The last time I visited Fry's in Dallas, they disavowed any knowledge of HD radio. One manager told me "You must be mistaken. HD is a TV set." Things have changed quite a bit in the last couple of months. Yesterday, they had a nice end cap display of working HD radios. There was even some signage describing the alternate channels on various area stations. The listing was out of date, as many of the stations had changed formats, but it was a start.
Out of the three radios on display, one was not HD capable. I thought that was odd, but consider where we were, and it shouldn’t be a surprise. There was the BA Receptor, the Sangean HDR-1 and another Boston Acoustics radio that included a CD player, which was reminiscent of the Bose Wave radio. Unfortunately, it did not seem to be HD, but it was a nice little radio.
Just as advertised, the BA Receptor was deaf as a post. My friend and I managed to get it to pick up one analog station with the included antenna, but that was after messing with its placement for some time. Neither of us could get any HD reception it in the store. It was similarly deaf on AM, although a GE Super Radio that was on the shelf nearby gave satisfactory performance on both AM and FM. I'd give the BA thumbs down, just as has been reported ad nauseum.
Next…
The Sangean HDR-1 was a horse of a different color. Using a built in whip antenna, it was a good performer in analog and seemed to do well in HD. Classical music station WRR was a real stand out in HD. Even in the noisy store environment, it was amazing how quiet passages were. Even though it is a table radio, it had a pleasing tonal balance, and I thought it was an attractive piece of equipment. I couldn't get any HD reception on AM, but I suspect that would be hard to do in a place with as many interference generators as Fry's. (Although the GE wasn't all that bad on strong AM stations.)
What I did not like about the Sangean was the "one knob does all" control. It's probably just me, but I never figured out what was wrong with two knobs, "on-off-volume" and "tuning." I thought it made it a bit awkward, but I'm sure you'd get used to it. There is supposed to be a remote control for the radio, but it was missing. Maybe it is easy to use. It was priced at $199 with a $25 rebate. If you live in an area with a lot of HD stations, this might be worth it. It is a nice radio, even in analog.
There was also a Sangean component HD tuner, the HDT-1. It is intended for home stereo applications. As I recall, somebody mentioned the lack of such a device on the market. Well, it is here now. Naturally, the one at Fry's wasn't connected up to anything, so you could hear it. It did have power, so you could at least see how the controls worked. It looked like a competent piece of equipment, which with the use of a rack shelf would be right at home in a radio studio for off air monitoring. It was also $199 less a $25 rebate.
I’d say quite a bit of progress has been made. There are a lot of HD stations in Dallas, but it is a top 10 market. If it isn’t going to happen there, it certainly won’t play in Paducah.
Lest you think I've sold out to the Dark Side, I must also mention that there was a similar end cap display for, guess what......
Scroll down.....
More......
Are you ready?
Wireless Internet Radios.
Yep they were there, and one was working. Both were from Roku. The display occupied exactly the same amount of floor space as the HD radio display. One of the Wi-Fi radios was the "Soundbridge," which is a tubular plastic affair with a blue digital display. It looks a lot like a digital clock for your bedroom. Fry's wanted $199.00 for it, but I notice on Roku's web site, you can get it right now for $99.00. Not bad. The other is simply called "The Soundbridge Radio" which was $349.00 at Fry’s. It was actually working, and sounded very good. I was impressed.
I may have to try the Soundbridge for a hundred bucks, since there are no HD signals to listen to in my neighborhood, although I understand that one local broadcaster (Waller) has purchased HD transmitters for two of their FM stations.
If nothing else, it was an interesting field trip. With FMExtra reportedly coming on line, more and cheaper Wi-Fi radios coming, and who knows what else on the horizon, I predict that things will not be boring. Even though these are not strictly “HD” radios, I think they are appropriate to discuss on this forum, at least until the Moderator fires up the FMExtra and Wi-Fi radio forums. The technology is similar and interrelated. I still think that software defined radios are our future. I doubt very highly that there will be only one winner, unless there are some corporate suicides along the way.
Out of the three radios on display, one was not HD capable. I thought that was odd, but consider where we were, and it shouldn’t be a surprise. There was the BA Receptor, the Sangean HDR-1 and another Boston Acoustics radio that included a CD player, which was reminiscent of the Bose Wave radio. Unfortunately, it did not seem to be HD, but it was a nice little radio.
Just as advertised, the BA Receptor was deaf as a post. My friend and I managed to get it to pick up one analog station with the included antenna, but that was after messing with its placement for some time. Neither of us could get any HD reception it in the store. It was similarly deaf on AM, although a GE Super Radio that was on the shelf nearby gave satisfactory performance on both AM and FM. I'd give the BA thumbs down, just as has been reported ad nauseum.
Next…
The Sangean HDR-1 was a horse of a different color. Using a built in whip antenna, it was a good performer in analog and seemed to do well in HD. Classical music station WRR was a real stand out in HD. Even in the noisy store environment, it was amazing how quiet passages were. Even though it is a table radio, it had a pleasing tonal balance, and I thought it was an attractive piece of equipment. I couldn't get any HD reception on AM, but I suspect that would be hard to do in a place with as many interference generators as Fry's. (Although the GE wasn't all that bad on strong AM stations.)
What I did not like about the Sangean was the "one knob does all" control. It's probably just me, but I never figured out what was wrong with two knobs, "on-off-volume" and "tuning." I thought it made it a bit awkward, but I'm sure you'd get used to it. There is supposed to be a remote control for the radio, but it was missing. Maybe it is easy to use. It was priced at $199 with a $25 rebate. If you live in an area with a lot of HD stations, this might be worth it. It is a nice radio, even in analog.
There was also a Sangean component HD tuner, the HDT-1. It is intended for home stereo applications. As I recall, somebody mentioned the lack of such a device on the market. Well, it is here now. Naturally, the one at Fry's wasn't connected up to anything, so you could hear it. It did have power, so you could at least see how the controls worked. It looked like a competent piece of equipment, which with the use of a rack shelf would be right at home in a radio studio for off air monitoring. It was also $199 less a $25 rebate.
I’d say quite a bit of progress has been made. There are a lot of HD stations in Dallas, but it is a top 10 market. If it isn’t going to happen there, it certainly won’t play in Paducah.
Lest you think I've sold out to the Dark Side, I must also mention that there was a similar end cap display for, guess what......
Scroll down.....
More......
Are you ready?
Wireless Internet Radios.
Yep they were there, and one was working. Both were from Roku. The display occupied exactly the same amount of floor space as the HD radio display. One of the Wi-Fi radios was the "Soundbridge," which is a tubular plastic affair with a blue digital display. It looks a lot like a digital clock for your bedroom. Fry's wanted $199.00 for it, but I notice on Roku's web site, you can get it right now for $99.00. Not bad. The other is simply called "The Soundbridge Radio" which was $349.00 at Fry’s. It was actually working, and sounded very good. I was impressed.
I may have to try the Soundbridge for a hundred bucks, since there are no HD signals to listen to in my neighborhood, although I understand that one local broadcaster (Waller) has purchased HD transmitters for two of their FM stations.
If nothing else, it was an interesting field trip. With FMExtra reportedly coming on line, more and cheaper Wi-Fi radios coming, and who knows what else on the horizon, I predict that things will not be boring. Even though these are not strictly “HD” radios, I think they are appropriate to discuss on this forum, at least until the Moderator fires up the FMExtra and Wi-Fi radio forums. The technology is similar and interrelated. I still think that software defined radios are our future. I doubt very highly that there will be only one winner, unless there are some corporate suicides along the way.
