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Sony’s XDS-S3HD HD Radio offers 20 AM and 20 FM presets and allows you to connect a portable music player for playback.
Slideshow
View SlideshowWho says radio is dead? These days, we have AM, FM, XM and Sirius satellite radio, Internet radio and HD Radio. So what’s HD Radio?
First of all, don’t confuse it with HDTV. The “HD” in the radio format does not mean “high definition,” though there are some similarities in improved performance. Some believe the HD stands for “hybrid digital,” but the HD in the name is simply part of the trademarked logo.
No matter, though it does helps to think of HD Radio as both higher definition and hybrid digital. Basically, it’s meant as an audible improvement on our AM and FM stations, with less interference and fewer dropouts. With an HD radio—and you’ll need one to get it—FM should sound like CD quality, and AM should sound like FM. The other thing HD Radio does is allow the stations to multicast, or broadcast more than one station, so you can find programming for specific interests. The digital station an HD radio will pick up is broadcast along with the old analog signal, making it hybrid digital.
To enjoy digital multicasts, you’ll need an HD Radio capable of receiving HD2 signals. More than 1,300 stations are now broadcasting signals for HD Radio, so if you live near a major metropolitan area, chances are good you can hear some radio in this new format. (Check out www.hdradio.com to find stations that broadcast near you.)
Best of all? The programming is free; you’ll just need to pay for the HD Radio. And some stations are making their multicast programs commercial-free for awhile. Will that be enough to turn you away from Howard and the satellite radio barrage? We don’t know, but if you want free radio programming, an HD Radio may be worth investigating.
PocketRadio, I think your article “Can Sony Make HD Radio A Winner?” was an amusing read. I do agree that a $200 table-top radio is a hard sell. PolkAudio has a table-top HD radio which retails for $499. Is that anymore absurd? Albeit, their radio has an iPod dock/charger and maybe better audio quality.
It should be illegal to call something HD that is probably called HD to mislead consumers.
HDMI 1.3a is allowed to be placed on to products without the products having the relevant HDMI 1.3 features implemented - to probably mislead people that Sony is fully aware of.
when was the last time i spent $200 on a radio? a couple months ago. in fact i have 3 Cambrdge Soundworks (740’s, non-HD) radios in my house. the sound is good considering the footprint, they play about any type of disk, take inputs from any mp3 player or external source (i have them streaming music from a media server), are easy to control (kids/wife) and look pretty nice doing it all. i’m certainly not made of money, but to get music into three separate rooms i think it’s a effective option. and seriously, to compare the latest tabletops to the old “clock radios” is pretty weak. i don’t buy into the bose marketing, but these are not the radio shack clocks you slap at in the morning. HD radio is another topic and since i don’t have, i’ll let others field that.
“Can Sony Make HD Radio A Winner?”
“Question: when was the last time you spent $200 for a table-top clock radio? What locale will have to freeze over before you pay it now? Can you think of 20 AM and 20 FM stations you’d like to store in its memory? Or any memory? Your memory? Are there 20 AM and FM stations in the entire nation worth storing in memory. Hey, the input jack is neat… Sony is crazy and the radio industry is crazier to think this is going to help their HD problem. Hello! There’s no good programming on HD. Hell, there’s no programming—forget good.”
http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2007/05/can-sony-make-hd-radio-winner.html
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I just bought this Sony XDS-S3HD HD Radio, despite the mosty negative comments I’ve read about HD radio. It ran me $180 at Best Buy. I’m so pleased with it that I’m ready to pickup the JVC KD-HDR1 HD radio for my boat. This is a nice tabletop radio for those of us that like this form factor. I had an old KLH tabletop for years and wanted a quality replacement. I’m in San Francisco and there are more HD radio stations here than for most locations. I found that my favorite stations (KLLC, KDFC, KKSF, & KFOG) all broadcast an HD-2 channel that is currently commercial free. The station/artist/title info is a nice addition that I have liked from my XM car radio. HD radio may still be a work-in-progress on the receivers and stations but I will not get another home or car tuner without it.