Sony XDR-F1HD

Pros: Fantastic sensitivity and selectivity, a new standard for clear reception under poor conditions. McIntosh MR-71 owners, eat your hearts out. The end of the component tuner -- every controller will soon have a high-quality radio at little added cost.

Cons: Doesn't permit forced-analog reception. (You wouldn't want the listener to hear the superiority of analog on a good station, would you?) Terrible AM analog sound. (See Brian Beezley's article for a detailed review and info on DIY improvemen ts.)

Summary: The reviewers' claim that "The best HD stations delivered true CD quality sound" is simply untrue. There will be times, of course, when you can't tell the difference. But I compared the analog signal of KING FM (on a Parasound T3) with the Sony, and it's the same-old same-old -- lossy compression degrades the sound, particularly in regard to its spatial qualities. It also sounds a bit "flat" and "blah".

Updated on Feb 8, 2010

I note that one person found this review unhelpful. Not surprising -- I didn't tell him what he wanted to hear, that HD broadcasts are inherently superior to analog. They're not.