Re: differences in tuners

Check out the Sony XDR-F1HD tuner, am/fm and hd.

Back in the day when there were many stereo stores, the music you heard in the store came from a tuner. Although I have never been into tuners, I noticed it was almost always a Sansui tuner; they had a unique quality that I could never identify. Today, those old tuners are classics.

Tuners make a difference as do the quality of the antenna and their placement. I use to own a lot of highly regarded tuners but sold them off and went with a standalone wireless internet radio with high resolution streaming capability i.e. Squeezebox Touch. I can get all my local favorite stations and I now have access to stations and programs from all over the world.

It also depends on how you use your tuner, if you use it like your CD or Turntable for critical listening, and you have access to well broad casted local content, and then the tuner is still the King. If you use a tuner to expose yourself to new content and artist, background or casual listening, then the Squeezebox is an absolute no brainer. Internet streaming quality is getting better each day, and this technology will only get better. You cannot make this statement with over the air traditional radio.

I agree on the classic tuner point, but the major drawback is their lack of HD. I don't think HD is all that it was promised, but if one lives in an area with decent HD reception, the difference is amazing. I also think that the sound quality of satellite radio is pretty good, and I have found that both beat classic FM stereo easily.

I have noticed that there are AM stations that broadcast in HD. I'm not sure what the point of that is or what its benefit(s) is/are. I listen to AM only rarely, but can't imagine why a broadcaster would bother.