HD Radio is still around, for some reason, but at least there’s a portable unit on the way. This August, for the low, low price of $150, you could buy the COBY HDR-700, a rather squarish-looking portable HD Radio. The batteries last about five hours, and the whole thing is enclosed in a splash-proof housing. You know, for all those trips to the beach you take.
In all fairness, it’s about times there’s a portable HD Radio. Now all they have to do is convince people to ditch their iPod and they’re golden.
Remember: the “HD” in “HD Radio” doesn’t stand for high-definition. Don’t be fooled by its silly marketing.
I work in radio and I can attest that the “HD” stands for “Hardly Different”. Don’t waste your money on this or any other HD radio anytime soon.
I am very technical person and I agree with you.
The only reason I want one HD radio receiver is that my favorite Jazz stations are moving towards HD standard.
This is marketing thing more than nccessity, lke blueray vs dvd ! For 99% of users, HD vs analog or Blue Ray vs DVD soesn’t make any difference other than “sepnding money”
Folks,
This is what Consumer Reports wrote about HD Radio
“The HD Radio sound quality delivers deeper bass, higher treble, more stereo separation, and a greater dynamic range”
It is real and will be the primary way to listen to radio in the future. Also, http://www.hdportableradios.com has more on the Coby.
Travis,
That’s baloney. HD Radio makes a huge difference in sound quality.
We’re a small town station that is broadcasting HD digital radio. It sounds great, plus allows us to air two additonal channels on the same station. Because of this we now offer top40 on the main channel & hd1, classic rock on hd2, & new country on hd3. This gives our listeners a much greater choice, and it’s FREE. Try it, you’ll like it.
My cars factory receiver quit at a perfect time. I bought a JVC HD tuner from Crutchfield for $100 and thier is a VAST improvement in sound quality! In the Tampa Bay area of Florida I’m in there are 41 HD stations broadcasting, varried music and talk radio. Coast to Coast with George Nory sounds get in HD!
HD radio is a Hybrid Digital system that employs digital transmission techniques to deliver the signal to you-along with the regular FM system. Potentially the Hd radio system can provide a high quality signal, the signal to noise ratio, stereo separation and frequency response is much greater (2 Hz to 20 KHz vs 50 to 15KHz for analog FM). The real factor in the sound you hear depends on what the station you are tuned to is putting out. In most cases the FM and HD-1 signals sound close to identical because the station uses the same audio feed for both FM and HD – with a few small differences. Another major advantage ti HD radio is that it is nearly immune to multipath interference while you drive, if you can get the HD signal it’s perfect, if you loose it the radio reverts back to the analog FM signal. An additional benefit is that many stations can add an additional channels to provide even more programming choices. If you are considering the purchase of a new radio for home or car you should seriously consider a model with HD radio capability.