[calvinhobs]

Any recommendations for a portable radio that has excellent reception?

 

[SFbayArch]

C.Crane makes excellent portable radios:

C.Crane

So does Tivoli Audio
I have two and love em both..the portable PAL and the table version:

Tivoli Audio Portables

Xin does mods on the pocket Sony radios that have received favorable reviews:
be sure to check out the modification link on this page:

Fixup.net

 

[D555]

Hello,

Full Featured : Degen DE-1103 (Superior AM and FM reception - SW as well as a tuning knob -- inexpensive on ebay).

Pocket : Sangean DT-210V (Solid AM and FM reception)

Micro : Sony SRF-M97 (not great but best of the micro lot IMHO)

Flash (FM only) : Sony NW-E507 (not bad at all -- better FM than the M97)

All radios have IMHO: decent sound and extremely low / inaudible residual hiss.

FM reception rankings: DE-1103, DT-210V, NW-E507, SRF-M97

AM reception rankings: DE-1103, DT-210V, SRF-M97

Paul

 

[calvinhobs]

I want one mainly for use with me, ie, portable. When I'm walking, working outside, etc...so small with excellent reception. What are my other options other than the modified Sony, he's sold out. Thanks-

 

[sgrossklass]

You might want to have a look at the DE1105, or a Tecsun PL-200 or PL-230 (eton/Grundig E100 / YB550). The little DE105 is yet smaller and actually wasn't too bad for FM, but the quality of the electrolytics used must be abysmal, and AM selectivity was really nothing to write home about, with thin audio at that (too bad, 'cuz SW sensitivity actually is quite decent, while it's mediocre on MW).

 

[Gene]

I apoligize in advance for my long diatribe here but bear with me.

I just received a Xin modified SRF-S84 from my out of state brother as an early Christmas gift. He told me what it was and I couldn't help myself and opened it and tried it out. Let me qualify by saying I live very rural and we only have 2 local FM stations here and one AM station. This thing brings in stations on FM from over 100 miles away and much further! The AM is lacking but the one AM station we have is surprisingly clear. This thing will also drive all my phones crisply and clearly with surprising power.

One thing, (and I'm not accusing Xin at all here), I examined the radio closely and I could not find a single flaw in the screws, seams in the case or anything that even resembles this radio was ever opened. The reason I bring this up is that I'm super anal and have taken radios apart and even I could not take apart a radio, put it back together and put all the accessories back in the package PERFECTLY. Again, I'm not accusing Xin that he didn't take it apart but SOMETHING should have shown me he had his hands on it. It may be that this SRF-S84 is so sensitive stock, that nothing had to be done to it. I remember someone, awhile back, stating that he could not tell the difference in sound from a stock SRF-S84 and one of Xin's modified versions. Again and again, I'm not claiming fraud here or anything else here but I could NOT see any degradation that showed this tiny thing was ever opened and I'm pretty good at detecting this sort of thing.

Our friend Paul, (D555), below is one of the most informed and researched experts on portable radios that there is, on this site. He has investigated all the tiny radios. I notice though that he does not recommend the SRF-S84. Why don't you like it Paul? Just asking.

Now, to get off-track a little, there used to be a guy on these forums a couple of years ago named linnem that Paul respected and had banters with. Paul took linnem's advice on radios and went and checked a couple of them out. The thing was, Paul was so enamoured with linnem's advice, he wouldn't even respond to rookie's like me with some questions. I have to admit, I liked linnem's recommendations and bought a DT-300 Sangeon from him that he had for sale.

Guess what? The Sangeon DT-300 arrived way late, (2 months later), and it was broken! linnem had shipped it in a super light padded envelope and the thing was half crushed. I e-mailed him and told him the radio didn't work and I was pissed that he sent it in such a state and he came back and for a lack of better terms, he said; "too bad". He has since disappeared from these forums.

