HD Radio...anyone heard any in home tuners?

I am of the opinion that 'HD Radio" will be staying in automobiles. I have been tracking it for some time now and there is a growing consensus that internet broadband is the better source for digital music.

Sonos and Slimdevices(I own the Slimdevices Squeezebox as well as the Transformer) seem to dominate such internet server markets.

You can search the Audiogon archives on HD Radio. Oh, the name 'HD' stands for, I think 'Hybrid Definition'.

I would wonder how long there will be hidden stations, if they dont feel there is profit they will disapear, as of now it is a selling point.....but after a year or two I wouldnt be surprised if they are gone.

Hybrid Definition huh? Streaming audio is something that I am familiar with...I have thought about just streaming all of my local stations and not even worrying about getting any type of tuna (read tuna instead of tuner in some threads, interesting)...especially since the ones that I would really be interested in seem to cost a pretty penny and I could get a squeezebox for about the same cost.

Thanks for the input,
Ben

HD radio = Hybrid digital. About as good as XM or Sirius which means good enough for background listening but not good enough for us golden eared tweaks. They were sued in England over the name being misleading and lost. Now, a lawsuit is pending in the USA.

I agree with Unclejeff that HD radio, XM and Sirius should stay in the car. I can hear the compression and pumping even in the car.

Prpxel:

What was that last line in 'CASABLANCA...'"this could be the beginning of a good friendship."

Whatever....Thanks.

The HD in HD Radio© means nothing specific...it's just the copyrighted name of that technology. It probably is intended to make buyers feel that the quality improvement is equal to high def TV.

I'd suggest trying the Sangean HDT-1X from a seller like Crutchfield with a liberal 30 day return policy. The HDT-1X has a digital output that is said to sound good through a good DAC; the HDT-1 is the earlier version lacking the digital output and a few other enhancements. I'm planning on trying the HDT-1X through my TADAC, but my location might be too remote for a clear signal.

The Boston station (WGHB) I listen to via a FIOS Internet and wireless SqueezeBox II announces that "you are listening in HD." That is, at least in this case, the HD feed and the Internet feed are the same. I suppose the bit rates could differ. In this case the internet feed is 128kbps.

Ken

Kenyonbm,

The bit rates would have to differ, as the HD maximum bitrate is 96k.

David

Armstrod, thanks for that information.

If that's the case, then higher possible bitrate is another reason to leave HD radio in the car, as unclejeff recommends in his post.

I am a big fan of Internet radio but I think that the best way to hookup is via broadband and SqueezeBox. A lot of the feeds are less that 96kbps, but many are more. For me, the ability to tune in stations from the other side of the world with sometimes very good fidelity and no noise or drift etc. with a inexpensive piece of equipment is the way to go.

Ken