better reception ?

Due to current restrictions by the FCC on HD broadcast signals, the coverage area of HD is less than the analogue output from the same station. So in terms of distance, reception is worse. (And again, that's not the technology, but a limitation on the signal strength from a legal perspective)

However, when you're within a solid coverage area, the reception is better as the digital avoids things like static, multipath, etc. that might disrupt what you're listening to.

Here's a general guidance to what I've found with my own car...

go to http://www.radio-locator.com/ and pull up the details on a station you listen to. Click "View Coverage Map". The area inside the red circle is typically where you'll be able to get a solid HD signal. Your specific results may vary depending on terrain, your car's antenna, the receiver itself, other nearby stations, etc. but it's a good "general guide" to get a feel for what to expect

The "legal" restriction is actually a technology limitation. The highest an IBOC "HD" channel can be injected into the analog system is -10dBc. The original limitation was -20dBc.

In flat land areas, expect an HD signal to go about 2/3 as far as the analog counterpart. In mountain/hilly areas, closer to 1/2. Digital signals don't bounce nearly as well as analog. With analog, you'd get some hissing or popping (multipath, signal comes to the receiver from 2 directions), with digital, if it bounces, it scatters.

In a vehicle improving reception is a big challenge. First, you have no height, so getting the antenna up in the air isn't really an option. Second, you have electrical "noise" to contend with that's going to knock the signal down even more. 2 things that start out against you. A good tuner can help with these. In my truck (durango) i get great HD reception for about 50-60 miles around the transmitting antennas in town. But i'm in flat lands too. My same tuner in my girlfriends Fusion gets maybe 30 miles of good HD reception. Her car has a lot more electrical noise than my truck (not sure how, but it does).

Here at work I get solid reception of all HD stations and they're all being reflected off of Marquam Hill which is the only thing I can see out of my window. All analog FM reception here is a mess of multipath crunch except for one college station which coincidentally faces my window.

So in my experience digital reflects better than analog.

I think I'm going to throw in the towel and try to sell my XDR-F1HD for as much as I still can. I'm about 40 miles out from the Chicago market, and I recently hooked it back up after a year or two (when I first got it), hoping that maybe the power levels had improved some and I'd have better results, even when using a rooftop antenna (with or without an amp and rotor), but it hasn't improved one, single bit, while the station's music formats and programming just keep getting progressively worse.