Best portable radio?
Aug 5, 2003 at 9:04 PM Post #16 of 76
several people spoke up for the T615, which is a decent radio, but let me reitterate that i was able to directly compare it to the iRiver IFP-390T and the iRiver is audibly clearer, less noisy, better channel lock and stereo seperation. The iRiver has 20 station presets and runs from 1 AA for 20+ hours. The Sony uses 3 AAA's, has 6 presets, and makes a very loud BEEP every time you change stations using the presets. The iRiver costs twice as much, but you can record from radio and listen to 256mb of MP3 music, or use it as a portable data drive, etc. The onboard amp for both radios is powerful enough to drive Etymotic ER4S.
 
Aug 5, 2003 at 9:29 PM Post #17 of 76
how about grundig s-350 , it has ben reported to have very good sound and shortwave capabilities, it is only $99 with free shiping from goodguys.com...but some people has reported some drifting issues....you have some really nice radios, it is going to behard to find something better
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Aug 5, 2003 at 10:17 PM Post #18 of 76
Hello,

The S-350 is really too large for what I'm looking for and the output is mono-only, even through the headphones. There are line out RCA jacks for FM stereo.

Just looking for the best mini FM stereo one can buy.

Austonia, does the iriver 390T EQ settings affect the FM sound?
I'm hoping that it does.
 
Aug 6, 2003 at 2:46 PM Post #19 of 76
finally, a sustained thread on portable radios....and i thought no one here listens to FM

i use the SRF-S84 and it sounds better than my previous Aiwa CR-LD70

reception is better than the preset-type LD70 too
 
Aug 6, 2003 at 6:09 PM Post #20 of 76
Hello Evo,

There needs to be a sustained radio thread!

I've heard a lot of good things about the SRF S-84. The tuning mechanism is what is scaring me away from that receiver. A solid analog mechanism is OK (SRF-AX51V) but I hear the '84 has a lot of backlash and makes tuning in a station a bit difficult.

From my own auditioning, the Sangean radios offer the better RF performance while the Sony radios have the better sound.

Then there is the constant background hiss problem....

Has anyone tried the new Sangean DT-210V? It would seem to have the performance of the DT-200 with the addition of a bass-boost circuit. It also has a better arrangement to recall presets.

This weekend I should be able to try out the suggested iriver MP3/FM player/recorder.

Best regards,

Paul
 
Aug 6, 2003 at 6:36 PM Post #21 of 76
HI: After a long listening to the SEGREAN 110 and DT 200 and the Sony T-615. The very best by a far margin is the XIN modified SONY SRF-M35. XIN put larger resisters or something in the radio and it gives way better bass and sound with no bass boost. That is a no no in audio file.LOL.
 
Aug 6, 2003 at 8:23 PM Post #22 of 76
I know, bass-boost -- audiophile big no, no. Still, sometimes, I like giving some older rock and roll (which can be a bit bass shy)
a little boost.

I hear that the Sony SRF-M37 is hiss free and uses large output coupling capacitors -- the RF performance of the SRF-M35 really dissapointed me (and had that maddening "BEEP" with every keypress).
 
Aug 9, 2003 at 3:51 PM Post #24 of 76
HI. SRF-T615 Pocket Radio E2c+V6 amp. My Supermini V6 digital amp got here today and wow it makes the T615 sound incredible. I bought the T615 mostly because of its small size but it was lacking the sound that I was looking for. With the V6 it now lacks nothing. The V6 is even smaller than the radio. LOL and I velcro it to the radio. Wow what sound from a portable radio. This is the V6 out of the box. I know the V6 need a real good burn in and cant imagine what this is going to sound like.
 
Aug 9, 2003 at 4:01 PM Post #25 of 76
Two from me... Sony SRF-M95... if you give it a clean signal, it'll give you a clean (and surprisingly) powerful sound...

Or the SRF-M48RDS... a seemingly rare radio that I have... drifts a little more than the M95 does, but still sounds great when locked on cleanly to a good signal...

