My most cherished DX radio is a 1980's era Sanyo boombox, hence my nickname here. It's not a radio I use all the time, nor is it the one I first DXed with, but it's the one that I was DXing with when I discovered nulling, and the one I did most of my DXing with during the mid to late-1980's when I was really into the hobby. I still have it -- the first one was stolen and I found an identical one in a pawn shop in the early 1990's. With it I was able to hear Mexico, Central America, Alaska and Korea, as well as stations all over the Western US and Canada. I used a 3 ft spiral loop to get the more distant catches. A lot of the boomboxes of the 80's and 90's were actually good DXers.
As for 'bang for your buck', from 2011 to around 2015 I was DXing a lot with a Realistic DX-350A, which has a lot of sensitivity and great sound through headphones.
I presently use a PR-D5 which is in my writing room (ironic that it's a mini-boombox), a couple Superadios, and a Sony XDR boombox I'm tinkering with.
