HD radio

[sanf]

anyone has one installed? is it alot better?

[kameraguy]

i'm personally a sucker for HD content without the fee. For example, OTA HDTV is great...and FREE!

I have been interested in HD radio for this reason. A lot of the radio stations I listen to are also broadcast in HD, both FM and AM. If you listen to a lot of radio that is also available in HD, it sounds like a great upgrade.

It's all digital so i'm sure it will be a big sound improvement. It's supposed to offer near-CD FM quality, and FM quality for AM.

I don't see a lot of options in receivers though. And from what i see they are kind of expensive.

Are you looking for car use mainly, or even home?

Is there a portable receiver that can be used for both applications? I'd be interested in something like that myself.

[sanf]

hey kam..

it's gonna be in the w202. I found 2 in crutchfield that has "builit-in" HD radio VS HD ready. I am not sure if the HD ready ones will need any additional device to convert the signals.

Here is one of the built-in one..
JVC KD-HDR1 (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-JFGgwQv3QLh/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=280150&I=257KDHDR1) For 175 bucks, it can't really go wrong.

[kameraguy]

My guess is HD ready doesn't have the tuner, but an interface for an add-on.

That price doesn't sound bad. Do you already have an aftermarket system, or stock? I never had much luck using the stock Bose amp with any aftermarket HU in terms of sound quality.

[sanf]

I have an aftermarket HU. unsure of what the brand is but it was the only thing that offered SD/WMA/DVD/MP3/USB input. I have been using it for a few months, I just love how easy it is to throw on new songs without burning another CD.

My w202 is non-bose and the aftermarket HU is 60x4. It pumps ok but no match to a complete system of course. Perhaps you can rerun a few wires and bypass the stock Bose amp?

[kameraguy]

I originally wanted my audio shop to bypass the Bose amp, but they seemed to prefer running the HU through it as they felt the stock Bose speakers wouldn't work well with any other amp. At any rate, I went back to all-stock as i didn't want to hassle with it.

Since you have an aftermarket system, i'm sure HD would sound sweet in your car!