Sangean HDT-1X Review

Brian's review of the HDT-1X is extraordinary and gives us the pluses and minuses. It's unfortunate that he was not the design engineer of this unit.
Richard

He was not, but he was a key figure in the development of some of the features and fixes of bugs.

His information has prooved invaluable to us and I hope that we can do more work together in the future.

Brian's criticism is much more than you suggest. Look at:
http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/hdt-1x.txt
Richard

Perhaps the departure from the NRSC deemphasis curve was made in a deliberate attempt to "brighten" the sound of 5Khz rolled-off AM transmissions?
jr

My feeling is that in making some of the changes they went back to scratch and missed that when they did so. I have still not gotten a clear response from the factory, but I expect one VERY soon.

Since I'm in the market for an HD device (receiver or radio), why would I buy such a unit now with this difficiency?

When you look at all the problems listed by Brian, you begin to wonder if you want to purchase the Hdt-1X.
Richard

Um. . . . Or if I can get you all to put pressure on the factory for me! Go to the Sangean Taiwan website and e-mail them. Show the AVS forum force and get things done.

I don't know. I'm not a piece of test equipment. Never have been and My other equipment is a Macintosh Ma-6100 amp/pre amp and Infinity Reference standard 2 speakers and all high end interconnects with monster cable speaker wire. It's a fairly good system and y'know what? I am really happy with the sound of my HDT-1X. I don't use it for AM unless I'm listening to a HD radio station. I also have a Sansui TU-717 tuner. The Sangean tuner sounds great to me. The radio is incredibly sensitive and selective in the very crowded N.E. US and with it I can hear stations I can not hear with any other tuner I've owned. The end.

Communicate Brian's complete report(2 parts) to the factory and they can make their own decision on improvements not only with regard to HD but other electronics.
Richard

I have already sent it to them. I will have a rundown of their response by the end of next week.

Master Theseus,

Thank you for helping us with the Sangean radios. It's nice to have an insider's ear to bend about things!

I may be ordering an HDT1-x within the month, but I had a few questions about them...

Are there any issues or problem areas with the early-run HDT1-x units?

Does the remote operate on standard protocols? IE can a learning remote work with it?

Do you plan to release them in silver? (silly I know, but all my gear is silver...)

Thank you, Sierra

PS I still have a 1994ish RS branded Sangean SW portable, beat and abused, still works fine!

The only known issues are the ones posted by Brian on his site. The major issue I see is the lack of NRSC? Deimphasis curve on AM analog. We are looking into this situation and all the other reports.

As for releasing in silver, that is not going to happen any time soon. The HDT-1X and HDT-1 will have to remain the only two models for a short while due to the work put into these models.

I have updated my HDT-1X review to cover version 0.3:

http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/hdt-1x.htm

I have also updated my HDT-1 review to cover version 1.4F:

http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/hdt-1.htm

Brian

What do these mean for the typical user?

>10. The AM varactor drive voltage no longer backsteps.

In other words, if I have an original HDT-1, is the upgrade a good thing or a bad thing? Outside of the clock and output level.

I don't know that Sangean is offering an upgrade. I'm just reporting differences I found between firmware versions.

The varactor drive backstep was a minor bug without significant consequence.

The stepped muting and threshold differences are another matter. See the writeup for details.

Brian

They will upgrade it to fix the clock and output level; the rest comes along for the ride. But it sounds like upgrading is not a good idea if the overall sound is not as good.

I have recently become addicted to my local NPR Jazz station here in Atlanta and have really been enjoying the HD feed on my Marantz receiver. So, I've been thinking about adding another HD tuner to the bedroom system but I've been hesitant, looking for a good deal and not wanting to spend very much on the purchase. I happened to check newegg today and if any of you are interested in this particular tuner I highly suggest you go over there and check out the sale price, and shipping is free as well.

Hint: the in-cart price is lower than what it reports from the "click to see lowest price" link. I am a huge fan of newegg and have been doing business with them for about 6 years now, but be aware that this particular item is not refundable.


EDIT 4/1/08: Unfortunately it looks like the deal is over.

I have an HDT-1X and just learned of a reported problem with receiving FM stations that transmit an HD4 channel, not mentioned in the k6sti review. The HDT-1X has no problem receiving stations in the Boston metro area with HD1, HD2, and HD3 channels. However the HDT-1X refuses to lock on to 104.1 WBMX FM HD, apparently because it's confused by the additional HD4 channel that's transmitted by WBMX FM HD. I've since learned that the transmission spec was recently revised with additional digital bandwidth to accommodate HD4, something that my Sangean HDT-1X isn't able to handle. So I'm only able to receive WBMX FM analog with RDS display. As far as I can tell, no software upgrade for HD4 is available.