Is The FM tuner obsolete?


I foresee the day that the FM tuner will not be included in product offerings. 

Most radio stations have a streaming service and services like tunein offer this as well and have a much better quality to boot.

Thoughts? 
vanson1

@tablejockey ”….That along with your location and ability to use a proper antennae are required to enjoy FM. …. Other than PBS related stations, the rest is garbage…”


I concur with the 1st comment but I strongly disagree with the 2nd comment. It is definitely not garbage in the majority.

We have 92 OTA fm stations available here in Toronto that I whittle down to a simple dozen of faves based on my variable listening genres du jure (… a very broad selection of jazz, light jazz, classical, local news, easy listening , pop, and rock …. No PBS limitations here )

(A) Sure, a bunch of these local fm stations may have reception quality issues for a multitude of reasons including multipath signal issues for signals bouncing between the skyscraper office towers if you live in the city core.

(B) Most are still great providers of fine varied genre content. And yes, there exists some “garbage” content just like the equal menu proportion of digital garbage mixed in with the good in Internet streaming stations popping up.

(C) The difference is that all too many of the of these digital streaming stations come in a compressed audio digital signal format and crap POS audio performance comparatively. Sending it through a high-end DAC with upscaling cannot compensate enough.( garbage in … garbage out)

The OTA direct fm analog signal is a superior high quality and uncompressed reception signal that is CD quality or a notch above depending on atmospheric conditions….IFF you have the quality build equipment to handle it AND proper signal reception through a proper external stand-alone fm antenna .


I can surely appreciate that in the absence of a good local FM market or resistance to upgrade to a quality build fm tuner , those audiophiles will migrate to digital streaming. But here again the variable build quality and resulting audio performance of the wide range of $ - $$$$ streamer/ DACs now plays a key role.


FM analog broadcasts and FM analog tuners are not going to suffer an extinction any time soon.


"...92 OTA fm stations available here in Toronto..."

my dial was stuck on CHUM-FM in the sixties....
I'm also lucky to be in Toronto where we are fortunate to have a nice variety of broadcast stations with high quality signals. About a year and a half ago I picked up a nice Philips AH673 and a good antenna and hooked the tuner up to a vintage Sansui integrated.
I wanted background music that didn't involve putting hours on expensive tubes in my main system.
Now I find myself setting aside time to sit down and listen to favourite programs. 
Thoroughly satisfying and enjoyable.
I think there will always some form of FM broadcast, but just like vinyl, reel -to-reel, cassettes, cds etc.  Streaming is where the action is and it will impose it's will on everything else for the foreseeable future.

I should also say that using Tidal in my system(s) has performed way above any expectation that I had for this medium.