...That must depend on where you are, country to country... the SRF-M95... in the UK, you can cross the road, and the signal drops, but I took it with me to Prague, and was listening to the radio there nearly non-stop whilst on my travels, and it didn't lose the station I was listening to (Europa2 88.2FM) at all... was great
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Aug 9, 2003 at 6:21 PM Post #26 of 76
I'm also a radio junkie and I love SMALL. I have one of the old SRF-40's. Scored it on Eboyohboy! for $25.00 and it's a winner! It has more powerful amplifiers though, (runs two phone jacks), but it delivers great sound and will power just about any headphone. Because of this the battery life is a little shorter but I run rechargeable NiMH's in it so that's a mute point. Keep looking Pappucho. I've seen two of them on Ebay in the last 6 months or so since I got mine. Great build quality on these old ones!

I also have the SRF-A1, (was sold only in Australia and Canada), and agree with D555 on the build quality and AM reception. Not a bad little radio though but can't hold up to the SRF-40. It's still better than most of today's junk but Sony put their effort into the AM side.
 
Aug 10, 2003 at 2:07 PM Post #27 of 76
For me, I can also dismiss two Radio Shack models: 12-797 and 12-802. While these radios may some some good RF specs, the headphone out has the "constant hiss" problem. The hiss isn't subtle, either.

I wonder why so many of these portable radios output so much hiss?

It seems that Sony can make CD/MD units that are relatively hiss free. The SRF-M35 had constant hiss although I understand that the new SRF-M37V and (maybe) the SRF-M95 have no or very little hiss.

Duncan, what are your thoughts concerning the SRF-M95 hiss levels?
The hiss I'm referring to is the constant hiss that is present regardless of the volume setting. I'm assuming that the hiss is being generated by the output amps.

SRF-M48RDS. Never knew such a thing existed but there are some pictures on the internet. Kind of clever! RDS hasn't really caught on in the USA although a few local stations do utilize it. DAB seems to have taken over the UK.

Not to upset anyone but I was hoping that XM satellite radio would make for great portable listening. The *service* is great but the sound, to me, is unlistenable with headphones -- too many digital artifacts. Too much loss at 64k compression.

Has anyone given the SRF-M10 a try? It's a bit expensive, FM only, has digitally controlled volume, and appears to be available everywhere except the Americas.

Paul
 
Aug 10, 2003 at 3:02 PM Post #28 of 76
D555...

The M95, you're correct, it does have hiss, even at zero volume, but I don't think its neccesarily a factor of the op-amp in use...

on FM, it accounts for (at a very crude guess) no more than 5% of the overall sound... and on AM i'd say nearer 10%, but when switching between FM and AM there is no hiss perceived, so could be more of an artefact of the radio tuner than that of a poor op-amp...

DAB, you're also correct is starting to sweep the nation, but the average bit-rate is only 160kbps (for classical stations), dropping to as low as 128kbps for the more mainstream stations... that is too low for me, i'd rather have a radio that would sometimes go off-station, than one that sounded no better than an averagely encoded MP3
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Aug 10, 2003 at 4:00 PM Post #29 of 76
Hello Duncan,

Thank you very much for the quick reply. I have inquired about the SRF-M10 from a UK dealer and hope to get a response. If no luck there I may try to get a SRF-M95 from Audiocubes.

The goal of all of this is to assemble a "mini-kit" of Sony's current, top-end models: D-EJ1000, MZ-N10, SRF-M10, MDR-EX71.

Ultra-miniture Hi-Fi in a small carry case!

The problem is that finding a truly, top performing, miniature radio is proving to be quite a challenge.


Best regards,

Paul
 
Aug 10, 2003 at 4:53 PM Post #30 of 76
Hmm... that SRF-M10 has me interested...

...looks like it costs the same as the M95... might have to take an audition next month, to see if its worth upgrading away from the M95...

...
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