Tuner - FM over the air - suggestions

dpop

FM reception these days can be very noisy. That's another reason why OTA audio processing is kept aggressive, to mask that noise. Another factor is FM stereo performance, which at best has a S/N ratio of -65 dB. If the same station has a decent high bandwidth stream, that S/N can be closer to -80 dB, or even -90 dB ...

Yes, digital has the s/n advantage, but it's of little value when the signal is lo-res lossy digital, which most radio streams are. (Yes, there are some exceptions, as you note. For example, Radio Paradise has great SQ, although it has no OTA signal.))

FM stereo reception and performance is not really as "high quality" as it is sometimes portrayed. It may be convenient, but it is rarely a high quality medium these days. 

That's true - most FM audio is w-a-y over processed, and the HD signal can create noise in the analog signal. But there are notable exceptions.

I live in Los Angeles & enjoy listening to two FM public radio stations: KCRW 89.9 and KLON Jazz 88.1. The tuners I currently use are the Grundig Fine Arts T-903 and Parasound Ztuner V.2. They are both hooked up via coaxial cable split to a mini digital television antenna that I  installed in my basement and the signal is perfect.  They’re both great tuners and can be purchased at a low price in the used gear market. Hope this info helps.

@phish_tacos What do you think of the quality of the KCRW on air signal? I love it. Have you compared it to the KCRW stream, I dislike it. The KCRW HD stream is awful.

Mind you I am getting the signal from a re-transmitter from Santa Barbara and we have the ocean on 1 side and mountains on the other. Not too many LEDs in these parts.

@yyzsantabarbara In 2019, KCRW moved into their new $38 million state-of-the-art radio broadcast and media headquarters. So their broadcasting signal is very impressive (noticable improvement) & the sound engineers are top notch. I tried streaming KCRW HD and I prefer listening to KCRW via my FM tuner...sounds 'natural'. Hope this answers your question.

I'm in Chicago, I can get WFMT over the air with the tuner in my AVR (Anthem MX520) but prefer the digital feed, which is crisper and not prone to weather related dropouts