FM alive and well here...curious question

I bought a Magnum Dynalab Signal Sleuth (demo unit) last week so that I can try to pick up S.Cal's KCRW better. I get the Santa Barbara signal from 88.7. I managed to get marginal improvement with this unit and my Magnum Dynalab indoor/outdoor antenna. For that improvement I am happy because I love FM especially KCRW. My ROON/Tidal playlist has grown so much larger just because I get to hear such eclectic music for free on KCRW.

I will likely buy the SONY HD tuner from eBay auction this Tuesday just to get the lower quality HD stream for the other KCRW channels (Electic 24).

All of this equipment is running in my office on the very adaptable Benchmark DAC2 (it has 2 analog inputs). My tuner is the Magnum Dynalab 205.

When buy my big rig system (hopefully soon) I will buy the Accuphase T-1100 tuner (supposed to be the best now) just to listen to KCRW. I know FM is "dead". However, while I am still alive and great music is still available on FM I will listen.

Internet radio sounds very bad to me. I am all digital except for a tuner. I can only listen to internet radio or other low quality streaming with low resolution speakers like AudioEngine A2 desktop speakers. When I upgraded to KEF LS50 speakers for my desktop I could no longer listen to internet radio.

FM is so much better with good stations. I used to listen to a great signal in the Bay Area, CA on my decent Magnum Dynalab tuner. It was almost CD quality sound. The same broadcast on internet radio was unlistenable to me. Same goes for the NPR music station I listen to now in Santa Barbara. The FM is way better.

Since I love KCRW from Santa Monica so much. I bought a xdrguy modified Sony XDR F1HD tuner (discontinued model) from eBay. It was delivered yesterday.

I have a Magnum Dynalab St-2 antenna (located in a porch) and this antenna is connected to my Magnum Dynalab Signal Stealth. I am using a coax cable splitter to send the antenna signal from the Stealth to 2 tuners, the Sony (FM + HD) and a Magnum Dynalab 205. The analog output of both are fed into my Benchmark DAC2 HGC. I can quickly switch the inputs from each analog tuner. So it is easy to tell the differences in sound quality. This is in office system.

I did a quick test this morning while KCRW was playing music on FM (news for most of the afternoon). The Sony ($350 after mods) was almost as good as the $2000 Magnum Dynalab 205 on FM. Pretty shocking give how low cost the Sony is (although upgraded with mods). The Magnum sounded bigger slighter less constrained but the Sony was pretty close.

I bought the Sony so that I can listen to the HD stream of KCRW which plays music 24 x 7. The sound of that is not as good as FM (sounds a bit harsher, but surprisingly not too bad). So I can now see why people are raving about this Sony tuner. A tremendous value.

Someone earlier in the thread asked what was to bit rates of the internet radio that I was listening too. It was 320kbps or lower. In fact I was a paid subscriber to MOG streaming service and they did 320kbps. I liked that stream quality when I listened on my cheap AudioengineUSA A2 speakers but when I upgraded to KEF LS50 speakers the music was not tolerable for me on 320kbps. FM sounds great on these same speakers.

Anyways, I thought I would share some of this ramble with you all.