The value of a good FM tuner?......, now and in the future...

I jumped ship from FM and went to CD's decades ago. Not having to listen to advertisements or know-it-all announcers was heaven sent.

I am now a fervent streamer. 
I use a Bluesound Node and an external Dac (Ayre Codex), and find the sound quality to be very acceptable. Using Tidal or Qobuz will allow you to access higher resolution formats, but even Spotify sounds pretty good (and in my opinion, has a greater catalog, as well as good recommendations).
I won't try to argue that it sounds as good as vinyl, but streaming and DAC's are evolving fast. I can see it overtaking vinyl in the near future.
If you doubt that statement, then recall how no one thought digital cameras could out perform film- yet, there are now digital cameras with 100mp sensors that blow away even large format film cameras-and with the ability to do post production editing that was unheard of 20 years ago.
Just sayin'...
Bob

Unfortunately streaming of radio stations typically has a pitifully low bitrate, with something like 128 kbps mp3 or aac being common. It's nice to have such a wide selection, but it definitely isn't audiophile quality in most cases. If you go to the internet sites of any radio stations you're interested in you should be able to see their streaming bitrate.

If you have a good strong FM channel nearby, then a tuner is a good option. If you don't have any good stations, it's worthless. I bought two tuners not long ago just because we have a station I really like, I listen all the time and I don't have to log on.

I can't imagine not being able to tune in the Classical or Jazz PBS stations on my Mac MR71. I do miss 70's R&R stations playing complete LP sides.

Obviously streaming is superior regarding choices, but it won't have the magic tube sound of a 50+ year old classic.

If you live in an area with no reception, not much choice but "get connected"

Listen to FM on my conventional Magnum Dynalab tuner quite often. A nice change from streaming at times. Even with limited frequency range, It can still be open and enjoyable sounding compared to HD radio.  

Here in the Tampa/St.Pete area we only have one FM station with a signal worthy of a good tuner: WUSF 89.7 - the University of South Florida radio station. 24/7 with a variety of programs. PBS News and related programs - plus a great Jazz show nightly - All Night Jazz - from 9 PM to 5 AM Sun - Thurs and Fri/Sat to 6 AM. I listen to it every night. A nice variety of old and new Jazz! Digitally-sourced, of course, but of high SQ.

Oh, almost forgot WSMR 89.1 and 103.9 out of Sarasota. Classical/PBS 24/7 with very good digitally-sourced SQ.

You can often find really good vintage FM tuners for way under $500.  Combine that with a good antenna and a station that has a good signal and broadcasts music you like, and it's quite a bargain. 

I have an Onkyo T9090 II and a Magnum Dynalabs Etude (which is the one currently in use).  I listen to news and Jazz all day long while I'm working and it sounds fantastic.  Much better sound quality than almost any radio station that you can stream.  Other than a pitch here and there for donations, no commercials. 

Radio Paradise would be one of the few exceptions.  They stream in FLAC quality with no commercials.

I'm a very happy owner of Don Scott modified McIntosh MR-74 and Luxman L-110. Use them much less now, and probably wouldn't spend much now on a new tuner, but very happy to have these...

I prefer listening to my tuner to streaming the same program.  It has more body.  On the other hand, while it's great for classical the commercial rock stations sound like garbage (same stations are listenable in the car)

I bought a McIntosh MR-80 around 1980 for $2000 - the equivalent of more than $6500 now. I'd never spend that kind of money on a tuner today, but I still have the Mac and it still performs like a champ. It does require periodic service (every 12 years or so) and I don't listen to it as much as I once did, but I still think it's worth having a good tuner. There are still some bright spots along today's FM dial, although not nearly as many as there once were.

Before the COVID pandemic, in this part of the country every Sunday we could get excellent quality live feeds of top notch concerts and operas. For that alone,  it’s worth having a good tuner. And good used tuners can now be had for the price of decent pair of used interconnects. Which is kind of amazing.

I'm fortunate to get good reception from KUSC (91.5FM) on my Magnum Dynalab FT-101A. Quality classical music 24/7 with NO commercials is as good as it gets.

@jl35 

Is Don Scott still around?

He told me some years ago he was getting out of the audio mod business  

He was on Audiogon as bdscott 

zero. internet.

The value of a good FM tuner?......, now and in the future...

I don’t know when the USA is going DAB (or DAB+) (Digital Audio Broadcast) Radio, (Canada is testing they say), but when you hear it will be coming, do what I did below or you’ll have dinosaurs.

Soon as I heard DAB+ radio for the first time here in Australia, I sold all my what were collectable FM and AM tuners for good money before they became door stops.

Now a couple of years later I noticed no one can sell them even at much lower prices than I sold them for, and they are literally door stops or boat anchors now.

We even have DAB+ now on our latest cars radios, and it’s amazing, so many channels to choose from and the quality just as good if not better than what cars got from CD when they were in them, now they are being omitted slowly

Cheers George