Or is willing to sell me one for that matter.
Unfortunately, HD Radio has been corrupted in the United States and will most likely never succeed as an audiophile medium. It has actually ended up with worse quality than analog FM. This is because almost all stations that use it choose to chop up the bandwidth to broadcast more channels. The result is that the available bandwidth for HD Radio is often 24-48kHz, much worse than even the lowest mp3 rate that anyone around here would accept. Tests have shown that 300+kHz rates are needed to sound as good as a truly quality analog FM broadcast (like a live concert on NPR). HD Radio is not anywhere capable of that even if they don't chop it up into HD1, 2, and 3 channels.
Add that to the Ibiquity fees and the format is going to die. GM stopped providing HD radio in some of their trucks and cars in 2015.
It is true that the digital format offers the most convenience and fair sound is easier to achieve. Great sound with analog FM takes a lot of work requiring a great tuner, a quality broadcast/station, and a really great antenna. All of those are getting harder and harder to obtain these days. However, given the way HD Radio has been implemented in the US (and DAB in Europe), the audiophile quality potential of analog FM is still greater.*
Yes - another old thread I resurrected.
* Another issue that HD Radio has created is that the some of the frequencies broadcast are low enough to cause phase and distortion effects in an analog FM signal. If an analog FM tuner doesn't have something known as a post-detection filter or similar, you get what is now known as HD Radio noise in your analog FM.
Unfortunately, HD Radio has been corrupted in the United States and will most likely never succeed as an audiophile medium. It has actually ended up with worse quality than analog FM. This is because almost all stations that use it choose to chop up the bandwidth to broadcast more channels. The result is that the available bandwidth for HD Radio is often 24-48kHz, much worse than even the lowest mp3 rate that anyone around here would accept. Tests have shown that 300+kHz rates are needed to sound as good as a truly quality analog FM broadcast (like a live concert on NPR). HD Radio is not anywhere capable of that even if they don't chop it up into HD1, 2, and 3 channels.
Add that to the Ibiquity fees and the format is going to die. GM stopped providing HD radio in some of their trucks and cars in 2015.
It is true that the digital format offers the most convenience and fair sound is easier to achieve. Great sound with analog FM takes a lot of work requiring a great tuner, a quality broadcast/station, and a really great antenna. All of those are getting harder and harder to obtain these days. However, given the way HD Radio has been implemented in the US (and DAB in Europe), the audiophile quality potential of analog FM is still greater.*
Yes - another old thread I resurrected.
* Another issue that HD Radio has created is that the some of the frequencies broadcast are low enough to cause phase and distortion effects in an analog FM signal. If an analog FM tuner doesn't have something known as a post-detection filter or similar, you get what is now known as HD Radio noise in your analog FM.
my local HD broadcasts in Chicago are substantially better quality than the standard feed through the sangeon (it is not subtle), just my direct experience. I was never looking for audiophile sound just a quieter, more refined feed
what is your experience with HD radio?
There's nothing that says the standard feed in the Sangean is of any great quality.You are correct, though, that HD probably provides a more convenient, dependably quiet signal. However, the audiophile potential is not there, whereas in analog FM - it still is.
I've got a Sony XDR tuner and a Best Buys Insignia HD portable. Both are interesting and I've played around with HD radio quite a bit, but a great analog FM tuner with a good broadcast is still superior. Mathematically, the HD Ibiquity format just doesn't have the basic analog FM capability, especially when the typical station chops up the bandwidth into 1 or 2 more channels. Interestingly, most people do not buy the Sony XDR for its HD capability. Instead, it happens to be one of the most sensitive analog FM tuners ever made.
