Insignia NS-HD01 "Walkman" style HD Review

[radiogooroo]

Since Apple refuses to activate the FM tuner built into my iPhone, I finally broke down and bought a radio to use at the gym. My gym, like many others, has TVs all around the cardio area and uses little part 15 transmitters to make their audio available.

I picked up the Insignia last night, and driving from Best Buy to the gym plugged it into the aux jack of my car. It did a good job of receiving the local stations in HD.

For the purpose I intended though, it really shined. It picked up all the little part 15 transmitters at the gym with no trouble, even several hundred feet away from the transmitters.

I drove directly from the store to the gym with no chance to charge the radio, and even though the battery indicator was showing almost dead the whole time, it worked for over an hour. The docs say you get 10 hours of run time per charge, and that seems fairly believable given my experience last night.

All in all, not a bad little radio for $39 (it was on sale.) For a portable that does HD, RDS, seems to have decent run time and works well with the part 15 transmitters at the gym, I have no complaints.

 

[Savage]

Hear them speak: the leading innovation produced by HD Radio on the receiving end is, once again....ahem. "Better ANALOG receivers."

The Insignia follows the SONY XDR-3HD as a leading product for the "killer app," listening to much-maligned old-fashioned analog FM.

Not much of a silver lining in a massively black cloud, but for something as dishonest, cynical and contrived as HD Radio, one supposes it's as good as we can expect.

 

[Chuck]

Hear them speak: the leading innovation produced by HD Radio on the receiving end is, once again....ahem. "Better ANALOG receivers."

I've enjoyed the benefits of improved analog reception on HD radios. I'm sure I own more of them than most people ever will. That's because I use them around the station for a variety of purposes.

I can't say that I’m, impressed with the reliability though. My first HD tuner purchase was a Sangean HDT-1. It died in a very unceremonious way at a remote broadcast. I've never bothered to try to figure out what went wrong. I just replaced it with a Sony and moved on.

I currently have several Sony XDRF-1's in service. One arrived DOA. I should have sent it back to the dealer, but I foolishly let Sony handle the warranty claim. That turned out to be a month long adventure of 800 calls, emails, and shipping disasters. They even tried to tell me it was "out of warranty." The one I sent them was still in the original packing and never worked. At least, they eventually replaced it with a refurbished unit. I wasn't impressed.

My third disaster has been the Sony table radio version of the XRDF-1. I don't remember the model number off-hand. It seems it has been discontinued. I keep it at our transmitter site as a "confidence monitor." It is handy to see if I've accidentally shut off our RDS or made some other mistake like taking us off the air. Besides, it gives me something to listen to as I putter around. Problem is, the LCD display back light has crapped out. The radio still works, but it is very difficult to tune or use. That's not good.

So, out of six HD radios I'm personally familiar with, three have gone bad. That hardly seems like a great track record. It may not be typical, but if it is, there may be a lot of unhappy customers out there.

 

[R.F. Burns]

Well the Sony tuner is considered by many to be one of the best tuners ever manufactured. Your experience might be negative but I've had one since they first came on the market and mine works fine. Why not read this review:

http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm

By the way, we have another new FM HD facilities on the air in the NY market,

WVIP (which runs HD1-HD2 & HD3 channels)


I suppose they didn't get the Radio-Info memo.

 

[Savage]

Hey, Chuck - be sure to read RF's account to your three dead HD radios (out of 6) tonight. Once they get the news, watch them pop right back to life. I'm sure they were just misinformed.

So WVIP went HD?? Wow. Hooray. Pretty darn exciting for the radio industry.

(I'm sure that once Keefe Bartels reads about the WVIP IBOC Juggernaut their plans for an HD class-action suit will be tossed and Toyota and GM will be making HD standard by Thursday.)

Meanwhile - in 6 months: over 8000 views and hundreds of replies on the AM HD TURNOFF PACE ACCELERATES thread. And about 10% of the AMs transmitting in HD have dumped IBOC since the thread launched in February. WOR's HD-flogging Tom Ray has been busily uncovering the lifeboats.

"And the HITS.....just keep on cominnnnnn!"

 

[tomservo]

All in all, not a bad little radio for $39 (it was on sale.) For a portable that does HD, RDS, seems to have decent run time and works well with the part 15 transmitters at the gym, I have no complaints.

Do you know what software version your radio has? There was blurb here a while back about the software being updated on the little Insignias and I'm curious to know if some bugs have been fixed.

To find the software version go to Menu > Software Version.

