Decent tuner with a headphone output and volume control
I do the same thing as you in my bedroom system. I used to have a Bryston BHA-1 headphone amp with a SACD player and the Sony XDR-F1HD. I just recenlty sold the BHA-1. I get a great station on the FM dial, which sometimes plays vinyl too. The same station on the internet sounds like crap. I actually bought the Sony HD player solely to listen to the second HD broadcast from this station. I bought a modified Sony tuner from this guy. I think I paid around $400. https://www.xdrguy.com/xdr-f1hds-for-sale.html HD radio is crap but the player also gets regular FM and the tuning is amazing. I also have a Magnum Dynalab MD 102 that cost close to $3K. The Sony is not as good but it is rather close to the same quality. For $400 it is a steal. This unit does not have a headphone amp but what I will do, to replace the BHA-1, is get either the Headamp GS-X mini for $1799 or a second Benchmark HPA4 for $3K. So at the low end for around $2100 you could have a killer FM headphone system. Not what you asked but likely better sound quality than what you are thinking. Listening to my Meze Empy + MD 102 + Benchmark HPA4 as I write this. Awesome sound. |
A good FM tuner (and antenna) can provide excellent sound quality, often much better than a streaming version of the same broadcast. I'm not aware of any good tuners with a good headphone amp however. You could look on the fmtunerinfo site or its discussion list. Or get a headphone amp or a preamp with a decent headphone amp to go along with your tuner. |
Thanks for the input. A question for a novice like me, is streaming high fidelity sound quality or is it compressed and a sample of the music but not the actual music. Sound quality is very much what AudiogoN and other audiophile sites are/were about. Any advice or experience you can share on streaming and sonic quality would be helpful. Hope all are doing well with our globes current condition. |
