Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner Review

I have a fairly high-end audio system -- around $3500 for amp, CD player, and speakers, so I was a little nervous about adding a component that sells for under $90!

The tuner is pretty basic and easy to use although I did have to refer to the instructions to figure out how to use the presets. After playing around with it for 5-10 minutes you're good to go. Because the unit itself is rather small, and I have it on a rack with my other components, it's pretty hard to read what station you are on from a few feet away without getting up and walking over to it. But that's a minor issue really.

When I first turned this on and heard the sound I was quite disappointed. Here in Austin we have a HD channel devoted entirely to local music which, aside from just being curious about how HD sounds, was the primary reason I bought this tuner. The song I heard sounded very tinny and totally lacking deep bass. After spending a good half-hour checking out the other stations, I came to the conclusion that perhaps this technology simply exposes more flaws in the source material, just as HDTV might show more blemishes of the on-air staff. Perhaps some of the local music simply isn't engineered as well as what we hear on the traditional analog stations.

Upon discovering a jazz HD station I really began to warm up to this tuner. The quality is more consistent and I am getting the deep bass and a more balanced and rich sound. And even the HD signals of the analog FM stations sound quite good. I don't know that I'd go so far as to say that HD radio comes close to CD quality, at least not on my system, (on a scale of 0-100, I'd give it about 80 in that regard) but this is way better than not having radio access at all, except through a Bose wave radio.

Overall, I have no regrets whatsoever.

Buy it here now!