Reliable Reviews

Sony XDR-F1HD

Sony XDR-F1HD Radio Tuner Sony USA www.SonyStyle.com 1-877-865-7669 or Sony store 7 Z\, 6 C\, 2 C\, 2 Z\x lbs List price $100

By David A. Rich

FILTER According to Brian, the Sony has: Adaptive noise reduction that forms a filter that fits the L-R audio spectrum and follows its changes. The filter suppresses noise between and beyond spectral peaks without restricting audio bandwidth. Brian also identified that the Sony has threshold extension, CHIP SETS which suppresses the impulse noise ordinary deThe measured analog performance of the Sony is bettectors generate for weak FM signals. Analog PLL ter than the Sangean HD radio tuners I previously redetectors have some threshold extension, but with viewed in $ensible Sound (Nov./Dec. 07, p. 12). The DSP more sophisticated detectors may offer inSangean uses a TI DSP chip set; the Sony uses a chip creased extension. set from NXP (the old Philips Semiconductor). Of interContinuing from Brians website: To take full advantage of the processing, the XDR-F1HD not switch or abruptly blend to mono the XDR-F1HD is the best tuner doesRF signal levels. The Sony can deliver at low a for analog reception. clean stereo signal with wide channel separation at far weaker signal levels than can any est is the HD functionality achieved in the NXP design other tuner. The only thing remotely comparable is by adding an extra chip to what was called Car DSP a Carver tuner with Asymmetrical Charge Coupled chip. I have long maintained that modern car receivers Detector. perform much better than what you find in a $4000 Take care when comparing an older analog tuner audio video receiver. to these DSP units with low input signal levels. BriI am doing little here but summarizing Brians work. an reports that with a mono input the XDR-F1HD begins to invoke a sliding, first-order, lowpass noise Because the functionality of the NXP and TI chips are filter on L+R signal as the RF level drops below in the DSP code, a service manual will tell you noth26dBf. The filter is similar to the one in the HDTing. Making things even harder is that the datasheets 1X, which begins at 29dBf and whose corner levels for the HD Radio DSP chips are not publicly available. off at 2.9kHz at 3dB. The Sony corner stops falling Brian thus had to do a significant amount of reverse at 3.2kHz. He found the unit was down 13dB at engineering. Making evaluation more complex is the 15kHz with a 16dBf input. fact that not only do the chip set differences change
In his recent online review (www.ham-radio.com/K6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm), Brian Beezley concluded the XDRF1HD is the best tuner for analog reception. Brian is the only reviewer still making measurements of FM tuners. The catalyst for improved performance is the DSP signal processing that replaced the analog IF and MPX sections of the analog tuner. Complete measurements are on Brians website (www.ham-radio.com/ k6sti/x_dr-f1hd.htm) to allow you to compare this tuner to the best analog units made from the 60s to 80s.
performance, but also software code options that the manufacturer selects change performance. Significantly more technical information is on Brians website than appears here.

