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Brief review of HDT-1x in Sensible Sound, complete review coming

M

Mike Walker

Guest
The latest issue of "Sensible Sound" magazine, a mag for high-end audiophiles to whom price IS an object, has a brief review of the Sangean HDT-1x, with more coming. Their initial findings are that it "performs like a super-tuner" (as in the great, EXPENSIVE, tuners...not the Pioneer-brand car stereos).

And an interesting note for people who have "popped the top" and found the cabinet to be suspiciously empty. "There are components on BOTH SIDES of the circuit board!" So you're only seeing a fraction of the "innards".
 
You need all that empty space to dissipate all that heat coming off of those HD chips. Just lay a slice of bread on the small-encased Directed Electronics HD car add-on tuner, and you've got a mobile toaster - no joke.
 
Mike Walker said:
more coming. Their initial findings are that it "performs like a super-tuner" (as in the great, EXPENSIVE, tuners...not the Pioneer-brand car stereos).
Click to expand...

Actually - both use the same adaptive IF chip, which not only is excellent for wideband IF required for HD, but gives the best adjacent channel reception of any tuner made since the Marantz Model 10B.
 
Mine locks up in the HD mode.
I have to power it off and only then will it come back in HD.
 
Sounds like you got one "made on Monday", amfmhd. Tried to return it for service or exchange?
 
Sangean Customer service is amongst the best. COntact them and they'll repair your unit. I have both the HDT1 and the 1X tuners and they are both great units.
 
I get a lock-up (audio mutes forever) if I'm tuned to an FM-HD station and it is locked in HD, and I switch back and forth from PRESET to tune the radio and it's already a preset (if you know what I mean).
ie: Radio is set to 101.5 MHz, which is a preset, and I switch out of preset to manually tune, then there is no audio.
Anybody else with this issue?
 
Mike Walker said:
And an interesting note for people who have "popped the top" and found the cabinet to be suspiciously empty. "There are components on BOTH SIDES of the circuit board!" So you're only seeing a fraction of the "innards".
Click to expand...

Is that kind of like "Stations between the other stations?
 
KB101 asks (about components on both sides of the circuit board) "Is that kind of like "Stations between the other stations?"

No, Dude. If it had components INSIDE THE CIRCUIT BOARD, it owuld be "kind of like stations between stations".

Still, people have asked the question...those who "pop the top" on all of their equipment, "how come it's empty". The truth is, it's only half as empty as it looks. To see "the rest of the innards", it would be necessary to remove the circuit board, and turn it over.

Frankly, as integrated circuits become more dense, "component count" becomes increasingly meaningless. After all, there can be hundreds, or thousands of components ON THE CHIP! Plus with much work being handled in software, component count really means very little.
 
Mike Walker said:
KB101 asks (about components on both sides of the circuit board) "Is that kind of like "Stations between the other stations?"

No, Dude. If it had components INSIDE THE CIRCUIT BOARD, it owuld be "kind of like stations between stations".

Still, people have asked the question...those who "pop the top" on all of their equipment, "how come it's empty". The truth is, it's only half as empty as it looks. To see "the rest of the innards", it would be necessary to remove the circuit board, and turn it over.

Frankly, as integrated circuits become more dense, "component count" becomes increasingly meaningless. After all, there can be hundreds, or thousands of components ON THE CHIP! Plus with much work being handled in software, component count really means very little.
Click to expand...

Great point Mike. I'm sure my laptop here wouldn't look too impressive on the surface to the people that created ENIAC or UNIVAC, but open it up and they'd be dumbfounded by all it can do.
 
Mike Walker said:
Frankly, as integrated circuits become more dense, "component count" becomes increasingly meaningless. After all, there can be hundreds, or thousands of components ON THE CHIP! Plus with much work being handled in software, component count really means very little.
Click to expand...

There is a new trend in these ICs. It is toward taking sections of older ICs that may be state of the art by themselves, and using them as building blocks for newer, very dense ICs. This type of standard cell approach has been in use for years, but the trend is accelerating and die sizes becoming enormous. All that is required is that the same process is used for each section they morph together. You don't really see it in the HDT-1X, but you will increasingly see it in consumer good, medical equipment, and test equipment that have functionality unheard of before. Of course, there is that single chip radio that Silabs makes - with NO external components except for antennas and the microcontroller. In a few years, the microcontroller will be in there, too, and all you will have is battery / power and antennas in, display and switch functions in, and audio out. True single chip radio, just as cell phones are going to true single chip designs right now. They would be there already, if not for the volumes involved.

IBOC came at the wrong time. It was almost too late - only massive consumer acceptance will put it into ICs at this point. The industry was already too close to single chip design for iPods to risk NOT having radios in everything. I think they will go for single chips without HD in iPods rather than wait around from HD. Its a race between 3 or 4 IC makers to get that enormous market. HD just isn't part of the business plan. Silabs may win the race.
 
JohnnyElectron said:
I get a lock-up (audio mutes forever) if I'm tuned to an FM-HD station and it is locked in HD, and I switch back and forth from PRESET to tune the radio and it's already a preset (if you know what I mean).
ie: Radio is set to 101.5 MHz, which is a preset, and I switch out of preset to manually tune, then there is no audio.
Anybody else with this issue?
Click to expand...

My HDT-1 has locked up a couple of times for no particular reason while tuned to an analog station. The audio mutes and you have to power cycle it to get it to work again.

I did devise a $20.00 fix that makes the tuner return to whatever it was tuned in to in the event of a power failure. I'm sure it voided my warranty, but I really don't care. It was more important to me that it would come back to life when power is restored.

The tuner IS amazing in the way it handles strong first adjacent channel interference. It is very impressive from that point of view.
 
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