Radiosophy HD100 - A small Review

Do you own a good pair of headphones? I do most of my radio listening with "cans", so I'm curious how the Radiosophy sounds with headphones.

I received my unit today (at my office) and ran into a stumbling block before even bringing the unit home. Before purchasing the HD-100 I downloaded the pdf user manual to see if it had the functionality I desired. The online manual had a 'line-out'. On the delivered unit this has changed to a 'aux-in'. Can't imagine anyone wanting to feed those speakers anything. I carry good self powered computer speakers for mp3 players and such.

My original goal was to simply sample the multitude of HD stations here in the Boston area (30+ counting the HD-2 choices). I planned on using the 'line-out' function to my various component stereos at home. If I like what I hear, then purchase proper HD receivers as the market matures. (I know there are a couple of good units now, but I also have not so fond memories of my early VCR and DVD players the size of trucks and no features.)

Bottom line is that I'm going to take the unit home for the weekend and attempt to use the headphone jack as a 'line-out'. After the weekend I will review how this goes. I have to do this with cheap mp3 players, but I prefer a standard 'line-out'. It is easier to match volume levels between components. Maybe it is my imagination, but I also think there is less distortion.

Mike Cocorochio

If you want great inexpensive headphones might I suggest the ones I use for my I-Pod, Koss Porta Pros. Even the Porta Pro Jr.'s are great. If can try a pair check them out. They also come with a lifetime replacement guarantee.

Well, I set the unit up at home.
A few more negatives than positives I'm afraid.
Positives:
1. When you get a station, it is a BIG improvement over convention FM reception
no more positives..

Negatives:
1. Built in FM antenna only got a 1/3 of the stations as my roof antenna. Not good for a 'portable' unit.
2. Headphone jack very poor 'line-out'. Seems to be a volume problem. I put the HD100 at full volume. My stereo receiver has volume settings from 1-75. I listen to conventional FM at 35. I have to use 50+ when patching into my receiver aux.
3. Even though it is portable. It needs full line power. There are numerous settings you can make with this unit: station pre-sets, HD preference, Time etc. Guess what, it forgets them when you unplug unit for less than 5 mins.
4. Built in speakers equal to about the worst of my collection of portable devices.

I realize that using this as a tuner only is my problem, there are conventional tuners out there. But it is serving the purpose that I intended, it is allowing me to sample the 30+ stations here in Boston. Unfortunately my tastes turn to Classical and Jazz. There is no hd jazz and the only full time classical station won't tune in HD on this unit even though they have 2 HD channels.

I will play with it for the weekend. If I do keep it, it will be just to sample local stations on occasion. If choices improve, I will purchase a conventional unit.

Mike Cocorochio

Ordered June 8th, received June 16th! My first HD radio.
I am in the DC subsurbs, and performance is excellent with many FM HD choices. All work without problems on the whip antenna (I have not explored HD AM much). Set up as an audio source to my audio system through the headphone jack, quality is excellent and without noise.
As noted, the HD100's volume must be turned way up when using the headphone jack, and so is much too high to unplug this jack without turning down the volume.
Highly recommended! Nice work, Radiosophy!

A few observations after spending a day playing with the HD100:
The best news is that, unlike the Multistream model, the telescoping whip antenna on the HD100 actually works! At my location it pulled in 14 out of the 21 FM HD stations in the Atlanta area using the whip. It got about the same station count when connected to a roof antenna. That's also what I get with the Multistream connected to the external dipole antenna. The Sangean HDT-1 is a little more sensitive.

On AM, using the supplied external loop antenna, the HD100 picked up a few more stations than the Multistream or the Sangean. Quieting was also a little better on the HD100. Perhaps this indicates a lower internal noise level or better shielding.

The power brick is unusual in that it is dual voltage: 800mA @ 5V dc and 1200mA @ 10.5V dc. The connector to the radio is a 4-pin DIN. The brick is heavy and runs warm. Unlike the Multistream, there's no way to plug this radio into a car plug adapter.

The sound quality from the tinny, 2-1/2 in. speakers is rather lame. As a result, the improvement when HD cuts in is not as dramatic as with my other radios. The sound quality using headphones is much better, but the output is barely sufficient to drive my Sennheiser cans to moderate listening levels with the volume control all the way up. Maximum loudness with my ER-6 earbuds is even less. Might this indicate an impedance mismatch? The speakers are just seven inches apart, on center, so stereo is perceptible only in the very near field.

