Tuner Vs. 4DTV music channels

Yes, I have done this comparison. If your local FM stations are doing a good job with broadcast quality (only you would know for your area), then the FM tuner will win. The free music channel signals from DTV are very compressed, and the DSS receiver box has a limited quality power supply, shielding, and RCA output jacks. The appeal of the DSS receiver is that you can also support the broadcast (movie) images with sound from your stereo, provided they are in the room together. I no longer use a FM tuner and instead, rely on the DSS for my "musical wallpaper." A huge factor in this decision was the lack of quality FM music broadcasts in my market. The space and cash investment required to set up a great tuner simply did not balance with the time I spent listening to that format. Only you know if any ( or all) of these factors are relevant in your own system, and how important each one may be. I hope this helps with your decision.

I have to admit that I was using the standard audio out jacks on my Sony DSS receiver. Mine is one of the first models built, and does not provide a digital output signal. I made the comparison of the DSS music channels against a Marantz 10B, which is my all time favorite FM tuner. I do not doubt that an outboard converter is vastly superior to the one inside this very inexpensive DSS receiver. I am pleased to hear about this option, any will try it when I upgrade my DSS receiver.

Mikec, I appreciate your thoughtful information, I did not know about the HDTV option with DSS. I am going to have to do some extensive reconstruction to my living/listening room this year, so I will have to postpone any video purchases until that is over. I copied your two postings and pasted them into note pad for safe keeping. Thank you.