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FM tuners - Are they OBSOLETE ?

As much as I a have liked tuners in the past - and probably kidded myself that older ''vintage'' tuners sound better (after owning quite a few), I really don't see much use for them except maybe a nostalgic bridge to days past, or bragging rights to pride of ownership with McIntosh gear or whatever.

With the newer technologies giving access to hundreds of stations around the globe, it just seems like THE proposition to discover new music.

I of course know that some high-end tuners sound very good - but let me tell you - a clean 128 digital feed into a DAC (from a digital transport like the Wadia or Cambridge Audio's new ID-100), is pretty impressive...

Sort of make kilo-buck tuners seem futile and very expensive by comparison.

What do you think ?
soniqmike
ack's avatar
ack
115 posts
 
How are you going to otherwise hear live performances from the Met or the Boston Symphony w/o a tuner?
tonykay
1,315 posts
 
I agree with your assessment about tuners. Unless it includes Sirius/XM capability, it's likely only going to
gather dust in a closet or on a shelf. Who wouldn't toy
with the idea of buying an MR78, Marantz 10B or any Sequerra tuner? But you have to ask yourself, what am
I going to listen to? FM is dead (sorry) except for classical music. But let's face it, those legendary tuners are really cool to look at.
daverz
487 posts
 
The reason FM tuners are obsolete is that there's nothing worth listening to on FM radio anymore.
riffer
362 posts
 
I will add to what Daverz said, even the ones with good programming are usually so compressed to be unlistenable.

Fortunately, we have Jazz.FM91 in Toronto, so I'll be keeping my tuner for a while. I understand there are some good classical stations for those so inclined, but rock is hopeless here.
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