOS offered on Ebay recently. You could probably make one with a variable potentiometer and two F connectors.

As a corollary, if the received signal is strong enough for HD but you have attenuated it to a one bar analog-only strength, you can then advance the attenuator to three bars and hear the delayed (buffered) HD audio smoothly kick in. The effect is one of hearing one syllable of an announcer's voice repeat itself as the buffered HD kicks in. The sonic improvement in HD is audible, but not overwhelming, depending on the program material.

Finally, why do some classical FM stations insist on extreme compression, suitable only for listening in a noisy car or in noisy fringe areas? Even if considered valid under those circumstances, there is less reason to import the same degree of compression to the HD signal. How hard could it be to maintain a second, less compressed and more dynamically accurate audio stream for HD broadcasting?

John Q. Modern-Public often has no concept of just how luscious live acoustic music actually is. Ninety-nine percent of all music he encounters has been electronically amplified through loudspeakers, and often even at live concerts!