Mine says —

MAIN: 3.00.00
MODULE: SHDR200A-45000548-0
001105-C002P.000

I think the new version is 4.0. I went through a fruit-basket turnover at my nearest Best Buy trying to find a radio that didn't get overloaded/intermod horribly in the parking lot, which was about 8-10 air miles from the area's TX farm. I might be willing to try again if there's a new software version that's fixed some of the other bugs.

 

[KB1OKL]

Hey, Chuck - be sure to read RF's account to your three dead HD radios (out of 6) tonight. Once they get the news, watch them pop right back to life. I'm sure they were just misinformed.

So WVIP went HD?? Wow. Hooray. Pretty darn exciting for the radio industry.

Popped back to life tuned to WVIP!

 

[TSL2]

I'm about 50 miles, maybe more from Orlando and Jacksonville FL. I'm able to pickup a small sampling of HD stations. While driving around with the little insignia HD generally holds. I say generally because sometimes I enjoy a few unexpected seconds of silence. A moment of silence isn't all that bad. It could be just dead air, but not really.

With my headphones on I can hear greater stereo separation on HD 2, from my car radio not so much from HD 1. I've plugged the output into a boom box, just because, and the benefits from HD1 aren't all that noticeable. While walking around my house, listening with my headphones HD audio cut out
I get moments of silence from HD 2 or was that dead air? Either way it sucks!

While standing still the radio works like a dream, then again this is radio, you know the box known for going and working anyplace.

While scanning the dial you won't get HD 2 3 4, unless HD 1 is locked. It seems like minutes before the radio finds and locks on HD. All and all if you stand still and have some patience to tinker the unit can work. I just wish those dam lazy clear channel engineers would fix their syncing issues. The echo is really annoying too. Tinker my friends tinker..

 

[Chuck]

Well the Sony tuner is considered by many to be one of the best tuners ever manufactured. Your experience might be negative but I've had one since they first came on the market and mine works fine. Why not read this review:

I read the review a long time ago. I totally agree that it is one of the most sensitive and selective tuners ever made. It’s a heck of a bargain at under $100. That's why I've purchased several of them. At least. it is great when it is working.

I don't know what was wrong with the DOA version. The table radio with the bad LCD display still works. You just can’t see what frequency you are tuned to or read the RDS display. The Sangean just makes funny hissing and crackling sounds.

Anyway you look at it, dead is dead... sort of like Monty Python's parrot.

 

[KB1OKL]

Well the Sony tuner is considered by many to be one of the best tuners ever manufactured. Your experience might be negative but I've had one since they first came on the market and mine works fine. Why not read this review:

I read the review a long time ago. I totally agree that it is one of the most sensitive and selective tuners ever made. It’s a heck of a bargain at under $100. That's why I've purchased several of them. At least. it is great when it is working.

The Sony is a good tuner..for analog, but it's an HD tuner and maybe it's even one of the best HD tuners but when it comes to HD one of the best just doesn't cut it. Maybe it's kind of like saying it's the best of the Yugos?

 

[R.F. Burns]

Hey, Chuck - be sure to read RF's account to your three dead HD radios (out of 6) tonight. Once they get the news, watch them pop right back to life. I'm sure they were just misinformed.

So WVIP went HD?? Wow. Hooray. Pretty darn exciting for the radio industry.

(I'm sure that once Keefe Bartels reads about the WVIP IBOC Juggernaut their plans for an HD class-action suit will be tossed and Toyota and GM will be making HD standard by Thursday.)

Meanwhile - in 6 months: over 8000 views and hundreds of replies on the AM HD TURNOFF PACE ACCELERATES thread. And about 10% of the AMs transmitting in HD have dumped IBOC since the thread launched in February. WOR's HD-flogging Tom Ray has been busily uncovering the lifeboats.

"And the HITS.....just keep on cominnnnnn!"

Why are your posts always so bitter & sarcastic Bob? Reading your comments all I ever take from them is anger. That really isn't a healthy way to live. Do you ever smile? (and don't say you'll smile when they turn off IBOC. I already figured out you'd answer that way).

 

[radiogooroo]

All in all, not a bad little radio for $39 (it was on sale.) For a portable that does HD, RDS, seems to have decent run time and works well with the part 15 transmitters at the gym, I have no complaints.

Do you know what software version your radio has? There was blurb here a while back about the software being updated on the little Insignias and I'm curious to know if some bugs have been fixed.

To find the software version go to Menu > Software Version.

