[Matt]

Synopsis: I may have just made the single biggest mistake of my audio life.

Review:

The other day, while perusing Fixup.net's site for interesting tidbits of info as I sometimes do, I came across the fact that Sony released a sucessor to the SRF-M35 radio. This one was interesting, as it featured one of the upgrades Xin was doing to the M35: the larger as-intended-by-the-designer caps.

The radio, it was said, also has TV and weather band. "Hmmm..." I think and after a too-brief moment of rushed consideration, I put my modded SRF-M35 up for sale here, got a bite and then a payment ($20 measly bucks: since this was $26 shipped at Amazon, I let it go cheap) and ordered the M37V.

I got it today, got home, put in batteries and...and...well, to start, the soundstage collapsed on me. The SRF-M35 redefined FM radio in my mind in a huge way. It was awesome, even though it had the "dreaded background hiss" (yeah right...I'd give anything to have that "dreaded" sound back if it means I get the rest of the sonic package back). The soundstage was huge, the sound was seductive, liquid and altogether rather "tubey" and my grins were constantly ear-to-ear. For a such a small portable (read "slightly more convenient than a Tivoli PAL"), it was definitely worthy of the "audiophile" label.

Where I once had a gigantic orchestra sprawled out in front of me, with unbelievably good imaging for a "POS consumer portable," I now have a gummed-up, balled together mass close to my head. In other words, awful.

This radio sounds just plain congested in comparison to my former (*sob*) radio. An Amazon.com reviewer noted that there was apparently a mild "Bass Boost" built in, undefeatable. Great...forced "bass boost" listening; why didn't I catch that earlier? Was I in too much of an eager upgraditis state that I was temporarily blind? I can feel that ugly, unmusical bass low frequency energy when I turn the unit on, then I guess I get used to it. In any event, I get the strong impression that it must be consuming the driver's range of motion to a large degree and therefore blurring details as it goes.

The highs on the modded M35 were about the most stratospheric and beautiful thing I've heard from a consumer portable device. Just great. With this player, they're just grate. Rolled, and then what isn't rolled is a touch too strident. This is not the relaxed, easy musicality I'm used to...

One of the worst things about this unit is the reception. The AM is just awful; as noted in that Amazon.com review of Aug. 6th, the ferrite bar is very directional. As in "way more directional than even the M35, which was already directional to begin with." I'm sorry, but I have no intention of walking sideways just to get good AM.

Mr. Feng seemed to indicate that the sound/reception of this unit is "near the M35." Now, I've never heard a stock M35, but this is nowhere near my previous unit.

I am sincerely hoping that Xin Feng will poke around this unit to find internals to upgrade to make a silk purse of this sow's ear.

- Matt

 

[D555]

Hello,

Thanks for the SRF-M35 review. I'm on a search fo the best sounding and best performing (RF-wise) mini radio. I too was impressed by the 35's sonic qualities (that darned hiss, though) and thought AM reception quite good. The RF performance of the 35 killed it for me. To much overload in this urban environment. Even strong, local stations were mixing on each other so that the primary frequency was being interfered with. It might be great out in the country.

One of the reasons some pocket stereo radios sound "good" is that many of them do not utilize a meaningful 19khz filter to kill the FM stereo pilot signal at the audio output. The result is a perception of better highs than might be associated with a home tuner or stereo. The downside is that there is increased distortion (note that pocket radios do not usually have a FM distorion spec). Amazingly, the Sangean ATS-909 does have a simple 19khz filter at the FM audio output.

The Sony ICF-7600GR, likewise has the FM quality of the SRF-35 without the !@#&*! hiss. Great AM reception too. (If you really like AM read up on "Synchronous Detection" -- the ICF-7600GR has it!). The FM RF performace isn't as good as the Sangean but it's acceptable. If you can live with the increased size of the radio give it a listen -- it's well made. In case you're wondering: no 19khz pilot filter. The chip does a pretty good job filtering out the pilot signal, anyway.

Based on pure sound quality, the Sony is better than the Sangean, in my opinion.

Best regards,

Paul

 

[usc goose]

bummer.

thanks for the review though.

 

[Duncan]

I think that Philips radios must have that 19khz filter, because the ones i've heard (and the one I own) all sound a little lifeless compared to my M95...

