What can I expect to hear from a decent analog FM Tuner?

A good FM tuner with a good antenna can sound every bit as good as a digital source. How close are you to the broadcast towers? Are there stations you like nearby that broadcast with a good signal? What are your options for antenna placement (a good roof mounted antenna is optimal)?

As far as how it will sound, yes, it can sound different.  That depends a lot on the tuner you choose.

Here are some places to get more info about tuners and reception - fmtunerinfo and fmfool

I have six vintage FM tuners. Including two tube units (Fisher and Scott), plus a McIntosh MR77 and a Marantz Model 23.

I have a cabin in the mountains in Colorado. No internet so at the mercy of the airwaves. We have several great public and community stations in the NoCo area. Love listening to FM all day long via a tuner


At home have 2 McIntosh tube tuners but have recently switched to streaming ( especially WWOZ) via a macbook. Does it sound as good? it sounds digital, not quite as rich at the tuners but much easy to deal with and can listen to a wider variety including some hi res stations

It's kind of fun to stream radio stations over the internet, but the majority are streaming poor quality signals and will sound very "digital".  Radio Paradise sounds really good and some interfaces will let you sort by quality of the stream.

I listen to the jazz station in Seattle on my Magnum Dynalab Etude tuner while working.  It's about 50 miles away and sounds better than most internet stations, kind of "tubey", great detail, no static at all.

The main complaint I'd have on FM vs. streaming is that, on classical music, FM will compress the signal on the most dynamic parts.  Pop music is usually compressed to begin with, so it's not as big a problem with that genre.  But one nice thing about FM is, while you're at the mercy of the programming, some of it is quite good and may introduce you to really good music you might not otherwise hear or choose.