audioXpress 8/09

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When the signal level is high enough to turn off the sliding filter, the stereo frequency response is flatter for the Sony in comparison to the Sangean. Brians review of the Sangean is found at http:// ham-radio.com/k6sti/hdt-1x.htm. Sonys adaptive noise reduction discussed previously also helps to suppress noise from co-channel interference and multipath distortion at all signal levels compared to the Sangean. RECEPTION The Sony and Sangean units received the same number of stations in HD mode at my home despite the differences in chip sets. Note that both tuners use simple version 1980s style RF sections that require alignment, and if the tuner is not correctly aligned you will not get as many HD stations. Making objective measurements of the tuners HD performance is impossible because no cost-effective HD radio modulator exists. The Sangean HDT-1X has an S/PDIF output that eliminates DAC ADC interface to an AV receiver. However, the digital encoding used in HD radio (96kbits/sec with no secondary channel) may obliterate the sonic difference of a digital connection. The Sangean has carrier-to-noise ratio readout that allows you to best aim your antenna for optimal HD reception in marginal reception areas. Because HD is digital, it is all or nothing. In a marginal area, the tuner may flop back and forth between HD and analog, which is worse than analog alone even with a bit of noise. That is why the Sangean HDT-1X offers forced analog, which is not available on the Sony. The Sangean also has forced mono. Brian has modified the Sony for forced analog by cutting a trace and adding a switch (see his website) if you want the Sony to be able to have both HD and forced analog reception. Onlythetrace cut is required if you want to turn the tuner into an analog only unit. The retrofit is only for the experienced amateur or a reliable repair shop even for the one cut, because it is hard to get inside the unit and the traces are small. Obviously, your warranty is toast after the mod. A cautionary note: The Sony resembles a table radio and becomes rather hot with all the electronics shoehorned into its compact shell. The Sony has ten flimsy buttons on top of the unit, which provide almost all functions. The remote adds only a couple more. The muting is marginal as you scan stations with a small burst of noise as it passes each station. FEATURES The Sangean is a full-sized component and feels more solid. All functionality resident on the front panel is a real luxury, though it requires navigating 21 touch controls. All the extra buttons on the Sangean allow for direct entry of a stations frequency, making it much easier to tune a station than using the scan buttons. Buttons also vary in size and shape on the Sangean. You can see where the $120 difference in price goes. Unfortunately, the Sangeans have a number of bugs that are identified on Brians website. Sangean appears unwilling to clean them all up although several updates were issued (which required the return of the unit). A summary of the problems with the HDT-1 series is found on Brians website. I never found that any of these bugs bothered me, but I did not set any presets or use the AM HD tuner. Brian notes the Sony forgets many user settings if the power goes out for more than a few minutes. Modifications on his website allow the tuner to retain data longer. If you want to achieve a weak analog signal from a station with HD, you may need the Sangean despite its poorer analog performance to prevent the HD flip-flop problems, provided you do not want to perform dangerous surgery on the Sony. The price of the Sony is about $120 less at street prices, however, and that difference might go a long way to putting in an outdoor antenna if you and your neighbors find the structure acceptable. A good antenna could turn flip-floppers into solid HD stations, but there are no guarantees. I, however, have found better indoor FM antennas (Audioprism 8500 and Terk FM Pro) do little to prevent the flip-flop, although they can improve your ability to bring in a weak analog signal over a floppy dipole. The FCC may evaluate increasing the power of the HD signal, but this would increase the noise of adjacent analog stations and may block weaker ones. I would not expect any rule change soon. Deciding between the Sangean HDT-1X and the Sony is arbitrated by your signal conditions and tolerance for a clock-radio type of thing proximate to your $2000 preamp. Despite its looks, the Sony appears to be free of the operational bugs the Sangean units have. If you have HD flip-floppers, want a stock unit, and have no desire to install a better antenna, opt for the Sangean HDT-1X. If you want to get a weak analog signal with no HD interference, the Sony rr must be your choice.

IRST LOOK

New Product Reviews

Sonys XDR-S3HD Table-Top HD Radio

By Ken Reitz

t took Sony a while to enter the HD Radio race and it has done so in typical Sony fashion. Their XDR-S3HD table-top HD Radio is fashionably designed, solidly built, and it sounds great, too!

Design Simplicity

Right out of the box I liked the clean design and the simplicity of the controls of this radio. With its wood-look, heavy plastic case and fabric covered speaker grill, this radio sits handsomely on your desk, bookshelf, bedside table or kitchen counter-top. All of the main functions (tuning, volume, etc.) can be done directly via buttons on top of the radio or by using the fairly small IR remote control. The XDR-S3HD has many of the features Ive come to expect on the current crop of HD-capable table radios: station presets (20 AM and 20 FM), sleep timer (up to 60 minutes in 15 minute increments), alarm (lets you wake up to your choice of radio station or AUX input), scan (allows you to scan for all stations or only HD-Radio stations), and more, including LCD display brightness and audio tone controls. The remote control has good range away from the set and can access the station presets as youve set them, but it cant input the frequency directly through the remote. The remote also lacks a mute button. You have to press and hold the volume button to reduce the volume.
surround audio was set. The virtual sound separation made the speakers seem considerably farther apart and HD-Radio broadcasts really seemed to come alive. Audio from external sources fed to the radio via the 3.5 mm input jack was excellent. Whether using an MP3 player, CD player or listening to streaming audio from the
to-dual RCA stereo patch cord which can be found at Radio Shack. This effectively upgrades your current analog stereo into an HD-capable set.

