Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner
by Sony
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Our Price: $499.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner
Customer Review: This unit is all about "Sound Quality"
Summary: 5 Stars
IF this HD tuner has such great sound quality, why do so many users seem disappointed with the sound?
The answer is that the sound quality that people hear from their speakers is dependent not only on the tuner, but is necessarily limited by the poorest component in their system. After the signal leaves the tuner, it must pass through connecting wires, amplification equipment and speakers. The signal flowing through these components is analagous to water passing through pipes in a home.- If there is dirt anywhere along the inside of the pipes, dirt will flow out of the faucet.
So for people who play this tuner through a system that has at least one bad sounding component, the sound from the speakers will be bad.
This tuner is so good, that to experience the full impact of its capabilities, a very expensive system is required. I have two of these tuners, one for my home system, and one for the electronics lab at work. Both systems are very good. The work system has components all carefully selected for sound quality, and has an MSRP value of $3800. The home system has better components valued at over $10000 MSRP. The tuner in the home system sounds much better, but only when the particular program source is of high quality. We find that most popular music is very well recorded with respect to sound quality, but some of it is poor. And this fabulous souding HD tuner played through a $10000 system will not make a poor program source sound good. In fact, poor program sources tend to sound better on our cheaper system, because it is less revealing of details.
So it should not be surprising that some people will not hear the beautiful music that this tuner can reproduce. I don't mean to suggest you need a very expensive system to enjoy and appreciate it, but the result will inevitably be limited by the other components in the system.
Customer Review: Amazing FM tuner
Summary: 5 Stars
This is, quite simply, the best FM tuner available for anything remotely near this price, possibly the best FM tuner, period. The HD-Radio aspect is a nice to have feature, but you can completely disregard it and this is still an amazing tuner.
Last weekend I spent a few hours going through the whole FM band. With the exception of neighbors to some of the local HD-Radio stations (which heavily pollute the neighboring channels), I was able to hear at least one station on every single channel. This was using just the included wire dipole antenna in my living room. I got very good, near-local signals from stations 50 miles away; marginal, but listenable signals from 120 miles away; and very fringe but understandable signals from 200 miles away.
Adjacent channel interference (again, with the exception of the local HD-Radio stations) is simply not an issue on this radio. No other FM radio I've tried, and I have several good ones, comes even close to this kind of performance. Sony has hit a grand slam with this unit.
The AM side is decent, but not outstanding. It will do a perfectly acceptable job with local stations. Deep fringe daytime reception is not its strong suit. It does require use of an external AM loop antenna (which is included) that must be placed at least a foot away from the tuner. The plus is that this makes it easy to rotate the antenna for best reception.
On the negative side for some, this is a "tuner" not a "radio". It does not contain an audio amplifier or speakers. It's designed to be plugged in to a stereo system. I run mine using some powered speakers designed for use with an iPod. (Adapter plug required)
Overall, I am very happy with the XDR-F1HD. I've recommended it to several friends, at least one of whom was so impressed he quickly ordered a second one.
Customer Review: total bang for buck!
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this unit and find that it will search and connect to many more HD radio stations than my more expensive Polk Audio system... The size is small and has a big legible led text screen. I bought some M-audio studiophile monitors and returned them after reading about the quality of Bose speakers, that were priced the same, $99.99 at a Bose store and though not exceedingly loud, the combination of this sony and the bose speakers is outstanding... I like to set the sleep function and or have HD presets to toggle through, or search through... Only one issue, which is the same for all HD radios, is that when I select a HD station, it sometimes takes a few seconds to resolve to hear it; but other than that a definite bang for your buck; couple with Bose speakers at $99.99 sounds incredible, very palpable, audible, and not blaring and very clear.-Which if you like, they have pricier Bose speaker models/ systems. Bose speakers will allow for TWO rca inputs, thus you are able to connect Sony and another DVD player separately, directly into the bose 2 rca inputs on the back of the Bose speaker itself.... That is something the competition does not have, like the M-audio speakers... This could also be incorporated into and existing system, but have to say that this with Bose speakers, makes for a very small footprint and huge audio... This is a good system coupled with Bose, if you want small and big sound- they had some much smaller speakers that bose made for like 2 or 3 times as much, $.$$ then in effect that would be even smaller and produce an even more rich roomy high tech decibels- fantastic sound; I heard them in the local Bose store... If you are looking around, would say best does not always have to break the bank... Also, you will need an RCA cable if you are to do the sony/bose setup....
Customer Review: Have sounds, will travel.
Summary: 5 Stars
Although I read the reviews here before buying, I was still surprised by just how small and light is this Sony HD tuner, which encourages portability. I've used it in the living room, kitchen and bedroom, connected to my Onkyo system and two boom boxes -- a $500 Panasonic and a $50 no-name. In each case, the sound is terrific. The Sony's sensitivity and selectivity is much better than the Onky and Pana units and I find the analog RCA outputs deliver fine sound through any amplifier. Since I use the tuner on a table/counter/nightstand rather than a shelf, the control buttons on top work great for me.
I live close-in to DC, so I get excellent reception of the HD channels I like from NPR and C-span radio. In addition, I've discovered a number of new stations scattered around Maryland and Virginia in a 50-75 mile radius whose analog signals come in well enough to be listenable.
Others have complained about the bright dial backlight of this unit. There are three settings for this and at the dimmest the light didn't bother me in the bedroom. As another aside, I'll mention that I've always disliked the FM ribbon antennas equipment makers provide, so I tried connecting the Sony to an old TV rabbit ears antenna and found the reception to be excellent. The "ears" also compliment the portability of the tuner.
If you listen to radio for more than background noise, you'll enjoy this tuner. The ease of movement and connection to any type of sound system, together with its superior performance and cheap price make the Sony XDRF1HD a winner.
Customer Review: It's a great Tuner, it is not a Radio!
Summary: 5 Stars
This Sony Tuner (not a radio) is a technical tour-de-force. Ignore any negative reviews of it where the bottom line is the consumer didn't understand they were getting a tuner, not a radio, simply because they failed to read the product description. Some people can't put the batteries in the remote control correctly either for this same reason, God bless 'em!
I was looking for a new tuner to add to my stereo system to replace a decades old Kenwood KT-815, and at the same time I was aware of the arrival of HD radio and wanted to be an early adopter. Using Internet Google research, I was impressed by the online reviews of this product, especially by those radio enthusiasts (DX'ers) looking for outstanding reception capability. I wanted to know how well it performed (outstanding), how dollar effective it is (great! wonderful bang per buck!), and if it made a noticeable difference in my FM listening experience (definitely!). My research also told me of its size (small, which is good), and that HD radios or tuners costing several times more did not match the Sony's performance.
My only cons:
- Batteries not included for the remote
- No way to enter station frequency directly, but there are many presets available as a consolation
- It is a warm running unit, and I added little extension feet to raise it up a bit for better airflow and cooling
Bottom line is if you have a stereo system and want to break into HD radio cheaply and cheerfully, this unit is a good way to experience HD FM and HD AM.