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Sangean HDT-1 Tuner First Impressions.

And unlike your cd or dvd player, there's an anlog "fallback" signal, so if digital cuts out, you don't lose reception. It would be like if, say, you were surrounded by tall trees on all sides, causing your XM signal to drop out (it does...I KNOW, I have XM!), but you had an analog signal to take up the slack until digital can be re-acquired.

Imagine if, when the net gets congested, rather than going "buffering, buffering, buffering, buffering, buffering", your computer kept playing your favorite stream with a lower quality (but still pleasant) analog stream. That's a trick even digital tv can't pull!
 
I think you will find that Mike Sheridan's report pretty well mirrors my original findings. The Sangean is a good tuner and worth the money. Being well aware of current receiver technology, it does not surprise me that there is relatively little in the case. I don't buy my radios based on weight.

To work well, it does require an antenna, at least in my location. The real problem I'm having is it doesn't leave me wanting to play with my new toy. It is a little more exciting than a bowl of cold oatmeal, but not much. And I’m a radio geek. To me that is disappointing. I don't have buyers remorse, but I'm not "wowed by it" like I was when I first purchased a HDTV, my first car stereo (it was a 4 track Muntz) or my first CD player. You couldn’t pry me away from those things.

In fact, it has already been replaced in my "cool toys" box by a Rocku "Soundbridge M-500" Internet radio. I found one on sale at Micro Center in Dallas for $66.99. It is the old model, but it was really cheap, so this was an impulse buy. I'd gone in the store with some friends who were looking for some computer parts. I had no plans of buying anything.

For what it is worth, this is an amazing device. It is also very easy to use. I simply took it out of the box, plugged in its wireless network card, connected it to my amplifier and turned it on. It did the rest. Right now, I'm listening to BBC on it. Another favorite is an excellent jazz station form Denmark, as well as all the NPR stuff you can imagine. Most of the streams sound very good. There are thousands of Internet radio stations to choose from. Talk about choice.

It's exciting stuff. No, it is not portable, but neither is my Sanken tuner. If the public figures this out, I think HD will have to settle for being "just another way to broadcast," rather than being the gold standard.

I have just put on my flame retardant Jockey Shorts….
 
Chuck said:
I don't buy my radios based on weight.
Click to expand...

I have to confess that the weight of this tuner figured into my decision, not because it gives me a perception of quality, but because I wanted to be sure that one jump by a cat wouldn't knock it off the nightstand. :p
 
Do not get the idea from what I wrote that I don't love this receiver, I do. The price was very reasonible for what it does too. For me the best feature is HD2 and in some cases HD3. Most of the stations in my city are over researched and not programming for my tastes. I have two HD2 stations that I find very interesting.

I'd like to see this new technology do well and I have hopes that as good as it is that it will improve just as FM did.

Internet radio is okay but somehow it just doesn't seem like radio to me.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Internet radio is okay but somehow it just doesn't seem like radio to me.
Click to expand...

I have to admit that I was of that opinion as well, until I purchased the Roku Wireless Internet Radio the other day. It is a stand-alone device that looks more or less like a radio, and can pick up hundreds of signals without a direct-wired connection to anything other than my stereo amplifier and it's speakers. You can connect it to a wired Internet connection if you want to, but I took it out of the box, plugged it in and switched on the power. It did the rest, locating the wireless access point in my house. In a few seconds, it was playing a real radio station (WQED). The wireless remote control is easy to use, allowing you to scroll through about 100 stations that are pre-set in its menu. There is a digital read out that looks very similar to RDS, which tells you what you are listening to.

You don't have to know anything about computers to use this thing. My mother-in-law could use it. For the more ambitious, you can program it to receive any Internet station you like, using another computer on your network. It is quite easy.

Since it does get its signal wirelessly, and it allows you to select a plethora of stations with ease, I'd have to call it a "radio." With appologies to Tom Wells, I think Marconi would call it a "radio" too.
 
Chuck said:
Mike Sheridan said:
Internet radio is okay but somehow it just doesn't seem like radio to me.
Click to expand...