Tuning the Bands

Its a great looking, versatile, desktop radio that delivers excellent audio.
computer, the audio fidelity was very nice and capable of filling a large room without distortion. I also found that the audio output from the radios 3.5mm output jack could be fed into a large stereo input using a 3.5mm-
The XDR-S3HD lets you tune for all stations or only stations broadcasting HD Radio signals. If youre in an urban area youll really enjoy the growing range of channels being multi-cast. But, for those in the country, HDRadio reception is less fun. There are fewer FM stations operating HD transmitters and fewer still are multi-casting. There are only a few hundred AM stations broadcasting in HD-Radio nationwide and AM stations are not allowed to multi-cast. The set includes a wire antenna and a folded dipole for FM reception. But, I have

Clean Audio

This radio delivers excellent audio at a decent volume and compares favorably to other similarly priced HD table-top sets previously reviewed. The user can tailor the audio to inject a little more bass or treble by using the menu and the remote control. I found the Sony XDR-S3HD is the first Sony product with HD-Radio reception capability, but it wont be the last. Retailing best listening was when the between $200-250, it compares favorably with the competition. (Courtesy: Sony)

MONITORING TIMES

December 2007
found that even using a large, roof-top mounted, amplified FM Yagi antenna, the range of reliably tuning and keeping HD Radio signals is about 75 miles. Of course, this depends on terrain and the power output of the station youre trying to listen to, but in general, if youre 80-100 miles from some of your current favorite analog stations, youre going to be disappointed with this or any other HD Radio receiver. Once, while I had this radio there was a good opening on the FM band and I was tuning in HD multi-cast stations from 150+ miles away perfectly. It lasted a few hours and then it was back to reality. Tuning the AM band with this radio was a bit of a disappointment. AM reception was minimal even using a tunable AM loop antenna. The passive loop that comes with the unit is of negligible value. There was a certain amount of distinctive digital processing audible on the AM band in between AM stations. Once a station was tuned in, the processing sound was not heard. No such audio artifact was found on the FM band. AM reception was adequate, but I could not tune in the only HD AM signal 60 miles away on this set using a tunable AM loop antenna.

looking, versatile, desktop radio that delivers excellent audio. I found this radio widely available from $200 to $250 from national outlets such as Crutchfield (888-955-6000) and Best Buy (888-BESTBUY).
MANUFACTURERS SPECIFICATIONS
LCD 4 line display Frequency Range: FM 87.5-108 MHz AM 530-1710 kHz Station Presets: 20 each for AM and FM bands Speaker: Two 5/8 diameter 4 Audio output: 2.8 watts x 2 Output: 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack Input: 3.5 mm Line input jack Antenna Connections: AM: spring terminals FM: 75 coax connector Weight: 8 pounds Size: 4-3/4 H 12 W 6-3/4 D Accessories included: IR remote control (2 AAA batteries not included) FM wire antenna with coax connector attached FM folded dipole antenna AM loop antenna Audio connecting cable with two 3.5 mm plugs attached for your MP3, CD or Computer audio Power: 120 v. AC

Bottom Line

Sony makes an adaptor for their line of auto stereos to add HD-Radio capability to Sony brand car stereos and they will begin introducing HD-capable stereo receiver/ amplifiers very soon. For now, the Sony XDR-S3HD is where it all starts. Its a great
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December 2007 MONITORING TIMES

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