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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
fstary

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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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