Another weird quirk of the Insignia HD portable

[DaveBayArea]

Last weekend I was at a live remote on our station. We don't do these often, but when we do the standard procedure is to just use a portable radio for a monitor. The station doesn't run HD, so there are no delay issues. Or so I thought. I brought along my Mighty Red portable (the Insignia, really) and tried to use it. I couldn't. Even though it's receiving pure analog, the audio coming out of the headphones was about 1/4 second behind. Talk about strange. My other radio, a little Muvo MP3 player, works fine. Now I REALLY wonder what's going on inside that thing.

Dave B.

 

[nd2023]

"Processing delay"

 

[scanman1]

All the HD radios I've had in the past were like that. Always milliseconds behind my pure analog receivers when both were tuned to analog only stations.

 

[Savage]

A few years back I installed a digital multiband audio processor in the air chain. Everything sounded fine until I went on the air to host a talk show. In-studio guests and all other sources sounded normal in the headphones - but every time I talked I sounded like Darth Vader to myself, with a weird metallic "flanging" effect. I ran down the hall and asked the call screener if he was hearing the same thing, and got the puzzled response - no, your mic sounds just like everyone else's. Listening to an aircheck of the program revealed - my mic DID sound normal.

It turns out the processor introduced just enough delay in certain sections of the audio spectrum to create this effect, which was detected by my inner ear. The effect was annoying enough that we returned the processor in favor of one that sounded more normal to humans listening in real time. The audio weirdness was too distracting.

Once again: "digital solves all of our problems...." :

 

[w9wi]

All the HD radios I've had in the past were like that. Always milliseconds behind my pure analog receivers when both were tuned to analog only stations.

HD radios of course require digital signal processing to decode the HD signal.

The DSP circuitry is also used with analog signals. This results in *superb* selectivity, and excellent performance in general on analog signals.

Unfortunately it also results in processing delays...

 

[nd2023]

A few years back I installed a digital multiband audio processor in the air chain. Everything sounded fine until I went on the air to host a talk show. In-studio guests and all other sources sounded normal in the headphones - but every time I talked I sounded like Darth Vader to myself, with a weird metallic "flanging" effect. I ran down the hall and asked the call screener if he was hearing the same thing, and got the puzzled response - no, your mic sounds just like everyone else's. Listening to an aircheck of the program revealed - my mic DID sound normal.

It turns out the processor introduced just enough delay in certain sections of the audio spectrum to create this effect, which was detected by my inner ear. The effect was annoying enough that we returned the processor in favor of one that sounded more normal to humans listening in real time. The audio weirdness was too distracting.

Once again: "digital solves all of our problems...." :

I have this same flanging effect at my college station when listening to the air monitor due to the STL delay of a few milliseconds. I personally like the way it sounds, makes my voice sound a little better. I tried doing a mic break while listening to my portable HD radio as a monitor and the delay just threw me off, even worse than when I did a mic break with the profanity delay on.

 

[BRNout]

All the HD radios I've had in the past were like that. Always milliseconds behind my pure analog receivers when both were tuned to analog only stations.

HD radios of course require digital signal processing to decode the HD signal.

The DSP circuitry is also used with analog signals. This results in *superb* selectivity, and excellent performance in general on analog signals.

Unfortunately it also results in processing delays...

An excellent description!

That DSP chip is the reason that I have come to really like my Insignia portable. The micro size is handy too. The rechargeable battery is a pain in the tush and the fact that it's HD is a double-edged sword. Yes, you can get all of the HD-2s and -3s (etc.); but the reception is unstable in even the best of signal conditions. Walking around results in you popping in and out of HD unless you are listening to a very strong signal.

But (back OT), the DSP chip allows for good reception of adjacent market signals which other similarly sized radios - with a headphone cord as antenna - are not selective enough to reliably offer. At times, reception on the Insignia challenges one of my Tecsuns. The Tecsuns always do better overall, but they also need a whip antenna to do so. And all have that 0.10 second delay that you'll never notice unless you are doing something specialized (as the OP was). But I'll take that over the standard Walkman-style reception where adjacents step all over one another.

