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Is HD Radio okay compared with FM?

I prefer HD Radio compared with FM on the same station playing the same material in St. Louis. The station is WFUN and they play mostly classical music. From the rumble I can tell they play turntables quite often. I admit I really did not like classical music very much in the past due to the steely sound of violins on another system I have. Now I am getting to like it on my two pairs of Magneplanar MG 1.7i speakers with two Velodyne subs run independently on the two channels, not as mono subs.
I once looked up the speed of hybrid digital radio and as I recall, it is well below the level of CDs. It seems to be less irritating in the highs than CDs on the Magneplanar system, however. I admit that CDs get the pitch right compared with turntables. One can verify this statement by playing along with a piano. Turntables are often off compared with a piano. CDs have the correct pitch.
 Maybe I am too frugal in the software area and should spend money there, as I have read others do this operation. I tend to buy hardware equipment instead. I have done hardware since I built my first Dyna Mark III mono block kit in 1957 using current parlance.
Frank
128x128fstary
yyzsantabarbara
4,466 posts
 
It is awful in my experience. My radio station out of Santa Monica, KCRW broadcasts 2 signals and the HD one was not as good as FM. However, today with COVID the quality of the broadcasts are pretty crap, I think MP3 level, because the DJ's are not playing their records and CD's in the studio. A few more months to go before we are back to normal.

I have a amazing Sony FDXR-1 (I think that is the model #) that was modified and it still is not as good as my Magnum Dynalab picking up FM. I listen to the HD when the FM broadcast is doing NPR news.

stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,251 posts
 
I have a McIntosh MR 88 FM, HD, XM tuner.  FM sounds best by far. 
fstary's avatar
fstary OP
18 posts
 
My tuner is a Sony FM AM Digital Tuner XDR-F1HD (I think I can read the tiny print). The FM signal is probably limited by the antenna that came with the tuner. I am comparing the two signals in Glen Carbon, IL.The HD signal does sound better than the FM there. That Sony tuner only cost $80 new, though.
When I tune in WFUN on another system in another house in Bel-Nor, MO the FM signal is weak on my McIntosh tuner there. The McIntosh tuner is part of a unit that is not up to MR-78 standards, but it is okay. However, the speakers in that system are less revealing.It seems that the quality of the FM station is a big factor as well as the strength of the FM signal in a given location.
fstary's avatar
fstary OP
18 posts
 
Thank you yyzsantabarbara and stereo5 for your posts. Long ago I bought a Marantz 20 tuner. It was solid state and not as good as a Model 10 tube unit (no longer available then), I am told. It has a multi-path scope. I still have it. It gave a great signal for years and then it went down hill as the antenna wire from the attic rotted. I may have to resurrect it due to your comments.
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