[Breakdown]

this is an honest question

A lot of Korean portables come with built in FM radio but that only works with the headphone plug. Now, there has got to be a reason why a 3rd party accessory charges $20 (guessing) for an FM tuner and adds more bulk. How much better do these get a better reception? With headphone plugs I usually have to move my player around so static doesn't come in or hold it a specific way. Same for the add-on radios?

 

[D555]

Most pocket radios and radios built into flash, HDD players use the headphone cables as the antenna for reception. In my experience the reception performance of the built-in FM tuners exceed that of the ultra-small pocket radios.

Are you close or far away from FM broadcasters?

If close, it is possible that the FM tuner is being overloaded causing images that interfere with reception. If far away, then the headphone cable should be a about 3 feet long and not coiled up.

 

[sgrossklass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by D555 Most pocket radios and radios built into flash, HDD players use the headphone cables as the antenna for reception. In my experience the reception performance of the built-in FM tuners exceed that of the ultra-small pocket radios.

That's a fairly broad statement, even though ultra-small (FM-only) radios typically aren't too great to begin with. There are a few different radio chips available, and implementations may vary - my iAudio G3 isn't so hot, for example, while iRiver players typically enjoy a fairly good reputation. An add-on radio would mainly be needed for players that don't have one to begin with, or one that performs poorly, and it would still be more compact than lugging around a well-performing dedicated radio.

Oh, and then you can also buy little FM *transmitters* for MP3 players and such stuff, which may be used to play back the music on a car's radio or wherever. (I have also considered using one for basic alignment of FM tuners in case special equipment is unavailable. Peaking up the frontend and roughly aligning stereo separation should be possible, but IF/distortion related stuff is out of question.)