Look folks, this is not a condemnation of Xin or Paul. Like I said above, if Xin can take a tiny radio apart like the SRF-S84, replace parts in it and put it back together like it came from the factory, MORE POWER TO HIM! Paul has researched tiny radios and his opinion is valuable but his banter with limmen left me with the impression limmen was an expert and in the end he was a cheat.

I'm just telling you, all these "techno wizards" on these forums with all their "techo wizard" talk doesn't make them experts. Research, research, research for yourself and in the end, you'll find out that you're not so dumb as these guys make you feel. The true "techno wizards" will explain to you, (in laymans' terms), what they think and give advice accordingly.

 

[D555]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gene I apoligize in advance for my long diatribe here but bear with me. I just received a Xin modified SRF-S84 from my out of state brother as an early Christmas gift. He told me what it was and I couldn't help myself and opened it and tried it out. Let me qualify by saying I live very rural and we only have 2 local FM stations here and one AM station. This thing brings in stations on FM from over 100 miles away and much further! The AM is lacking but the one AM station we have is surprisingly clear. This thing will also drive all my phones crisply and clearly with surprising power. One thing, (and I'm not accusing Xin at all here), I examined the radio closely and I could not find a single flaw in the screws, seams in the case or anything that even resembles this radio was ever opened. The reason I bring this up is that I'm super anal and have taken radios apart and even I could not take apart a radio, put it back together and put all the accessories back in the package PERFECTLY. Again, I'm not accusing Xin that he didn't take it apart but SOMETHING should have shown me he had his hands on it. It may be that this SRF-S84 is so sensitive stock, that nothing had to be done to it. I remember someone, awhile back, stating that he could not tell the difference in sound from a stock SRF-S84 and one of Xin's modified versions. Again and again, I'm not claiming fraud here or anything else here but I could NOT see any degradation that showed this tiny thing was ever opened and I'm pretty good at detecting this sort of thing. Our friend Paul, (D555), below is one of the most informed and researched experts on portable radios that there is, on this site. He has investigated all the tiny radios. I notice though that he does not recommend the SRF-S84. Why don't you like it Paul? Just asking. Now, to get off-track a little, there used to be a guy on these forums a couple of years ago named linnem that Paul respected and had banters with. Paul took linnem's advice on radios and went and checked a couple of them out. The thing was, Paul was so enamoured with linnem's advice, he wouldn't even respond to rookie's like me with some questions. I have to admit, I liked linnem's recommendations and bought a DT-300 Sangeon from him that he had for sale. Guess what? The Sangeon DT-300 arrived way late, (2 months later), and it was broken! linnem had shipped it in a super light padded envelope and the thing was half crushed. I e-mailed him and told him the radio didn't work and I was pissed that he sent it in such a state and he came back and for a lack of better terms, he said; "too bad". He has since disappeared from these forums. Look folks, this is not a condemnation of Xin or Paul. Like I said above, if Xin can take a tiny radio apart like the SRF-S84, replace parts in it and put it back together like it came from the factory, MORE POWER TO HIM! Paul has researched tiny radios and his opinion is valuable but his banter with limmen left me with the impression limmen was an expert and in the end he was a cheat. I'm just telling you, all these "techno wizards" on these forums with all their "techo wizard" talk doesn't make them experts. Research, research, research for yourself and in the end, you'll find out that you're not so dumb as these guys make you feel. The true "techno wizards" will explain to you, (in laymans' terms), what they think and give advice accordingly.

Hello,

Had to go back in time to research this one....

I joined in 8/2003. I searching through the posts, I think this is the thread/exchange Gene may be referring to:

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...5&page=1&pp=20

Do you have another thread, Gene?

In the thread, there will be found my statements concerning S84. I still haven't tried it. If it were available "off the shelf" in the USA I probably would have tried it. I think I responeded to a posting of yours. I don't recall being enamoured of linnem's discussions although some words were traded. It's been a couple of years.

Not sure of your location. Rural, remote locations present different reception challenges than urban/suburban areas. Characteristics that make for great rural reception can make for terrible urban reception. Radios that do both well are a rare breed.

