FM tuners - Are they OBSOLETE ?

Depends on what local FM stations are available and also if they broadcast over the internet as an option and what the sound quality is there. Good internet radio sound quality these days is generally quite affordable and capable of trumping what I have heard on FM in terms of sound quality over the years in most regards, especially background noise and overall distortion.

FM tuners in the car still rule.

I have a small collection of tuners. I'm fortunate to have several local stations that makes owning them worthwhile but I also future proofed myself should FM ever go south.

I have an FM transmitter in house. Whatever I hook up to it will be broadcast throughout the house to any of my tuners. Right now I have a Polk XM/Sirius tuner feeding it and listening to the Jazz station on a vintage Marantz tuner.

I also have a "vintage" room where I use either a Marantz 7c/8b/10b combo or a vintage receiver (talk about extremes) to drive a pair of Altec/JBL speakers. I enjoy the jazz there but sometimes I change the station to "Classic Vinyl" or "The 60's" and go full nostalgia.

Other options: I can hook up a CD player or changer and be my own DJ. My wife (and now me) enjoy Praire Home Companion which we take off the Internet and "broadcast" it to either a table radio or the big system (talk about extremes again).

So "obsolete?", not for me. It's a lot of fun which is what I think a hobby should be.

BTW, FM Transmitters vary in quality. I started with the C Crane one which is ok (around $70), but with my investment in tuners, I soon got a Ramsey (around $300) which was a big improvement.

I sincerely feel that many are just not very informed !

The proposition that the FM tuner is good for ''exploring'' new music makes me smile. The FM band has strong geographical limitations of course. It's no shortwave radio in reach (and if it was it would sound much worse of course. With FM, you are bound to regional and ''nationwide network'' regional stations.

To Ack who asks how else he can listen to live broadcasts without a tuner. Just TUNE IN to your live station via the TuneIn app ! MOST main stations are available worldwide, INCLUDING local stations. Just hit the local button on the TuneIn interface and find your station - LIVE.

For classical stations - a digital feed is a blessing - there are so many quiet passages in classical music that, with an FM tuner, unlike you have a GREAT antenna, hearing a frying pan in the background takes away from the experience anyway.

And, with digital, if you like what you hear, press ''record'' and presto, you can go back anytime - try this with an FM tuner.

About Sirius and XM - I used to be a subsriber, using a portable device for both car and home reception. Useless now with (again)the TuneIn app at a ridiculous one-time .99 cents fee versus that Sirius monthly bill and contract. Plus with TuneIn, you get the album artwork for hundreds of stations plus the Sky network of specialized music FREE. Piano Solo stations, Bossa Nova, Jazz light, Jazz-Hell, hell, whatever you want ! Beatle stations, Sprinsteen Stations, Nasa Apollo 11 communication station, endless really. Every shade of the BBC's 4 or 5 different stations, radio Antartica (really). If you are the exploring kind, no contest here - the FM tuner is not in the race.

Sound? Again, the digital feed from TunIn through my DAC is great. It provides a very, very silent background, the kind I could never experience with even expensive tuners I used to own, and fully comparable to CD. I have done so much A/B comparisons it's not even funny.

I think FM tuners have really 2 purposes, and that's ok with me.

1. It is still great in the car for local stations, although Sirius/ XM beats it with specialized channels and news overall - but for local stations no good.

2. an FM tuner is still a nice thing to own in a sound system, but let's call it anything from nostalgia to eye candy (for the expensive ones). I for one enjoy the looks and light show of a vintage Marantz, Pioneer or Yamaha tuner. Anything more expensive though, from Magnum Dynalab on up is just not with the money. It looks like a lab instrument and sounds barely better than a good'ol '70s tuner that has been properly aligned - and that's with a half-decent FM station - but the backgound noise even on the better ones cannot approach a digital feed.

But for both ''discovering'' music, or sound quality, no way.

Just my subjective opinion of course!

Soniqmike, So, to clarify.... tuners, no good? IYO?

Some interned broadcasts are rather low rez. Some FM broadcasts are low rent. It really depends on where you listen to what through what. The internet provides way more channels to choose from. FM may or may not provide better sound.