![]() Similarly, keep in mind that HD Radio isn't really a panacea for what ails standard radio: vanilla content and too many commercials. But read that sentence again carefully-"as avid radio listeners." We'll go ahead and state the obvious here: if you don't like over-the-air radio, the Sony XDR-F1HD isn't going to be of much use to you. ![]() A locked station's sound remains static and noise free.Īs avid radio listeners, we found a lot to love about the Sony XDR-F1HD. That said, 90 percent of the FM HD stations were strong enough to not suffer from the on-again, off-again HD reception woes. In those cases, it would be nice if you could manually turn off HD, and just listen in analog, but you can't (that feature is available on the Sangean HDR-1, for instance). We found it distracting to hear the noise level rise and fall. When that happens, the XDR-F1HD switches back and forth between analog and HD. Our only real gripe with the Sony XDR-F1HD was how it dealt with difficult to receive HD stations, which sometimes failed to lock onto the HD signal. ![]() In our Brooklyn apartment, we don't have access to the roof to mount a better antenna, but that didn't seem to adversely affect the XDR-F1HD's performance.Īnalog AM sound quality was nothing special AM HD was much quieter and cleaner, but still nowhere as clear as analog FM. Mind you, this performance was achieved using the included dipole (wire) antenna. The XDR-F1HD pulled in difficult to receive analog college radio stations in the crowded New York City FM band better than any radio we've ever owned. (Ironically, Sirius stations broadcast over the Internet actually sound better than the ones pulled straight from the orbiting satellites.)Īnalog FM stations were also far superior to satellite radio sound quality, though with more background hiss. The Sony was dramatically better sounding than the best sounding Sirius channels. Even though satellite radio is noise-free, FM HD stations seemed quieter and much clearer overall. The Sirius tuner's sound quality was reminiscent of very low-bit MP3s, with a "swishy" treble and a spatially flattened character. (As always, it's a "garbage in/garbage out" proposition some HD stations severely compress the bit rate at the source, so they'll sound lousy even with the best hardware.)Ĭomparisons between our Sirius SR-H550 satellite tuner and the XDR-F1HD were revealing. The best HD stations delivered true CD quality sound. FM stations broadcasting in HD were dead quiet there was no noise, hiss, fuzz, or distortion. When tuning between HD stations the XDR-F1HD takes a few seconds to lock onto the HD signal, and that's when you can hear the difference between analog and HD sound quality. Analog FM sound quality was superb, and the XDR-F1HD easily pulled in hard-to-receive stations with low noise. We fired up the XDR-F1HD, attached the provided antennas, and connected it to our AV receiver. However, the LCD can be dimmed but not completely shut off-that could be distractingly bright in a bedroom or darkened home theater environment. Also, when the unit is in standby mode, it defaults to a clock display. Since the XDR-F1HD doesn't have an internal battery backup, the memory doesn't retain station presets if the radio is unplugged from AC power. This little radio puts out some heat, so it shouldn't be hidden away in an unventilated cabinet. In other words, the XDR-F1HD is compatible with anything that offers an auxiliary line input. There's no digital output-just stereo analog RCA output jacks. The XDR-F1HD comes with a wire dipole FM antenna and external AM loop antenna (or you can provide your own). A sleep timer (accessible only from the remote) completes the features set. We were happy to see that it's a "real" remote control with actual buttons, not a cheap credit card remote. Thankfully, a small black plastic remote duplicates most of the tuner's controls and offers a numeric keypad for direct access to the 20 AM/FM station presets. ![]() The top-mounted controls could be problematic if you have the XDR-F1HD sitting in a darkened (or space-challenged) equipment rack.
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