Made the move to HD radio

[Jesda]

Video of it in use:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOman2F9G1M

I picked up a JVC KDHDR20 MP3-CD-HD head unit at Crutchfield for $99. That included a Saab wire harness worth $20. At Best Buy, they wanted $119 plus tax and had no harnesses in stock for my 900, nor did they carry them.

I hate how modern head units look like laser light shows for toddlers. Fortunately, this one just has a few tastefully colored red buttons, a knob, and a clean one-color readout with sharp text and good lighting. Nothing dances around. The dimmer, unfortunately, is manual, but at the lowest setting its viewable even with the top down.

Here's how it looks in the full dark.

This guy came along.

This is, of course, the remote. Due to a lack of preset buttons on the head unit, you have to hit Menu, then rotate the knob, then push the knob to select a preset station. With the remote, you can hit the up and down buttons to quickly scroll through presets. I fixed it to the top of the steering wheel hub with double-sided mounting tape for easy access while driving.

With HD, each major radio station has two or three digital substations. Some use them for deeper commercial-free formats, some duplicate their content, and some broadcast different formats entirely.

Example: 97.1 FM Talk has an HD2 adult contemporary/jazz station. 103.3 is an oldies station that uses HD2 for its traditional Solid Gold format that ranges from 1950 to 1965. 106.5 is like "Jack FM", playing all music from all eras, and uses its HD2 for more obscure songs. Some don't have substations.

Basically, my content has tripled. The tuner is very sensitive, rivaling some Delco radios from the 80s and 90s, so in addition to new HD content, I'm picking up stations I never knew existed. Unfortunately, 18 FM presets isn't enough for all of them.

The format is specific to the US, although various other digital audio broadcast formats exist in the world.

I was a huge proponent of XM since getting started with it in 2003, but like all good things, customer service dramatically worsened, prices increased, commercials were added, and audio quality on music channels was reduced, giving the bandwidth to expensive sports and talk contracts.

BONUS: HD radio sounds MUCH better than satellite. Once the tuner locks down the digital feed (it begins receiving in analog, then HD kicks in a few seconds later) the audio quality dramatically improves. Stereo separation widens, treble and bass move further out on the sound spectrum, and noise and hissing are eliminated.

BONUS 2: Somehow, it ended up using the EXACT same harness connector as the late 90s Blaukpunkt CD head unit I pulled out. All the wires matched up perfectly, so now I have an extra Saab wire harness. It even slid perfectly into the existing slot.

The only negative is that some of the smaller stations don't delay their digital feed. This causes the audio to "skip" or repeat for a second while it switches to and from digital mode. This tends to happen with stations that are far away or when sitting under a bridge in traffic.

For no cost other than the tuner, HD makes a stale format more competitive.

[Bubba1]

I've thought about HD FM but decided against it. Except the one all news station locally for regualr weather/traffic reports) I've pretty much switched to satellite. I found FM stations have too many commercials, poor content, and too much FCC interference.

I freely admit to listening to Stern, but he only broadcasts live 4 mornings/week, so the rest of the time, I'll listen to something else.

[krimsonviper]

Pandora.com.

[Jesda]

Pandora always puts me in a loop. Somehow, I seem to be 6 steps away from Sting.

I wish last.fm had a Blackberry application.

[krimsonviper]

That's weird, because last.fm puts me in loops all the time. With music I disagree with. English artists.

[Jesda]

Last.fm is way too sensitive to genres. If I click "Love" for one motown song, it'll play motown for a good hour no matter how often I skip ahead.

Pandora puts me in an artist loop, Last.fm puts me in a genre loop.

[krimsonviper]

Yeah, I guess they both have their ups and downs. I prefer the artist more than the genre I guess. Genres sometimes end up having artists that I completely don't like.

I wish my new 3 came with HD radio. I don't like the sound quality on satellite radio, nor the payments.

[troskinatior]

I need a head unit and that seems like a pretty good one, but I'm wondering is there any reason you got that over the Dual XHD6420 or Dual XHD6425?

[Jesda]

I need a head unit and that seems like a pretty good one, but I'm wondering is there any reason you got that over the Dual XHD6420 or Dual XHD6425?

The JVC looked a little cleaner, unfortunately they cleaned it up enough that they removed the preset buttons. I've had good experiences with Dual/Namsung. The Dual didn't seem to have a dimming feature, which mattered a lot since the radio was going to be mounted at eye level.

[EW]

I've had HD for 4 years. I have 3 HD Radios. One JVC home unit, one JVC HDR1 car unit, and one Alpine TUA-T500HD. The Alpine is the best sounding/best receiving tuner I have ever owned and I sell the stuff. Newer units (like the TUA-T550HD)will allow you to set HD2 or HD3 channels as presets. Others have to tune to FM, then HD1, and then you have to step it to HD2, 3 etc. Since many aftermarket radios do not have the song and artist info, it is nice to get that with HD. Some units will also do itunes tagging. I primarily use HD Radio to get an AM channel that is broadcast on an HD2 channel as well. After dark/before sunrise/bad weather affect the AM channel but not the HD2 channel. It is crystal clear 24/7.

ipod, pandora, satellite, HD Radio all have their place. If you don't normally listen to AM/FM, you will probably not want/need HD Radio because you still have lame channels, commercials, and you're limited to the local broadcast area. However, if you use AM/FM, you will probaly really like it. For what I use it for, it is great.

[frapjap]

Do you have to pay for HD radio service?

[Jesda]

Do you have to pay for HD radio service?

All free, and some of the HD2/3 channels are ad-free (for now)

[krash]

they keep talking about a radio tax.

I have an sti radio in my car and I like it because it looks somewhat OEM, thats probably the only reason I don't have HD radio. All the ones I've seen look like spaceship parts.

[Jesda]

they keep talking about a radio tax.

I have an sti radio in my car and I like it because it looks somewhat OEM, thats probably the only reason I don't have HD radio. All the ones I've seen look like spaceship parts.

Baller I love the gray/gold interior color Subaru uses.

Directed makes a decent looking HD tuner that sometimes appears on eBay for $70, costs quite a bit more on Amazon.

[krash]

hey thats actually pretty nice

[HashiriyaS14]

I hate how modern head units look like laser light shows for toddlers.

YES.

If/when I pick up my MX73 Cressida, I'm going to try to find a period-correct Nakamichi deck for it. Barring that, I'm going to look for a CD700, which I think is the best-looking Naka head unit ever. Real metal, very simple, etc.

[EW]

Directed makes a decent looking HD tuner that sometimes appears on eBay for $70, costs quite a bit more on Amazon.

You will not get the benefit of better sound (unless you use RCA into whatever deck you're using) because it is FM modulated. Plus, you would have a ghetto controller on your dash. Alpine CDA-105 is about as basic looking as you can get and still add HD radio controlled through the deck.

[krash]

if that controller is the size of a single din unit, it would be perfect

[PoorManQ45]

Barring that, I'm going to look for a CD700, which I think is the best-looking Naka head unit ever. Real metal, very simple, etc.

Agreed! I hate the orange with black lettering that they've been using though