...The best 'British' radio manufacturer is Roberts... they have a portable radio that comes in about $55... I don't know whether to get that, else to audition the M10... either way, I feel its time to see if there is a chance to move up from the pretty good sounding M95

Bummer about the M37V though

 

[Matt]

Quote:

Originally posted by D555 ...I too was impressed by the 35's sonic qualities (that darned hiss, though) and thought AM reception quite good. The RF performance of the 35 killed it for me. To much overload in this urban environment. Even strong, local stations were mixing on each other so that the primary frequency was being interfered with. It might be great out in the country.

Paul, if you think the 35's reception was lousy, just WAIT until you hear this one: I am listening to my local classical station (that I used to get with zero crosstalk and only some light "shhhtthzzhtthhhh" fading in and out every now and again) with the lovely screaming of another station's car ads superimposed over it. Yeah, real pleasant.

I have played with it a bit more this morning, and have more complaints: first of all, isn't it ironic that the local TV stations come in so well on a *radio*, but the radio stations aren't so hot.

I like to listen to the radio low, but on this unit, when you turn it down near the bottom, the left channel starts fading faster than then right. THEN, if that weren't enough, the sound then equalizes in amplitude, but becomes all muffled at the very lowest setting, a setting one might use in bed or in some other super-quiet environment.

The weather band radio is very soft. I am using very efficient (and very good-sounding) Sony VITE's, and it is soft with them. You have to crank it up to make it out.

The "antenna effect" on FM (where you have to move your body, the headphone cord and/or the unit around to get best reception) is just so much worse with this player. I'm dancing around the room on many stations.

A curious "plus": there is one easy listening station that is miles away that is coming in clearer now. Of course, I am used to garbled static laid over the compressed mono sound of this far-away station, so don't take this at all as a plus for general sound quality, only a reception anomaly.

There is also that totally unmusical bass boost "feature" built-in. It puts that peculiar, non-musical, exaggerated, pulsating pressure in your ear canal that is subtly so annoying. Aaarrgghhh...every time you change the station, you hear the "(whump)" of it engaging. I hope Xin can circumvent that. I get the distinct impression, as in my previous post on this matter, that it is eating up a large amount of the transducer's range of motion and drowning out highs, etc., leading to a rolled sound. The 35 extended up to the heavens in a very pleasant, very musical way.

Finally, if you think the "hiss" is gone, it's far lower, but when you turn the sound down, there is still a hiss there. Yeah, not perfectly crystal clear after all.

Gee, I am jonesing for my M35 back...yes, the hiss was annoying, but the sound (modded) was insane.

AAUUUUGGGHHHHH! I WANT MY BABY BACK! I feel like some mother in a Movie-of-the-Week who's lost her child...except I'm a man.

- Matt

 

[D555]

Hello,

The 35's poor RF qualities are probably hurt by what helps makes it sound rather good: A single wide IF filter. The filter is probably 280khz wide -- too wide for any decent alternate channel selectivity. Since USA FM stations are 200khz apart you can see the problem. The benefit is that a clear station would suffer less from phase problems with the extremely wide filter so it should sound good. The problem is that in city there are few "clear" stations.

The Sony ICF-7600GR selectivity was too wide also -- even with two IF filters. I replaced the originals with Murata 180khz GDT (flat group delay -- less phase problems) types. There is much better selectivity now and the sound was not perceivably affected.

Just for fun I put in a Murata 180khz IF filter in my Sangean DT-110. Selectivity is better, the highs a little muted (they were originally) but seems to be a resonable balance between fidelity and selectivity.

The 37 may be helped by using a narrower IF filter. Don't know haven't tried, don't have the radio. I could try the alteration to my 35, however (but that hiss!).

Best regards,

Paul

 

[Matt]

...has informed me that he has put a little warning on fixup.net so as not to mislead anyone else. Sure, it wasn't his fault that I got the stick with this radio, but you could certainly have read his words a few different ways, mostly positive.

In the finall analysis, 'twas an easy decision to send back the SRF-M37V to Amazon.com. Not wanting to be without a portable radio and on Xin's seemingly firmest recommendation, ordered the $59.99 Fixup.net modified SRF-M84. I loved Xin's modded SRF-M35 and I am hoping that, as he seems to imply, the SRF-S84 betters that...even though it has that ****ing bass boost (which to me is so anti-audiophile it hurts).

