Does anyone have HD radio?

[Tobin S.]

What are your thoughts about it whether you have it or not?

I just had a factory am/fm receiver in my little '02 S-10. No CD or tape deck. So I at least wanted to get something that would play CDs. I ended up buying an HD radio and CD player. I had heard a little about the HD stations and radios and was interested in them. I checked it out at the car audio shop and decided to give it a go. It wasn't much more than a decent am/fm radio with a CD deck.

I am not impressed with the sound quality. It may be a little clearer and closer to CD quality, but nothing to write home about. I am running the radio through factory speakers, however. That might turn into and excuse to get new speakers down the road :).

I am impressed with the new radio stations, though, and I think the extra money is going to prove to be worth it in my case. I have a 60 mile round trip commute to work and back every day and I listen to a lot of radio. The HD stations are commercial free aside from little blurbs here and there telling you what station you are listening to. In my area they play a lot more new stuff and alternative on the new rock HD channel, instead of the same 20 droning songs on continuous loop. The classic rock station plays a lot more deep cuts and rarer classic tunes not heard on their 24/7 AC/DC and Pink Floyd original channel.

I'm happy with the new receiver. I just wish it had that night and day quality to it that I'd heard described when comparing them to non-HD radio.

[lizerdbits]

1. I have one

NPR moved the Ray Davis Show (Bluegrass) to HD and I wanted to keep listening without listening online since I'm often in the kitchen when it's on. I'm close to the outer limit for picking it up (comes out of DC) and one rainy or cloudy days sometimes the signal is on and off. Also if I run my standing or hand mixer I can't pick it up unlike regular radio. I got mine as a gift when I donated to the show, so I probably don't have the highest quality machine. A local country station also has and HD station that plays the older stuff, which I prefer over the modern pop-with-fake-twang country, and that's a plus too.