HD Radio Gear: The Good and the Better

In addition to the big step-up in price, the Rotel provides listeners with a huge increase in perceived quality. The Rotel is a beautiful piece of audio jewelry, as well as a great-sounding tuner.

There's less of a difference in sound quality between the analog and digital versions of the same station when you're listening on the Rotel. In addition, this tuner seemed to have an easier time of locking-in on a digital signal.

Overall, the Rotel is easy to listen to -- and even easier to fall in love with. It's my current favorite. The RT-1084 carries a suggested retail price of $899. This component is very highly recommended.

One last note: The RT-1084 is user updatable via files you download from the Rotel Web site. You have to use a special cable that comes with the tuner -- and a Windows XP computer (it won't work with a Vista PC).

DaySequerra M4C

David Day is the undisputable king of FM tuners. He is the Day of DaySequerra, manufacturers of what some experts consider one of the best (and expensive) FM tuners ever made.

These days David is a big proponent of HD Radio. His company makes nearly all of the HD tuners that FM radio stations use to monitor their output. Therefore, David knows how good HD Radio can sound.

At the bottom of his product line is the $1,595 M4C tuner. It is the table-top version (that means you don't have to mount it in an equipment rack) of the units that chief engineers use to monitor their stations' signal.

As you might guess, the M4C is one heck of a tuner. I haven't actually played with the latest ungraded version, but the version I had sounded direct, forceful and produced a lot of very high-quality radio playback.

In this group of HD tuners, the DaySequerra produced the least difference between similar analog and digital radio signals -- a testament to David's continuing quest for great FM sound. Very highly recommended.

One last thought: These tuners may improve FM sound, but they won't do anything to improve what music radio stations actually play. Programming quality (or lack thereof) is the fault of the companies that own the radio stations.