HD Radio Tuners

cstmar01
cstmar01 Posts: 4,424
edited April 2011 in Electronics
So never tried one and would like to see what is around my area. I do have a local college station and was looking to pick up a tuner sometime but heard that HD tuners are good as well. Any suggestions of ones to look at that won't break the bank like say under 300?

I'm not sure what tuners go for and I really don't want to spend a ton of money but just want something nice for my 2 channel when I want to tune in. The college station does a lot of jazz nights so its nice to have it playing in the background when doing other stuff.
Post edited by cstmar01 on
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  • coolsax
    coolsax Posts: 1,826
    edited April 2011
    Sony's HD radio tuner (XDRF1HD) is supposed to be pretty top notch especially at only $100.

    **edit**doesn't look like its in stock anywhere so it may discontinued so you'll have to find it used, and it looks like it may be selling for more than MSRP currently b/c of discontinued status.. so this may not have been a good idea.. sorry
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  • WilliamM2
    WilliamM2 Posts: 4,806
    edited April 2011
    Make sure there are HD stations in your area before buying one. I got one, and then found out there was only one country music station in our area, nothing else.

    Sad part was, it was so compressed that it sounded worse than their regular FM station, and from what I have read, that's normal for most HD stations. HD does not stand for High Definition in this case, it stands for "hybrid digital", but you probably knew that.
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,545
    edited April 2011
    HD is the new "compressed."
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  • cstmar01
    cstmar01 Posts: 4,424
    edited April 2011
    yeah I don't really follow it at all so didn't know if it would be worth getting one, or if should just stick with a regular tuner. I have no idea even what is around me, and I don't know of any resources to find out.
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  • Glowrdr
    Glowrdr Posts: 1,103
    edited April 2011
    Interesting. I've often wondered about all this HD radio hulabaloo. Sneaky it's not High-Def like I would have expected. I was just wondering the other day "what I was missing" because I'm one of those people that doesn't think the radio sounds too bad..lol

    I think I hear a mob forming in my front yard to repossess all my gear. :-)
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