If the bass boost sucks, I am going to send it back and take him up on his offer of doing the mods on an M35 if I can find one.

Regards,
Matt

 

[appar111]

Do you mean the SRF-S84? I had one of those and I personally liked the bass boost. Perhaps the fixup mods made it more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. Ithink it's a great deal, and can only speak to the modded version (worth every penny Xin!)

I don't mind a little bass boost every once in a while, perhaps that means I'm not a true audiophile... but when listening to most of what's on today's radio, do you need true audiophile quality to listen to the latest Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, or Linkin Park? lol....

 

[Matt]

Quote:

Originally posted by appar111 Do you mean the SRF-S84?... I don't mind a little bass boost every once in a while, perhaps that means I'm not a true audiophile... but when listening to most of what's on today's radio, do you need true audiophile quality to listen to the latest Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, or Linkin Park?

I listen to classical (makes it ugly), acoustic jazz (makes it ugly) and talk radio (makes it really, really ugly and uncomfortably boomy with all sorts of awful in-ear pressure).

I sure hope you're right about making it sound good where it otherwise would not be. The M37V's bass boost was just...barely...tolerable. I would easily get rid of it if I could. However, Xin did say "best ever" on his order page, which I assume means it bests the fabulous Modded SRF-M35 (which did have reception problems because of it's low selectivity). Xin says that the reception and sound on this one are "best ever," and because his products I've heard have so far bowled me over either with sound (M35) or technique and size-for-sound (quickly listened to a friends amp), I blindly trust everything he says. Period. (For now, at least, with this radio being the make-break point for me...I sure hope he surivives).

- Matt

 

[appar111]

I guess I should ask what headphones you're using with the radio, as that would make a huge difference as to how the bass boost is handled. I always used MX400's and liked what I hear, but our musical tastes differ too. I have to agree that bass boost isn't necessary for talk radio-- Stern sounds waaaaaay too boomy with it on.

 

[Matt]

...the most Ety-like POS headphones ever: Sony MDR-W07's. These are (in my book) legendary. They sound very, very euphonic. They were amazing with the M35: gigantic, natural-ish soundstaging, high end extension (rolled but not entirely gone), oodles of realism for such a cheap headphone, etc.

There was a whole controversy many moons ago about Sony POS VITE's (Vertical-In-The-Ear). Many derided them, but they were probably listening to the current-run ****. Mine are amazing.

Anyhow, I was listening with darn good headphones with Ety-like response. Very neutral in the bass region...not heavy or super extended, but present without excess bloom or boom. Musical, for sure. This is probably why these were "just...barely...tolerable": they themselves weren't bass-exaggerated, like the thrown-in POS headphones.


- Matt

 

[appar111]

I actually have a pair of MDR-W08L's that I got a few weeks ago from Target for $8, and they sound pretty good for what they are. Not perfect by any means, but very clear sounding, with the extreme high end rolled off. A good buy if you need a quick headphone fix.

Most of the time now its the Grado SR80's or AKG K141S, both of which I'm very happy with...

 

[Matt]

...yeah, I bought W08's. Sorry to dis your cans, but they suck next to the W07's, especially in terms of comfort. Mine seemed to have those plastic die-cast seam edge thingies right on the most sensitive part of my ear skin that it contacts. In other words, wearable for about thirty seconds before violently ripping them off. Just me, though, apparently...

The soundstage on the W07's (well amped, or even sometimes when not) is insanely good. Can be extremely musical for a POS VITE. Often is with a decent source (such as a Xin radio!).

- Matt

 

[appar111]

Matt-
It may just be a fit issue too... I've tried some VITE headphones that really hurt to wear, but for some reason, the W08's are very comfy for me.

I think the soundstage is ok for what they are... definitely not AKG K401's, but hey, they're only 8 bucks. Plus its too hard to find new old stock W07's, so I make due.... keep in mind that the W08's get almost no use unless I've forgotten to stuff my MX400's into my bag...

 

[Duncan]

The most comfortable VITES are the MDR-A22s but the best sounding are the MDR-A21s