Sangean HDR-16 HD Radio/FM-Stereo/AM Portable Radio, Black

This Sangean HDR-16 HD Radio/FM-Stereo/AM Portable Radio is, in my opinion, a superb portable radio.I first became acquainted with HD Radio (HD stands for Hybrid Digital NOT High Definition) when we got our two new Subaru Foresters in 2014. They were equipped with HD Radios.Now that 'famous' consumer site (which does not allow its name to be used but I'm sure you know the one I mean) claims to be not impressed with HD Radio and says that, in automobiles, it's six of one, half a dozen of another, if you have it or not.But my wife and I have found it to be a real asset. In the Philadelphia, PA area in which we live, there is only one station which plays classical music (to which I listen) and jazz (to which my wife listens).Unfortunately, on 'straight' FM, the type of music is split: from 6 AM to 6 PM (Monday through Saturday) classical music is broadcast; from 6 PM to 6 AM jazz is played. (On Sundays, classical music is played only in the afternoon.)But with an HD Radio in our cars we can each easily listen to the type of music we prefer and at any time we like.In our home, however, until now, we did not have an HD radio. We each could listen to the local station's separate classical or jazz streams over the internet but, due to our rather slow (by today's standards) internet connection, if both of us were using our respective computers, often the music would 'cut out' and this was an annoyance.Having read the reviews here of this particular radio, and discounting those which complained of things in which we were not interested, I decided to save some money and purchase this model.It arrived yesterday and I have been playing it for many hours since.I am truly and completely pleased with it.Now I want to tell you that I have absolutely no interest in using it as a clock-radio. When I want to set a wake-up alarm I use a CLOCK, of which we have many in our house.I also have no interest in using it as an emergency radio. We have FOUR (4) NOAA WEATHER RADIOS. One is a plug-in type which is always on, the other three are portables, two of which we take along when we travel. These are true emergency radios.So I have not even bothered with the Menu options which allow the user to set up these options.As a matter of fact, when I received the radio, I immediately inserted the batteries and turned it on. Unlike my usual practice, I did not read the owner's manual.As a radio, this is so easy to use that, in my opinion, ANYBODY ought to be able to use it without reading that booklet.Just looking at the extremely well-labeled controls is about all you'll need to do in order to use this radio.Now, of course, there are some things mentioned in the easy-to-read manual that can use some explanation but they are, frankly, easy to figure out even if you don't read the manual. Common sense is all you'll need.If, however, you want to use some of the 'esoteric' features of this radio, then you will need the owner's manual. (In any case it's helpful to read it and I did so this morning.)Now you will ask, "How is the performance?"In a word, superb.We live about 40 miles from the Roxborough antenna farm (from which most Philadelphia stations broadcast) yet I am able to receive in HD most of the FM stations WITH THE RADIO'S ANTENNA COLLAPSED!This is truly superb performance in my opinion.I listen to just two local AM stations and they both come in perfectly. One features HD, the other does not.The HD sound quality, on both AM and FM, is excellent too. You must remember that this is a portable radio. It is not a high fidelity instrument. If you are expecting to be 'blown-away' by the sound, forget about it! It sounds as well as any portable radio I have ever heard (with the possible exception of the GE Superadios I and II) but those others cannot receive the extra HD broadcasts.This radio also has a superb line-output stage via which I am playing an HD-2 classical station (WPEN-HD2) through my main stereo system (Yamaha A-S701 integrated amplifier and Klipschorn loudspeakers). I am playing this HD station as I am writing this (at around 4:30 PM) and I have been playing it continuously using the radio powered via its AC adapter since about 8:30 this morning. The sound is excellent for a radio broadcast.This portable radio is much more versatile than a standalone AM/FM/HD tuner or even an AC-powered AM/FM/HD table radio. I am really pleased with the sound quality I am hearing using this radio as tuner in my system.As a side note, I should mention that FM (and by extension HD) broadcasts will never be truly high fidelity. They can't be.Back in the 1940s and 1950s FM broadcasts were getting better and better, approaching the highest fidelity attainable. This was, of course, in the 'mono' days.When stereo was set to come in, there was one system (the Crosby system) which was as accurate in sound quality as was mono FM. This was because it was essentially two mono channels, both of equal high fidelity.Almost everybody was sure that the system would be accepted by the FCC. As a matter of fact, some receiver manufacturers 'jumped the gun' and released Crosby-equipped receivers before the standard was approved.BUT - the FCC rejected the system, approving a system advocated by GE and Zenith. This system was NOTICEABLY inferior in terms of sound quality in stereo mode.Why was it accepted? In two words, commercial interests. When the Crosby system was in use for stereo transmission, MUZAK and other such background commercial systems ("elevator music") could not be transmitted. But with GE and Zenith, they could.And who cares about sound quality anyway? (I'm being facetious.)The degraded sound quality has carried over somewhat to the HD broadcasts though, in truth, they are somewhat (only somewhat) better than most 'straight' FM transmissions.Getting back to this radio, it does sound quite good for a portable radio and, feeding its sound through a good high-fidelity system, you will hear sound quality as good as most stand-alone tuners. And with portability as a bonus!Are there any 'cons'? Of course there are! Unlike our Subarus, the memory buttons do not remember the HD band to which you were previously tuned. In other words, if you program, say, WPEN HD2 into a memory slot and turn off the radio (or even tune to another station), if you press the memory button you will NOT be taken back to WPEN HD2 but only to WPEN's main channel from which you must manually tune to the HD2 transmission.I wish that this were not the case but there it is. [Please See Update at the End of this Review.]However I am of the opinion that you just cannot go wrong with this radio. Before you buy one, however, you should make certain that there are stations in your area which transmit the kind of music (or talk) shows that you like over an HD system.If there are no such stations in your receiving area, there would be no point in buying this radio.But if there are, and you can afford the price, by all means buy one. (And buy it from Amazon. If you are unhappy within the first 30 days, you can return it at no cost to you.)I do want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this review and who is considering my opinions.Lawrence H. Bulk====>Update: September 24, 2017I like this radio so much that I bought a second one for use in another room.I just discovered something about that new unit.When checking the Menu, I see that my first one (the one about which I wrote the review) is V. 32.This new one, which arrived Tuesday, September 19, 2017, is V. 38.This one DOES INDEED remember the HD station entered into memory. Thus, it works like most car radios and other such and makes this radio essentially "perfect," at least for me.If you buy a new one now, I'm sure you will get the later version. Check to make certain. If you received an older version, while the radio would not be unsatisfactory, I think that you should insist that the seller take it back and offer you a later version.Now if there were only some way to upgrade my older radio to the newer version ...

I disliked that it took 2 tries to get a good one. The first radio I received would "hang" about every third power up, ignoring all buttons and requiring a battery removal to unlock it. Amazon was helpful though, and sent a replacement immediately.Second try was the charm. I just set this radio up side by side with my GE Superadio II. I ran thru both the AM band and FM band on both of them. The HDR-16 pulled in every single station that the older GE did (and that's a lot of stations). I would have to call the reception a dead tie. Where one struggled, the other struggled. I own the Superadio II and III, as well as a Panasonic RF-2800. As a tuner, this radio definitely holds its own. To be fair, the Superadio II still beat this new one for sound quality. The two 2.75" speakers on the Sangean just couldn't quite match the 5" main speaker and 1.5" tweeter on the old GE Superadio II. Still, the HDR-16 weighs just 2.5 lbs. to the Superadio's 6.5 lbs, so it is certainly more portable, plus you get stereo output.. The rubber feet have good grip, so pushing the buttons doesn't send it sliding. I have software version 38, and the changes in and out of HD are about as graceful as they can be. The FM HD stations tune and lock in 3 seconds or so. AM HD is a different animal, as HD struggles with the weaker signals. Right now I have 6 AM stations indicating HD signal, but only the local one locks into HD mode. It is still just late afternoon though, so the noise levels are high, and the signal strengths are low. The non-HD quality is still excellent though. Oh, and the included AC power adapter is not giving me any added noise on the weak AM stations. It's about perfect, with no need to go to batteries to gain any noise margin. The recorder output gives a nice clean output without regard to your listening volume setting, and the tone controls do nothing to the recorder output. The headphone outputs do use the volume and tone controls, and with good headphones the sound is quite awesome. It really shows how good the tuner is. Some Koss PortaPros were plenty to really let the audio output shine. I tried the Aux input as well. I fed in professional quality audio, and it came out about as expected from two 2.75" speakers. It was clean, amplified well, but wasn't overly impressive. The trade-off for portability and light weight was the lesser sound from the smaller speakers. The tone controls work fine but can't turn this into Hi-Fi sound. If you want that, use a good set of headphones, or connect the recorder output to your home stereo.

I became a fan of HD radio in my car because of the better sound and display that lists song, artist and station info. Regular FM stations will also broadcast text via RDS which the Sangean HDR-16 displays on its bright screen.It's a small radio about the size and weight of a Bluetooth speaker. The sound is clear but don't expect much bass or volume from the two 2.5 inch speakers and the 1.5 watts per channel amplifier.Reception is very good on FM, better than my Yamaha receiver. On AM I get exactly one station.What makes this radio a keeper is the "rec out" jack. You can connect the rec out to your amp/receiver's aux input (via a 3.5 mm to stereo RCA cable) to get excellent HD FM sound. As a bonus when the HD radio is connected to your receiver via the rec out, you can still use the radio's built-in speakers and adjust the volume individually. If you use the headphone jack output instead then sound to the HDR-16's internal speakers will be cut.You may have noticed conflicting info about the number of presets on the HDR-16. Amazon's description says "5 FM and 5 AM presets". The later models of the radio (designated HDR-16A) actually have 20 FM and 20 AM presets.The way to know what you have: Under the HDR-16's green power button there is either a "info" or "page" button.If it's the info button, then there are 5 presets. If it's the page button, then you get 4 pages times 5 presets for a total of 20 FM and AM stations.The product pic shows an amber display with black characters, my radio has a yellow display with blue characters.