The station indicator display is a small backlit LCD with very poor contrast. Gray letters on a blue background are hard to read beyond arm's length, so the lack of a remote control is a moot point. The user's manual doesn't say how to set the clock, and it takes some trial-and-error to figure it out. Once set, the clock has a tendency to change to random settings from time to time. I mean different time, different date, different year. I can't tell what sets this off, but it has happened several times. Loss of power will reliably reset the clock to 12:00 am. There is no battery or capacitor backup to retain settings in case of power failure. Given this behavior of the clock, the alarm clock feature is useless.

The tuner can be set to scan for all stations or just for HD signals. There are five presets for each band. The display dims when the power switch toggles to standby. Don't plug this thing into a switched outlet, or you'll lose all your settings every time. I realize many compromises had to be made to reach a price point, but some things such as the glitchy clock and poor display suggest engineering errors. Still, the reception using the attached antenna suggests some advancement in design.

Thanks for the reviews. I'm on the fence about this one and would like to pull the trigger if at all while the rebate is still running. Any input on:

--How does this stack head to head with a good analog FM radio/boombox regarding sound from the speakers at the same volume?

--Same question regarding headphone output. I usually use Sony V6 or Koss portapro for headphone listening.

--Same question regarding using the headphone out as a line out. Does it sound any better than the analog FM built into (in my case) a decent Onkyo receiver?

--No batteries or backup, even just to save presets?

Seems to me the purpose of HD is lost if the speaker and headphone outs are both crummy.

If the reception circuitry price now allows these to be sold for 60 bucks AR then why they can't make an inexpensive HD receiver with a decent headphone out (and line out) with battery/DC operation? It doesn't have to be ipod sized, just something smaller than a boombox that can be run through good speakers. Put a little mono speaker on it if you want, I don't care. The model for this might be the Tivoli PAL--give that HD reception and I'm in. Maybe that's next.

I feel comfortable answering this since we both have a Tivoli PAL as a reference device. I will concentrate on this comparison:

It is no PAL. I take my PAL on all trips, the single speaker is excellent and you can use the aux-in to play mp3 type devices. That is the best use of the aux-in I have ever seen. Since the PAL is battery powered and a good speaker, you can't go wrong. The HD-100 is exactly the opposite. Need 100% 110V power and sounds terrible. Why anyone would find any reason to use the aux-in is beyond me.
My basic problem is that I downloaded the HD-100 manual before purchasing the unit. It clearly had a line-out, so I felt comfortable purchasing it. I only wanted the unit to sample the very large number of HD stations here in Boston through my normal stereos. I planned on never using the built-in speakers, only the line-out. When it was delivered the manual and device morphed to Aux-in. Basically a useless function. Very limited amp on headphone jack means poor performance as 'line-out' and low volume on good headphones.

Why am I keeping it? The adjusted price if reasonably low and I use it only to sample local stations on occasion. Like I said in previous message, if stations choices get better (almost 100% pop now) I will get normal receiver(s) in the future.

I think I answered the balance of your questions in my previous post in this thread. (yes, you lose the presets). I will admit that after going through all the BS, the sound of digital stations is a vast improvement.

One last item you may need access to good outside antenna. On other threads this has come up. HD needs much better signal.

Hope this helps.
Mike Cocorochio

BillGill I also recommend Koss Portapro, or SportaPro, or the KSC-35, or KSC-75. All use the same driver elements, so they sound very similar...though not identical. The models with headbands (SportaPro and PortaPro) have more bass.

My personal favorite inexpensive headphone these days is the Sennheiser HD-435. About 40 bucks, with VERY extended bass response, smooth sound, and an overall "warm", full character (as opposed to over-bright, or "etched"). A little over-generous on the bass side? Sure, but I listen largely at moderate volumes, so that's actually a plus for me. Great cans! The cord is user replacable (just unplug it)...great because that's usually the first thing to fail on headphones. There's even an in-line volume control. Overall a great buy. Dare I say it...they're more fun to listen to than my very expensive HD-580, Beyer DT-990 Pro, and other headphones (I'm a headphone junkie!) When you feel like upgrading, rather than replacing the headphones, buy a good headphone amp (Headroom makes some nice ones, and there are some cool tube-models available from China on E-Bay..all relatively inexpensive). Headphone listening is a great hobby for music lovers, and becomes quite addictive!

I received my HD100 about a week ago and I've had a few chances to play around with it so far. I agree with most of what I have read here so far:

• Speaker sound is so-so at best
• Much better on good headphones, though volume extremely low as reported
• Easy to operate
• Display barely readable
• Tunes in HD stations VERY well

I live in Cobb County, Georgia (suburban Atlanta). I set the HD100 on my kitchen table, pulled out the telescoping FM antenna, and it picked up 25 HD stations right off the bat. In other rooms/conditions, the performance has been worse. I tried the AM loop and couldn't get any AM HD stations, but there are only 2 low-power stations I've never heard of in Atlanta on AM anyway.

Here's a table of the stations I can pick up:



I am enjoying the classical music channel on WABE (90.5-2) and the WNNX 80's channel (99.7-2) quite a bit so far. So far when I have unplugged it and moved it around it has kept the presets, though I lost the clock early on after setting it and then leaving the unit unplugged too long.

Overall I am very pleased with the radio, despite the shortcomings. The two things I most wish for are battery operation and a line out. I have not experimented with using the headphone jack as a line out, but I am not optimistic based on the very low signal level.

Congrats, mm42. My reception log in Gwinnett County (NE Atlanta suburb) is pretty much the same as yours, but I also get a strong signal from WYAY Eagle 106.7. Too bad the WCLK signal doesn't reach outside the Perimeter, if you like jazz.

I'm not sure where you ordered your HD-205, BillGill. They look promising for an inexpensive set. Here's a link to what Headroom has to say about them http://www.headphone.com/products/he...ser-hd-205.php

Bill, WRAS (88.5) comes in very strong out here, but they don't have an HD transmitter. Too bad, because those kids do some really creative programming (and the GM is a friend of ours). You should have no trouble getting WABE with a toothpick for an antenna in Chamblee. They have had some equipment problems lately, and that was why their HD was on-again/off-again a couple of weeks ago.

Nice to know it's going well, BillGill. Your Sennheisers are closed (I believe). Mine are open, which I usually prefer...EXCEPT when I'm trying to listen to music in bed, while my wife is watching the Simpsons, or some loud science fiction movie.

Mike Cocorochio why not plug the Radiosophy into your PAL (I also love my PAL).

I love my PAL when I require battery operated portable, but it is not stereo. It sort of defeats the purpose of having a battery operated speaker when the HD100 requires line current.
I have set up both of my household receivers to have headphone adapters permanently plugged into aux and a spare antenna lead to roof antenna. When I want to listen in another part of the house, I simply unplug both leads and go to other location. That is why I find the lack of line-out so infuriating. My 6 year old Archos Jukebox mp3 player has a perfect line out. I use that with the PAL whenever I travel.

The reason the Archos has a line-out is that it is principally a European device and they have strict laws on headphone volume. Radiosophy should have done the same if they wanted to keep headphone volume low (prevent lawsuits?).
Fortunately I have quite a few Sennheiser headphones in my collection, they seem to be very efficient.

Mike Cocorochio

Poor rabbit

Bill, we should probably take this question to the WABE thread, but in answer to your question: I haven't had any detailed information from John York, CE, but I suspect equipment trouble at the station. Two weeks ago I got so frustrated by the digital dropouts that I spent hours trying to find a better location for my antenna. I mean, climbing a ladder, taping it to the closet door, standing in the middle of the room holding the dipole over my head, everything. I finally put the antenna back in its original location and gave up. A couple of days later everything was fine with my WABE reception again. Then their HD2 stream went dead for a couple of days, although the HD3 stream was still on. WABE was one of the first Public Radio stations to take advantage of a CPB grant to install digital, and I suspect they are suffering the travails of first-generation equipment. You are about ten miles closer to the station than my location, so rabbit ears should more than suffice.

More good news for me to report. I wanted to hook the HD100 up to my stereo via the headphone output, but I had 2 concerns: (1) my stereo is in the basement and I didn't know if I would be able to get any HD Radio stations down there, and (2) I was concerned about the quality of the signal out of the phone jack due to the low signal level I experience with headphones.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find I could pick up almost all the stations I got before when I moved to the basement. I lost HD reception on 94.9, 96.1, and 100.5. The rest come in fine in the basement.

The second pleasant surprise was the headphone output. I hooked it in to the Phono input on the stereo, since I have the turntable put away at the moment, and also because I had a vague recollection that turntable outputs are normally low signal level as well, and I reasoned it might do a better job with the low level of the headphone signal.

I used a single 3.5 mm jack to dual RCA cable to connect into my Onkyo receiver. The sound is really quite good.

Now that the audio quality is good, I am starting to hear big quality differences between the stations. WNNX-2, for instance, has terrible audio quality.

The trouble with using the phono input on your amp is that it applies the RIAA equalization curve. Now you have a helluva bass boost, but maybe it compensates for lack of bass in the radio.

I hate to inform you, but plugging into the low level phono inputs of any amp or receiver is not the correct way to connect that radio output. Why? Although it might server to give you more gain since it is a low level input and provides more preamp gain, phono preamp inputs are designed with an RIAA equalization curve buit-in to compensate for the RIAA equalization used during record cutting lathe process. What does this amount to? The phono preamp's RIAA equalization wll boost the bass and reduce the highs (if I remember correctly from the old days of LP records) and thus will alter the sound. This is why you may think it is sounding better... it is not a flat response through the low level phono inputs. You need to put it through the line level inputs. Although if you like the sound of it through the phono inputs with the RIAA equalization curve applied and it is not overloading the low level phono preamp, then you can live with it that way. But just wanted to let you know that the frequency response is not flat through the phono inputs.

I didn't know that!

I did have to turn up the treble to get sound I liked, and I noticed the bass was punchy. I have mostly been listening to the baroque program on WABE-2, so there is very little bass there for the most part.

I tried running it into the CD input port but the level was so low I had to crank the volume to ridiculous level to listen. I flipped back to the regular tuner to compare levels and was nearly deafened - very tough on the WAF if I hook it up this way.

I may have to put an amplifier in the line prior to going into the stereo. I have a battery-powered line booster I can try, but I would need a new one that plugs in for the long term.

UPDATE: Aha, the horrible sound quality on WNNX-2 I was complaining about was partly caused by distortion of the bass due to the Phono input preamp bass boost. Going through the CD input the sound is much better (although still has problems.) My battery-powered amp doesn't provide enough boost to make a big difference on the line level issue. I will just have to use the low level input and crank the volume up for now.

No - I think it is sounding better because is IS sounding better - the HD100 speakers are lousy. But thanks for the info on the RIAA adjustment - I did not know that.

I found a picture online, YIKES!

Yeah...there's a reason that input says "phono".

I finally broke down and ordered the Radiosophy HD100 on June 30th because it was listed as being the last day for that price, although I see that it is still listed at $99.95. Also, the deadline for the $40 rebate was July 3rd. I intentionally waited to read reviews and to see if any other low priced HD radios were released.

I should also point out that I did own for a short time both the Radio Shack Accurian and the Boston Acoustics HD radios. I returned both of them. Not that they didn't work, but neither one seemed to be very stable on the HD channels.

My application for the Radiosophy HD100 is probably going to sound a little bit unusual to many people here. I have a Panaxis ACC100S to transmit audio from my home theater system to my barn about 125 feet away from my house. I have tried various radios that I own and most will not hear the flea powered signal very well. The original CCrane radio does an okay job, but it does not have a connection for an external FM antenna. I have tried a GE Superadio III in the past and up to this point it probably has been the most sensitive analog receiver that I have used. In fact, I was all set to buy a GE Superadio III, but they are about $49.95 locally plus tax. So when I worked the numbers I thought that the Radiosophy HD100 at $99.95 + $15.00 shipping = $114.95 minus a $40 rebate, net cost $74.95 really isn't that much more.

The HD100 arrived on Friday July 6 and it was likely delayed somewhat due to ordering it on a weekend AND the Independence Day holiday smack dab in the middle of the week. I didn't get a chance to open it until a couple of hours ago and I am pretty satisfied for the price. I like how the telescoping antenna simply unscrews from the external antenna F connector. When I powered it up I was getting HD statiopns pretty quickly with the supplied antenna. The stations did not drop out like both the Boston Acoustics Receptor HD and Radio Shack Accurian radio did for me. I live in northern Rosemount MN (55068) a suburb of Minneapolis-Saint Paul Minnesota. I made the trip out to the barn to find out in short order if it would even hear my signal from the Panaxis ACC100S. I plugged it in and I received signal with just the telescoping antenna. I then removed that and connected it to an old log-periodic VHF TV antenna in the rafters of the barn pointed at the house. The signal comes in gangbusters. I tune around and get other station that I was hoping for 93.7-2 KXXR-HD2 (ABC Radio) which is running a Comedy format. It, too, seems to come in very well.

So, my application is a little bit different than probably most people since I am not focusing so much on the quality of the HD music as I am the format of the one specific HD channel and analog FM sensitivity. I do also particularly like the presets for both the AM and FM bands. Granted it is only five for each band, but it will suffice for now.

The other feature that I would love to see is a spin off from the CC Radio. I actually like the ability to listen to analog TV audio on the CC Radio. I would like to see Radiosophy, or somebody else, step up to the plate and add ATSC TV audio into an HD radio. I realize that it pretty unlikely that I would see that anytime soon, but I would like to see it nevertheless.