This is the best tuner money can buy right now: https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/tuners/MR89
What are the Best FM tuners?
This is an often asked question. This is my current list of favorites:
A. Good out of the box, judging sound quality only, not in order of preference because each has merits:
1. Very rare Accuphase T-103
2. 1 out of 10 Tandberg TPT 3001As
3. Onkyo T-909
4. Bogen TP-100
5. Akai AT-S7
6. JVC FX-1100B
7. NEC T-710
8. Onix Audio BWD-1
9. Kenwood KT-990D
10.Crown FM-2
11.Marantz ST-17
12.Sim Audio "Moon"
B. Modified tuners, both RF and audio performance, in order of preference:
1. Kenwood KT-727
2. Kenwood KT-3200D
3. NEC T-6E
4. SAE 8000
5. Accuphase T-101
6. Sony ST-S550ES
7. Onkyo T-4500
8. Tandberg TPT-3011A
9. McIntosh MR-74
10.Luxman T-110
11.Onkyo T-909
12.MD-102, early version
Sure, there are others -- and you may have your own opinions -- but these have proven to be excellent choices over the past 20 years.
A. Good out of the box, judging sound quality only, not in order of preference because each has merits:
1. Very rare Accuphase T-103
2. 1 out of 10 Tandberg TPT 3001As
3. Onkyo T-909
4. Bogen TP-100
5. Akai AT-S7
6. JVC FX-1100B
7. NEC T-710
8. Onix Audio BWD-1
9. Kenwood KT-990D
10.Crown FM-2
11.Marantz ST-17
12.Sim Audio "Moon"
B. Modified tuners, both RF and audio performance, in order of preference:
1. Kenwood KT-727
2. Kenwood KT-3200D
3. NEC T-6E
4. SAE 8000
5. Accuphase T-101
6. Sony ST-S550ES
7. Onkyo T-4500
8. Tandberg TPT-3011A
9. McIntosh MR-74
10.Luxman T-110
11.Onkyo T-909
12.MD-102, early version
Sure, there are others -- and you may have your own opinions -- but these have proven to be excellent choices over the past 20 years.
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- 75 posts total
I have not listened to an FM tuner at home and floor preparation Brisbane in my audio system for several years now. These days I stream a lot of local and internet radio stations in my primary audio system via Roon and/or my Lumin X1. The last two tuners I had, back in 2014 and earlier, were the Day-Sequerra M4r HD tuner and the classic analog Sansui TU-X1. Except for residual noise, the old classic Sansui was better sounding on the best-sounding local station, WFMT, classical radio in Chicago. Even on the Day-Sequerra, however, the analog signal of WFMT sounded better than the HD signal except for residual noise and multipath-induced problems. Remember, HD radio is basically the same as a 300 kbps MP-3 or AAC digital stream from an internet radio station. Now such streams can sound good (Spotify is about that quality), but they are not full Redbook CD quality For what it's worth, when I cruise around in my 2020 Mazda CX-5 Signature with factory Bose sound system (don't laugh--it's by far the best sounding car system I've owned), when multipath interference is not a factor (maybe about half the time in my near-suburban Chicago area) the sound of WFMT's analog signal is clearly superior to its HD radio sound or the station's 256 kbps AAC stream playing via USB-connected CarPlay from my iPhone 11 Pro Max. The imaging and staging is better, more three dimensional, there is more audible detail, and it just has that great "analog" sound, despite the Bose system's DSP processing |
- 75 posts total