Examples:
High sensitivity. Very desirable for rural areas. It will enable stations far away to be received. Can be very bad for urban areas because the high sensitivity will overload the low current mixers present in portable radios resulting in images of stations all over the dial. In particularly bad cases even the local stronger stations can be interfered with. If the local stations are being interfered with by raspy sounding images of other local stations, even the best sounding radio will be frustrating to listen to. This is the reason why some of the portable radios have a Local/DX switch. While good intentioned, this switch is compensating for mediocre/poor mixer performance.

High selectivity. Very desirable for urban areas. It will allow the many local stations to be separated cleanly. Can be bad for rural areas because the filters need to separate the stations create signal loss, thus fewer stations are received or it might make a difference whether or not a station is received in stereo. High selectivity can also affect sound quality, unless filters are carefully chosen.

If I ignored you, I apologize.

Paul

 

[audiomagnate]

Gene:

If you took one of Xin's radios apart, did you notice whether or not it had the larger caps? If it did, he modified it, if it has the original smaller caps, he didn't.

Also, if you didn't get it staight from Xin, can you be 100% sure it came from him? I don't know you or your brother, but Xin's pretty well known on the net, and he has before and after pictures of the mod on his website. I can't believe he be so stupid as to charge for a mod he didn't do when all you have to do to verify the mod is open up the radio.

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gene Look folks, this is not a condemnation of Xin or Paul. Like I said above, if Xin can take a tiny radio apart like the SRF-S84, replace parts in it and put it back together like it came from the factory, MORE POWER TO HIM!

Are you aware that Xin is literally a rocket scientist? (LOL)... if he can design rocket engines, he could surely take a radio apart and put it back together without any sign that it had been "tampered with."

Honestly, it's not hard to do unless there's something about the radio that would obviously show it having been opened, like some kind of plastic seaming that would be damaged. What exactly were you looking for as evidence that it had been opened?

 

[MrJoshua]

I have a stock Sony SRF-S84 and a Degan DE1103 and I love them both.

The Sony sounds fantastic with my Super.Fi's (I actually use the Mega Bass on the radio and it really does sound great with dance and hip hop music).

The Degan is used for Short Wave broadcasts and has pulled in some terrific stations from all round the world.

 

[Gene]

Paul,
Thanks for your explaination concerning sensitivity and selectivity and I understand the difference but it's great that you explained it in laymans' terms for the uninitiated. That's the kind of stuff we need more of here! I live very rural and sensitivity is first and foremost for me. You are and have always been a gentleman and I meant no disrespect. I guess I was venting because linnem, who was highly regarded here back then, did not do the right thing. Not you Paul but it just seems that if you talk the tech talk here on Head-Fi, you're given such credence but in the end, it's your character that counts. You have always been helpful in your posts.

To Others,
Again, I'm not at all accusing Xin of ANYTHING! I really should apologize for even bringing him up. Yes, my brother bought it directly from him. I know he's a scientist and I respect him. I've taken things apart and I'm very anal about cosmetics and I'm pretty good but I can't take something apart and put it back together without a tiny flaw showing up. No, I'm not going to take this radio apart to find out if he did install larger caps so I should keep my mouth shut. The SRF-S84 works fabulous for me so 'nuff said.

One thing I find amusing though is that a lot of "experts' here will criticize what someone likes and gladly tell them why they shouldn't like it. Then after spending copious amounts of money and time, will come back and recommend what they were SURE wasn't worthwhile. Listen, it's all a learning experience and fun but what I've learned in the long run, if it sounds and works good for you, don't let an "expert" tell you it's not. Thank God for a lot of these experts though because they spend the money and time to come to the conclusion that you might have been right after all!

 

[D555]

No problem here, Gene! Always glad to discuss radios.

I was surprised, this past week, to discover a nice little radio hidden in the Sony NW-E507 flash player. It kind of makes me wish they had found a way to cram an AM radio in there as well.

Maybe Sony's next micro radio will use an OLED.

If Sony made an AM/FM radio made like the NE-E507, I'd buy it in a.... flash!

Paul