Mine says —

MAIN: 3.00.00
MODULE: SHDR200A-45000548-0
001105-C002P.000

I think the new version is 4.0. I went through a fruit-basket turnover at my nearest Best Buy trying to find a radio that didn't get overloaded/intermod horribly in the parking lot, which was about 8-10 air miles from the area's TX farm. I might be willing to try again if there's a new software version that's fixed some of the other bugs.

Mine says...

MAIN: 04.00.14
MODULE: CHPK_IFNA_IAO_2_2_0/40_CLK40_22938_22897_NA_APR_28_2010_10:25

Since they're charged through a USB connection, I looked at the manufacturer's website (insigniaproducts.com) to see if I could find an end user flashable software update. Unfortunately, I came up empty handed. On the bright side, mine had enough charge to run the radio for over an hour out of the box, so you should be able to check any new ones you think about buying in store before making the purchase.

 

[KB1OKL]

Hey, Chuck - be sure to read RF's account to your three dead HD radios (out of 6) tonight. Once they get the news, watch them pop right back to life. I'm sure they were just misinformed.

So WVIP went HD?? Wow. Hooray. Pretty darn exciting for the radio industry.

(I'm sure that once Keefe Bartels reads about the WVIP IBOC Juggernaut their plans for an HD class-action suit will be tossed and Toyota and GM will be making HD standard by Thursday.)

Meanwhile - in 6 months: over 8000 views and hundreds of replies on the AM HD TURNOFF PACE ACCELERATES thread. And about 10% of the AMs transmitting in HD have dumped IBOC since the thread launched in February. WOR's HD-flogging Tom Ray has been busily uncovering the lifeboats.

"And the HITS.....just keep on cominnnnnn!"

Why are your posts always so bitter & sarcastic Bob? Reading your comments all I ever take from them is anger. That really isn't a healthy way to live. Do you ever smile? (and don't say you'll smile when they turn off IBOC. I already figured out you'd answer that way).

Sarcasm is a healthy way to express anger at something that threatens your livelihood and many others' as well..

 

[tomservo]

Mine says...

MAIN: 04.00.14
MODULE: CHPK_IFNA_IAO_2_2_0/40_CLK40_22938_22897_NA_APR_28_2010_10:25

Since they're charged through a USB connection, I looked at the manufacturer's website (insigniaproducts.com) to see if I could find an end user flashable software update. Unfortunately, I came up empty handed. On the bright side, mine had enough charge to run the radio for over an hour out of the box, so you should be able to check any new ones you think about buying in store before making the purchase.

That's good to know. Yeah I looked for a user-upgrade path too and came up empty. It's a wasted opportunity but a chance to sell more hardware, I suppose.

I'm curious if the two big quirks the older radios had have been fixed. The first is, when decoding RDS, the signal strength meter ceases to function. It just shows as one bar no matter how strong the station.

The second is the RDS data isn't persistent. Lose the RDS and the display wipes clean. Very annoying, and I don't know of any other radio that does this.

Among other foibles, mine also has a bad habit of confusing the >> right search arrow with the << left search arrow or the menu button. Dunno if that's a common problem or not, but it makes tuning through HD subchannels and scanning the dial a pain unless done in reverse.

 

[Savage]

"Bitter and sarcastic," RF? Hardly. It's called "humor." In the future I'll try to remember to include a little icon so you'll be able to tell when I'm kidding.

I smile all the time, and we have a lot of fun here at our station, and while posting on radio-info. I'm especially pleased by how well HD Radio is doing these days. Which is to say: NOT. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a relentless optimist. And the fact that this idiotic, self-defeating, divisive kludged engineering boondoggle is circling the drain puts a spring in the step for those who don't share the nihilistic, negative view of radio constantly chanted by HD-pushers.

I believe in our country, in our industry, in the spirit and courage of entrepreneurial broadcasters, and the integrity of my generation. I believe our best days are yet to come here in the greatest society in the history of mankind. And I believe radio will have a major role. But not HD, thanks.

On the contrary, the anger and bitterness most frequently noted here on the HD board comes from the pro-HD crowd, not the critics. HD's few remaining fans never hesitate to go after opponents on a personal and professional level. Generally, when the latest HD debacle gets noted here, the typical response is to get personal rather than defend dopey IBOC. ("Guy Wire" comes to mind.) While this is lamentable, it's understandable: there is no satisfactory defense of HD's endless flaws.

If anyone wants to know what pro-HD people are up to, watch what they accuse others of doing.

