SDR (software defined radio) coming of age?
- Thread starter stoutblock
- Start date
I’ve only been exposed to SDRs for a few weeks now but so far my experience is they are better than most FM tuners I’ve owned. Maybe it is the digital conversion and/or the benefit of a nice DAC but they do sound really good in my setup. The RTL-SDR would not displace my Scott or my Yamaha tuners but the SDRplay is another story. No, I am not taking the two analog FM tuners out of rotation but I do greatly enjoy what I am hearing from the new SDRplay.
We are lucky here in Seattle because we have a privately funded and great classic music station that uses a very strong transmission signal. KING radio. I love listing to it late at night and the quality of the music they play is simply superb. As good as it is, typically on very quiet passages you can often get a little drift and noise that creaps in and out. Some sustained tones can also change pitch ever so slightly. Not bad by any means but just enough to remind you this is FM. This is something that is not as easy to hear on stations that play more popular music.
The SDRplay simply kills this classic station. I listened to it for hours today and it simply sounded perfect the whole time. Deep, dynamic and solid music with nothing funny that my ears could hear. As much as I love listening to this same station with the tuners, with the APR I could easily forget I was listening to a tuner yet it still sounds like a tuner and not a digital source like streaming etc.
With a state of the art antenna I’m sure the gap would close but I think most would be pleased with the performance of the SDRplay as long as they had a good sounding DAC to do the conversion.
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Nick_G
Well-Known Member
I own one of these:
http://www.bwbroadcast.com/bwbroadcast/rbrx-encore/64/product
This is technically a standalone SDR as it basically a computer designed as a radio receiver. It's sort of like an XDR-F1HD on steroids.
Something like the RBRX Encore is probably as close as you are going to get to that I suspect. It certainly sounds better than the XDR-F1HD with a more realistic, rich and fuller sound. In fact the audio quality on a good BBC broadcast is fantastic. There's a preset mode called 'Measure' which bypasses all of the DSP processing and BBC Radio 3's 'Late Junction' is a real treat via this setup. For DXing it is also superior to the XDR as the sound at very narrow bandwidths is cleaner with less distortion. I don't know what chipset this receiver uses.
There are some things the SDR dongles can do which the RBRX Encore can't such as showing a spectrogram, and recording a chunk of the band for later tuning in real time.
http://www.bwbroadcast.com/bwbroadcast/rbrx-encore/64/product
This is technically a standalone SDR as it basically a computer designed as a radio receiver. It's sort of like an XDR-F1HD on steroids.
Something like the RBRX Encore is probably as close as you are going to get to that I suspect. It certainly sounds better than the XDR-F1HD with a more realistic, rich and fuller sound. In fact the audio quality on a good BBC broadcast is fantastic. There's a preset mode called 'Measure' which bypasses all of the DSP processing and BBC Radio 3's 'Late Junction' is a real treat via this setup. For DXing it is also superior to the XDR as the sound at very narrow bandwidths is cleaner with less distortion. I don't know what chipset this receiver uses.
There are some things the SDR dongles can do which the RBRX Encore can't such as showing a spectrogram, and recording a chunk of the band for later tuning in real time.
KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
The RBRX Encore sounds OK, the McIntosh MR 74 sounds better for listening, and vastly more dependable in heavy use. The RBRX Encore in Measurement mode is the best quality SDR powered solution I've heard. This technology will improve along the way as it evolves.
I do believe there is a ak member who has the rbrx and posted about it not to long ago.I see he already posted here. Disregard my comment.
If you did not know, that is what Silicon Labs makes, is dedicated SDR chips in many different flavours. They work quiet well. Many cast an opinion with out actually doing a proper evaluation of the technology. Of course you have to design a pcb and write some code for them. There are a few projects around that provide all the necessary hardware and software, i.e Elektor.
These chips pull stations out of the ether that most analog tuners have difficulty with.
These chips pull stations out of the ether that most analog tuners have difficulty with.
Nick_G
Well-Known Member
Yes that would be me
I wonder how the US equivalent receivers such as the Inovonics Aaron 650 would compare to the RBRX Encore?Yes I can confirm this with the Encore. Overall it is superior to the XDR-F1HD in this respect. Having access to PI codes also helps with IDing unknown signals during openings, assuming that the signal is strong enough.
Thread nudge! What's affordable SDR now?
When I look at all the signal processing involved in stereo FM, it looks like an ideal application for Digital Signal Processing. FM analog sound quality may take another hit from the requested increase in HD Radio broadcast power.
I suspect no dongle will match the RF performance of a classic FM tuner, but with a strong signal, you might not need it.
When I look at all the signal processing involved in stereo FM, it looks like an ideal application for Digital Signal Processing. FM analog sound quality may take another hit from the requested increase in HD Radio broadcast power.
I suspect no dongle will match the RF performance of a classic FM tuner, but with a strong signal, you might not need it.
I'm starting to study Software Defined Radio. It might not be the best for listening but wow, does it display a lot of information. Here is a YouTube video with a demonstration:
Here is a program someone wrote and shared to demodulate FM and get the RDS also:
Here is a program someone wrote and shared to demodulate FM and get the RDS also:
