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Digital Radio

M

Mickey37

Guest
Ladies, Gents, & Others -

I'm thinking of buying an HD receiver. Those of you who may have one, is it a car radio, a home model? How much was it? Is the quality that different, is it noticable?
 
> Ladies, Gents, & Others -
>
> I'm thinking of buying an HD receiver. Those of you who may
> have one, is it a car radio, a home model? How much was it?
> Is the quality that different, is it noticable?
>

I just played a bit with one of the only tabletop HD Radios available at the moment: the Boston Acoustics Recepter HD. It sounds pretty good, but as a receiver it's not so great. Even on a good FM antenna it has a harder time getting a clean HD signal than I'd like. AM's not so bad, although where I was there were no AM signals on HD at the time. The unit does have about 1001 user-adjustable software settings, which is fun to play with but I noticed it was easy to get the unit to "lock up" and "require a reboot" (unplug/plug in).

The big advantage of HD in general is multicasting (i.e. extra audio channels) for FM and improved audio quality for AM. FM in the car also has the nifty advantage of zero multipath but unless you point it out most folks don't notice that. Eventually FM will support surround sound too, if a standard can ever be agreed on.

The disadvantages are that for FM the sound quality is better in the short term but (esp. when multicasting) the data compression can lead to listener fatigue when listening long-term. For AM it's that it's only available during the day; FCC has not authorized nighttime use.

There's also major arguments to be made about increased interference to adjacent channels (REALLY noticeable on AM) when listening with an analog-only radio...but of course if you're purchasing an HD Radio then the HD Radio noise on the analog side isn't as big a problem for you. :)

The radios are all very expensive at the moment (the cheapest is $300...most are $500-$1000) and none of them are terribly "good" receivers. Not what any radio nut on this listserv would consider good, anyway. But it's all still beta at this point, really. With the exception of the Kenwoods, none of the HD Radios out there have been around more than a year or so...and most just started selling this fall/winter.

iBiquity has a list of current and upcoming HD-capable receivers:
http://www.ibiquity.com/hdradio/hdradio_hdproducts.htm
 
The sensitivity issue you address is indemic of iBiquity HD Radio. The paradox is that out far away from the transmitter where a good digital signal would be beneficial compared to the analog, the digital signal isn't even there!
 
> The sensitivity issue you address is indemic of iBiquity HD
> Radio. The paradox is that out far away from the
> transmitter where a good digital signal would be beneficial
> compared to the analog, the digital signal isn't even there!
> I don't agree with this point. My experience is that the HD goes out to about where the 60 dBu contour is for the analog signal. There are plenty of areas, though, inside that contour, where there is objectionable multi-path in the reception of the analog. The HD signal is solid in most cases-and this is especially evident in a moving vehicle.

Those of you reading this that have not heard HD (while in a moving vehicle especially) please, please,please: arrange a demo. You'll be shocked at the effectiveness of HD. I know I was.

Remember also, that the total HD power is 1/100th of that of the analog.

This is a 70 year jump in technology. It's really incredible.
 
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