Herculodge

Two Herculodge Readers Give Two Favorable Impressions of the Sony XDR-F1HD

Here "3/4 Blind" gives his positive review of the Sony XDR-F1HD:

I got a Sony XDR-F1HD about a month ago. So far I've been quite pleased with it. The pluses: Sensitive and selective on FM. Good weak signal handling (low background noise) on weak FM stations. Pretty good sensitivity on AM. When an AM HD signal locks on, the monaural audio is almost FM like. Minuses: No FM stereo defeat. No HD defeat. No way to turn off the display light which may be of concern for a bedroom. Analog AM bandwidth is quite narrow which results in muddy audio on non-HD signals, so don't buy this unit for analog AM listening. Be advised, this is a tuner so there is no internal AM ferrite antenna or built-in FM telescoping antenna. An external AM loop and FM wire dipole are included. This tuner is a good match for the Kloss Model 88 which has two auxiliary inputs. The tuner has line-level RCA phono L & R channel audio out (interconnect is not included.) There is currently a long thread at AVS Forum, probably more information than you ever want to know on the XDR-F1HD.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1020511

For those who rather not share their cell phone number when not absolutely necessary, there is a coupon that does not require text messaging.
http://ak.buy.com/buy_assets/retail/pdfs/08Q2/0630-0929db_50HDradio.pdf

Like 3/4 Blind, Ed is also very impressed with the new HD from Sony:

I got one of these little boxes, 50 bucks after rebate. It *IS* as good as most of the reviews say! Holy crap. Something has changed in the last year year since I last tried an HD radio... either the HD radios are better now, or transmissions have improved. I'll have to wait til night to see if AM-HD stations go dead. But of particular note, on the dreaded 710 ESPN AM you can hear the "birdie" background noise drop dead the instant this tuner kicks into HD! It takes a couple of seconds. The difference it makes on AM is very clear.

Not as Portable as the Current AM King, the Sangean PR-D5:

You may not like all the dangling wire of the FM dipole and the outboard AM loop... it ties the Sony to one spot. So no portability as the PRD5 affords.

Remote and Presets:

With a Remote control and 20 presets for EACH band, (you can go up AND down the preset sequence , or to a random number with the R/C), this is lot for a little. I ran out of presets on FM, there are more than 30 HD stations, counting sub-channels. Of course you have to plug the output of this into your stereo sytem, or the AUX input of a stereo radio , ie the BA Duo, or into a pair of powered PC speakers. I'm using the Aux inputs on my Proton 300 table radio. This Sony tuner sure brings this classic right up to date! Everyone should audition one. Oh, and hurry if you want the rebate... you must purchase an HD product like this tuner by Sept 30.

I better put a radio for sale soon if I want to get this super AM performer. I wonder if this HD format beats the current AM king, the Sangean PR-D5. 

Final Thoughts:

Could it be that this latest incarnation of HD radio, with its velvety smooth AM, is the first modern radio to compete with vintage radios for sound and performance? I'm sure this chapter hasn't closed yet. 

Here "3/4 Blind" gives his positive review of the Sony XDR-F1HD:

I got a Sony XDR-F1HD about a month ago. So far I've been quite pleased with it. The pluses: Sensitive and selective on FM. Good weak signal handling (low background noise) on weak FM stations. Pretty good sensitivity on AM. When an AM HD signal locks on, the monaural audio is almost FM like. Minuses: No FM stereo defeat. No HD defeat. No way to turn off the display light which may be of concern for a bedroom. Analog AM bandwidth is quite narrow which results in muddy audio on non-HD signals, so don't buy this unit for analog AM listening. Be advised, this is a tuner so there is no internal AM ferrite antenna or built-in FM telescoping antenna. An external AM loop and FM wire dipole are included. This tuner is a good match for the Kloss Model 88 which has two auxiliary inputs. The tuner has line-level RCA phono L & R channel audio out (interconnect is not included.) There is currently a long thread at AVS Forum, probably more information than you ever want to know on the XDR-F1HD.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1020511

For those who rather not share their cell phone number when not absolutely necessary, there is a coupon that does not require text messaging.
http://ak.buy.com/buy_assets/retail/pdfs/08Q2/0630-0929db_50HDradio.pdf

Here "3/4 Blind" gives his positive review of the Sony XDR-F1HD:

I got a Sony XDR-F1HD about a month ago. So far I've been quite pleased with it. The pluses: Sensitive and selective on FM. Good weak signal handling (low background noise) on weak FM stations. Pretty good sensitivity on AM. When an AM HD signal locks on, the monaural audio is almost FM like. Minuses: No FM stereo defeat. No HD defeat. No way to turn off the display light which may be of concern for a bedroom. Analog AM bandwidth is quite narrow which results in muddy audio on non-HD signals, so don't buy this unit for analog AM listening. Be advised, this is a tuner so there is no internal AM ferrite antenna or built-in FM telescoping antenna. An external AM loop and FM wire dipole are included. This tuner is a good match for the Kloss Model 88 which has two auxiliary inputs. The tuner has line-level RCA phono L & R channel audio out (interconnect is not included.) There is currently a long thread at AVS Forum, probably more information than you ever want to know on the XDR-F1HD.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1020511

For those who rather not share their cell phone number when not absolutely necessary, there is a coupon that does not require text messaging.
http://ak.buy.com/buy_assets/retail/pdfs/08Q2/0630-0929db_50HDradio.pdf

Comments

[Ed]

Alas, at night only 2 AM stations were still in HD: KNX and KFWB. But this is better than the situation a year ago using a Sangean HD-1; no AM stations were in HD at night in this area.
All the FM stations seemed unaffected though.

[jeffrey McMahon]

Will AM stations be in HD at night in the future? Or is this a stagnant situation?

[Tom Welch]

Ed:

Will this radio work with my Sangean WR-2?

[Ed]

Tom,
Yes you can plug the Sony's line outputs into the WR-2's rear AUX input with the appropriate adaptor cable (Male RCA stereo plugs -to- stereo/mono miniphono plug ). You won't get to appreciate the Sony tuner's exceptional stereo performance of course, as the Sangean is mono. You could also rebroadcast the sony's output wirelessly over to the the WR2's FM band.