 

[calstymes]

R.F. Burns uncharacteristically chimed in to ask Savage:

Why are your posts always so bitter & sarcastic Bob? Reading your comments all I ever take from them is anger. That really isn't a healthy way to live. Do you ever smile? (and don't say you'll smile when they turn off IBOC. I already figured out you'd answer that way).

I am not personally known for smiling very much (with a name like Stymes who would be?) but every time another AM radio station permanently shuts off an IBOC generator, I allow myself the luxury of a nice wide grin in celebration of it being one more small step towards making our beloved AM broadcast band sound so much better and like it once was.

Oh how I miss those days, but have no fear, the truth will eventually prevail. Junk science be dammed!

 

[radiogooroo]

That's good to know. Yeah I looked for a user-upgrade path too and came up empty. It's a wasted opportunity but a chance to sell more hardware, I suppose.

I'm curious if the two big quirks the older radios had have been fixed. The first is, when decoding RDS, the signal strength meter ceases to function. It just shows as one bar no matter how strong the station.

The second is the RDS data isn't persistent. Lose the RDS and the display wipes clean. Very annoying, and I don't know of any other radio that does this.

Among other foibles, mine also has a bad habit of confusing the >> right search arrow with the << left search arrow or the menu button. Dunno if that's a common problem or not, but it makes tuning through HD subchannels and scanning the dial a pain unless done in reverse.

On mine, the signal strength meter definitely still functions when decoding RDS.

Not sure about the other RDS problem. Haven't been able to lose the RDS data unless switching to HD.

I haven't looked for any, but I haven't found any problems related to the search buttons either. All in all, I'm very pleased with it.

 

[BRNout]

On mine, the signal strength meter definitely still functions when decoding RDS.

Not sure about the other RDS problem. Haven't been able to lose the RDS data unless switching to HD.

I haven't looked for any, but I haven't found any problems related to the search buttons either. All in all, I'm very pleased with it.

Wow, there is definitely a lot of variation between individual units. In my case, I splurged and bought another one about a month ago and compared it with the first one I purchased (about 15 months ago). Neither have a functioning signal strength meter when the RDS is on in analog mode - the meter does work on both when the HD is on or when you have analog with no RDS. radiogoroo, are you confusing the s-meter being on during hd mode with the mode when it's in RDS but not hd? If not, that's interesting because neither of mind do that.

Equally interesting is the variability in reception between the 2 NS-HD01's that I have. With respect to analog reception, they aren't that different - the new one may be a little better, but not if you go by the s-meter readout. However, it is far better at decoding the HD signals than my original unit. FAR better. It decodes them faster and with less signal. My original one needs more signal.

And, for the first time, I actually was able to decode full HD on two adjacent frequency signals while in the same spot! Both WBBM-FM 96.3 Chicago and WKLH 96.5 Milwaukee in HD and I was able to flip back and forth. That's still a pretty rare phenomenon though.

When it comes to RDS, the old and new ones are about equal. However, the new one has a light blue stripe appear just before the RDS message comes up - and the RDS runs within that horizontal stripe. I think it's a glitch, though it seems harmless.

Neither is anything close to my best dxer (the G8, PL-310 and G5 all kick their butts); both are very good when compared with a standard walkman though. The selectivity helps a lot in a suburban environment. Still I see a lot of hyperbole on these boards about how the NS-HD01 is so awesome as a world-class dx machine and I simply don't see it. Great for its size, but if you can pick up some good dx on it, chances are you'll pull in even more with one of the other aforementioned models.

 

[tomservo]

Neither is anything close to my best dxer (the G8, PL-310 and G5 all kick their butts); both are very good when compared with a standard walkman though. The selectivity helps a lot in a suburban environment. Still I see a lot of hyperbole on these boards about how the NS-HD01 is so awesome as a world-class dx machine and I simply don't see it. Great for its size, but if you can pick up some good dx on it, chances are you'll pull in even more with one of the other aforementioned models.

I'd rank it as merely OK on the DX front. My (equally defective) Radio Shack Sangean portable really outshines the NS-HD01 in sensitivity, if not selectivity or RDS performance. And it is probably no match for a good OEM car stereo.

The NS-HD01 is still useful if you're into the really black art of HD DX. I've gotten several logs through quick decoding of HD text while the audio wouldn't decode, so in a way it has helped in that regard. One of the HD text-only decodes was of KTEG Santa Fe. Not a bad haul to Mississippi. Now, to get a subchannel from that far away. *salivates*

 

[nd2023]

Yeah, my HD Radio was used most during June's nearly constant e-skip. It helped me ID many stations through RDS or HD without waiting for the song to end.