 

[muiscmike]

BRNout,
I have found a very good method for charging my Insignia portable. I plug the USB charging cable into my iPad adapt that allows me to charge directly from the wall outlet instead of plugging the radio into the computer.

 

[tomservo]

BRNout,
I have found a very good method for charging my Insignia portable. I plug the USB charging cable into my iPad adapt that allows me to charge directly from the wall outlet instead of plugging the radio into the computer.

This is worth reiterating. I've got two Insignias and there's definitely a difference in battery life when it's charged from a wall adapter versus the computer USB outlet.

 

[spunker88]

Its the DSP, I notice this on the Sony XDR-F1HD when tuned to an analog signal. If I tune it and a cheapo analog radio to the same station, the Sony lags ever so slightly since its running DSP on the signal.

 

[kc1ih]

BRNout,
I have found a very good method for charging my Insignia portable. I plug the USB charging cable into my iPad adapt that allows me to charge directly from the wall outlet instead of plugging the radio into the computer.

This is worth reiterating. I've got two Insignias and there's definitely a difference in battery life when it's charged from a wall adapter versus the computer USB outlet.

OK, don’t leave us hanging. Which is better?

 

[muiscmike]

I think plugging into the wall outlet is the best way to go.

 

[nd2023]

My first gen HD radio's battery life was terrible. Even if I fully charged it, the battery would die after sitting idle for a few days.

 

[tomservo]

OK, don’t leave us hanging. Which is better?

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Charging from a wall outlet is definitely better. On the newer unit, I think I get about 15 hours out of a charge, listening 2-3 hours a day and not doing a lot of scanning. Anything that keeps the display on a long time really sucks down the battery. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference between listening to HD stations and analog only stations, I can't tell if sticking to HD stations affects it one way or the other.

Charging from a powered USB hub attached to my computer I might get half that. 7-8 hours, tops.

 

[spunker88]

A computer's USB port is designed to supply up to 500 mA at ~5v. If you are using a non-powered hub this 500 mA has to be shared among all devices. You could check the wall charger, maybe it can put out more than 500 mA of current and the Insignia is able to draw more than 500 mA for charging. I've noticed that my cell phone charger outputs up to 700 mA of current and chances are it can take advantage of this extra current to reduce charging times. Unfortunately the 500 mA limit of USB 2.0 was set years ago, it has been upped to 900 mA in USB 3.0.

 

[tomservo]

spunker I checked the adapter that I use to charge the Insignia. It's 1000 mA. Much higher than I would have guessed! The adapter actually came with a Belkin Bluetooth GPS device that I used with an old Pocket PC PDA. Strangely the Belkin GPS shipped with a car cigarette lighter to USB adapter which only puts out 300 mA. In addition to those and the powered USB hub I also have a Samsung cell phone USB dongle that is 700 mA. So I certainly have the range of capacities covered.

 

[BRNout]

Actually, I have an old bluetooth charger that fits the Insignia - so I always charge it from the wall directly. Doing it from the computer takes forever and it seems to wear out faster. Even still, the battery life on these is unimpressive.

 

[JohnnyElectron]

Anybody figure out a way to build a little 'snap-on cover' for the Insignia that would allow for a whip antenna and a different battery pack that doesn't die after 6 hours of use? I use mine one nite and it's dead the next day.

 

[BRNout]

Anybody figure out a way to build a little 'snap-on cover' for the Insignia that would allow for a whip antenna and a different battery pack that doesn't die after 6 hours of use? I use mine one nite and it's dead the next day.

Hmmm, that's not good. Unless you leave it on ALL night. If not, your battery could be starting to fail. That or you're not charging it enough. I hope it's the latter because once your battery fails, then your disposable radio goes into the trash.

My older one has a loose connection near the headphone input. If I apply pressure front and back, I get both channels and good sound. If not, I lose the left channel. Very annoying. Interesting, the newer one I have does a better job of pulling in the HD signals than the older one did. Seems to recognize them faster and decode more effectively. They still drop out a lot, but not as bad as that first one I bought (where HD is almost useless in the suburbs). Yet they both have about the same sensitivity.

I guess Insignia has been trying to improve this radio with each minor upgrade. That said, nothing prevents the radio from being disposable once the rechargeable battery is spent. And that's a sin.