I have to admit that I was of that opinion as well, until I purchased the Roku Wireless Internet Radio the other day. It is a stand-alone device that looks more or less like a radio, and can pick up hundreds of signals without a direct-wired connection to anything other than my stereo amplifier and it's speakers. You can connect it to a wired Internet connection if you want to, but I took it out of the box, plugged it in and switched on the power. It did the rest, locating the wireless access point in my house. In a few seconds, it was playing a real radio station (WQED). The wireless remote control is easy to use, allowing you to scroll through about 100 stations that are pre-set in its menu. There is a digital read out that looks very similar to RDS, which tells you what you are listening to.

You don't have to know anything about computers to use this thing. My mother-in-law could use it. For the more ambitious, you can program it to receive any Internet station you like, using another computer on your network. It is quite easy.

Since it does get its signal wirelessly, and it allows you to select a plethora of stations with ease, I'd have to call it a "radio." With appologies to Tom Wells, I think Marconi would call it a "radio" too.
Click to expand...

I'd be worried about the latest ruling affecting streamers. There may not be any streaming audio to hear soon!

I've got a box that streams to my receiver, too, in addition to an HD tuner. I get the best of all worlds!
 
IBOCRocks said:
I'd be worried about the latest ruling affecting streamers. There may not be any streaming audio to hear soon!
Click to expand...
Right now, nobody knows if the March 2 ruling will stick. Lots of big guns like NAB, NPR and Clear Channel are involved in getting the ruling repealed. If it sticks, most US non-commercial broadcasters will pay $500 annually to Sound Exchange. Some will pay more, but hopefully, they can come up with a business model to support what they are doing.

Your guess is a s good as mine as to the final outcome. It may simply force all Internet radio to go offshore, leaving the US to fall behind. It may be pretty hard to prosecute someone in Nigeria for playing music streams, when he previously made a living sending emails to people asking them to launder money for him.


IBOCRocks said:
I've got a box that streams to my receiver, too, in addition to an HD tuner. I get the best of all worlds!
Click to expand...

I do too. In my area, there is very little HD, but my geographical location is not a barrier to existing Internet streams. It is way better than Short Wave Listening.
 
Chuck said:
IBOCRocks said:
I'd be worried about the latest ruling affecting streamers. There may not be any streaming audio to hear soon!
Click to expand...
Right now, nobody knows if the March 2 ruling will stick. Lots of big guns like NAB, NPR and Clear Channel are involved in getting the ruling repealed. If it sticks, most US non-commercial broadcasters will pay $500 annually to Sound Exchange. Some will pay more, but hopefully, they can come up with a business model to support what they are doing.

Your guess is a s good as mine as to the final outcome. It may simply force all Internet radio to go offshore, leaving the US to fall behind. It may be pretty hard to prosecute someone in Nigeria for playing music streams, when he previously made a living sending emails to people asking them to launder money for him.


IBOCRocks said:
I've got a box that streams to my receiver, too, in addition to an HD tuner. I get the best of all worlds!
Click to expand...

I do too. In my area, there is very little HD, but my geographical location is not a barrier to existing Internet streams. It is way better than Short Wave Listening.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hope that the ruling doesn't stick. While there's a lot of bad streams out there, there are plenty of gems.

Unfortunately, a lot of streamers have lower quality streams. It doesn't stop my from listening, but it can get annoying after a while. It is pretty nice to be able to listen to pretty much anything, though! Most of the FM's and a couple of AM's here are in HD, plus all the streaming stations. I could listen forever! :)
 
Re: New High End review of Sangean HDT-1

SignalSeeker said:
High End Review of Sangean HDT-1

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue30/sangean_hdt.htm
Click to expand...

What the review doesn't tell you is the Robert listens to FM on his tuners:

Marantz 10B FM Tuner, and Day Sequerra Reference FM1

I you noticed on his ROBERT H. LEVI'S SYSTEM sources to the left of the website... no where does he lists the Sangean... That's funny since this is his last statement:

"Standard FM does not sound quite as it does on today's (and yesterday's) super tuners, but good enough to enjoy, even on a high-resolution system."

Not as good? I thought the HD was to sound good even when the signal was not picking up the HD signal?

Oh... almost forgot... does the AVERAGE JOE get this source so that he may make an informative choice on his next purchase?


Radiopilot
 
If you actually care about an answer to your question Radiopilot, it's simple. HD Radios, rightly or wrongly, are biased heavily toward NEVER letting noise through your speakers...even with analog reception. To that end they blend stereo HEAVILY when signals get weak, and even roll-off highs as well (with weak signals) to prevent hiss. I personally am no great fan of this technique, but it's much less of a problem with a proper outdoor antenna. And before you shout me down about "exotic antennas", if you're spending thousands of dollars on tuners, as the reviewer obviously is, shouldn't you also (FIRST!) spent 250 bucks or so putting up a decent antenna? After all, the most important component of ANY radio tuner is THE ANTENNA! Just as with a high end stereo where information not picked up by the phono cartridge (or tape deck) can never be replaced, information not captured by the antenna can never be replaced...leading to hiss or multipath distortion with analog, or missing bits which can cause dropouts or fallback to analog with HD.

Only REAL radio nerds buy component tuners anymore. If you're going to buy one (analog or digital), PUT UP A GOOD ANTENNA FIRST, or save your money!
 
Mike Walker said:
Only REAL radio nerds buy component tuners anymore.
Click to expand...

Thank you for admitting this... now, the average Joe in any given market is not out there buying component tuners as you say only radio geeks.. so therefore the Sangeans HDT-1, 2's, 5's, etc. will be sitting nicely on their shelves without purchase till the storekeeper decides it's taking too much room in inventory and sends the units back to the manufacturer for unsold return items...

Sorry, but when I see REAL documents regarding the purchases by the thousands of HD radio products... it means nothing... The Ipod's, the satelite radios, etc., YES there are sales figures, REAL hard proof of the sales... HD is hidden in some black magic mystique of some wizardry and sales figures are hidden and therefore they must be selling...

Radiopilot
 
There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps a couple of million "radio nerds". The Sangeans will CONTINUE to fly off the shelves. But only the HDT-1 is a component tuner. EVERY family has table radios!
 
Mike Walker said:
There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps a couple of million "radio nerds". The Sangeans will CONTINUE to fly off the shelves. But only the HDT-1 is a component tuner. EVERY family has table radios!
Click to expand...

Prove it with hard facts how many were sold off those shelves. Yes.. there are millions of radio nerds, most are analog nerds and not the ones required to BUY the HD radios....

Right... most families have the need to toss the fine working radios on their tables, kitchen counters, night stands and sounding just great as they are ... to buy a new HD radio which in reality isn't offering anything they're not getting right now out of those 3 inch speakers....

Good luck with that one Mike.

Radiopilot
 
radiopilot said:
Prove it with hard facts how many were sold off those shelves. Yes.. there are millions of radio nerds, most are analog nerds and not the ones required to BUY the HD radios....

Right... most families have the need to toss the fine working radios on their tables, kitchen counters, night stands and sounding just great as they are ... to buy a new HD radio which in reality isn't offering anything they're not getting right now out of those 3 inch speakers....
Click to expand...

I think a point here is that radios "DO" gradually get replaced. Sure I have a vintage set, but I was actually surprised how many "New" radios I have. My stereo is less than 5 years old (Integrated with a DVD. I'd be so embarrassed to say that to my college roommate). In the kitchen we don't have a radio. Office - 3 years old - a portable. Bedroom - about 5 years old - a clock radio.

I wouldn't have believed it, but I actually only have one radio older than a few years.

I may not be typical, but that's the situation at my house. I would speculate it may be occuring elsewhere. I've never seen any surveys or statistics on this. Anybody else ever seen any data on this?

Clouseau
 
PocketRadio Master Thesus, whom you have (mis)quoted works for Sangean. HE says they've sold thousands. If you question that number, then you're questioning one of your own "sources". See what I mean about the credibility of your links and quotes?

By the way, Sangean's third model, the one you said would be delayed because nobody was buying the current one, will be out very soon (again, according to Master Thesus). They HAVE HAD NO TROUBLE MOVING THE EXISTING MODELS, which is why they're able to introduce the new one, with digital output. That according to YOUR "source"...Master Thesus. If you don't believe it, then why exactly did you (mis)quote him?
 
Let me preface by saying that I'm NOT a radio geek in the respect that the engineering oftentimes goes over my head. What I DO know, though, is when I like the sound I hear coming from the speakers. I have a Boston Acoustics Receptor. While I can get no HD signals where I live, the radio is GREAT in analog mode. In fact, significantly better than my former favorite radio, a CC Radio Plus.

My question: As a general all-purpose radio, and not just as an HD unit, how does the Sangean compare to my Boston Acoustics?
 
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