About $96 online
• Receives HD Radio broadcasts as well as analog FM & AM
• RCA stereo out jacks
• Attached wire FM antenna, separate loop AM antenna
• Tiny multi-function remote
• Ten-station memory preset buttons
• LCD display with backlight
• 3.5mm headphone jack on front
• Small wall-wart power supply
Coby Electronics Corporation
1991 Marcus Ave., Suite 301
Lake Success, NY 11042
www.cobyusa.com
www.ecoby.com
Intro
First, some background on this component and its manufacturer. There are two misnomers involved here: Although iBiquity – the originators and promoters of HD Radio – don’t mind that people misunderstand that “HD” stands for High Definition, as it does in the video area, it does not. The iBiquity folks tell me it doesn’t stand for anything (not for “Hybrid Digital” as has been reported) because some day all the anlaog radio transmitters will be turned off just like the TV transmitters will be come February 2009. Then it will still be HD Radio but not hybrid. In fact in entirely digital mode more data space is made available and up to eight different audio channels can then by programmed. Unlike the digital broadcasting standard some other countries have had for years (DAB/Eureka 147), the one for the U.S. uses an in-band, on-channel (IBOC) signal which the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) insisted upon. In other words, the digital information is piggybacked onto the standard analog FM and AM signals so that each station’s frequency remains the same.
The other misnomer is to call this unit (as well as a similar one from Sony) an HD Radio. Since there is no amplifier and no speakers it is not a radio but a tuner. Although a very good one for the price! But it does receive HD Radio broadcasts, so Coby and Sony persist in called these units HD Radio. (Seems to be a semantic disagreement we just have to let go.) The idea here is to add reception of the new HD broadcasts to any home audio system and not be limited by the poor sound of a table radio. HD Radio is a free service just like analog radio broadcasting, and in many cases will provide better sound than you are presently receiving, especially from more distant stations. However, the Ubiquity technology uses lossy compression, so some of HD Radio’s fidelity claims may be exaggerated – such as that FM stations are now raised to CD-quality sound and AM stations are raised to FM-quality sound. It is true that the sampling rate is increased from the 44.1K of CDs to the 48K of most DVD audio. There is less distortion and no multipath as with analog FM. The other advantages are that the bandwidth is so reduced that two different HD programs may be transmitted by the same station, and some stations are taking advantage of that by offering a completely different program on a second channel. (Our local NPR outlet, for example, airs rock without commercials on their second channel.) More stations will be adding the additional programming eventually. Another advantage is a text display on the front of the tuner or radio with the name of the station, and identification of the selection of music being heard. This is similar to the RDS system on certain FM stations which was never widely used. (To hear HD Radio in your car you will have to purchase a separate mobile unit.)
About Coby
Coby Electronics is both a brand name of their own as well as an OEM manufacturer for Samsung, NEC, RadioShack and Hyundai. Most of their products so far have been in the low-priced budget area, and are available at discount stores, drug stores and online. However, they are seeking to re-brand themselves as a maker of higher-quality electronic goods.
Setting Up
Setup of the Coby tuner was easy. It is so tiny it can fit on almost any shelf of your audio system or even sideways alongside a large component. I would make sure it has sufficient ventilation however. The long wire for the FM can just be taped up behind your shelves – a horizontal placement probably being the best. I didn’t hook up the supplied loop AM antenna because there are no AM HD stations in my area (Portland, OR). (I get the impression HD is not gaining as much ground in the AM sector as it is in FM. However, it must work better than the ill-fated AM stereo ever did.) In mounting on a shelf with tight vertical clearance, you might run into difficulty with the function buttons of the tuner being on the top rather than the front.
Comparison to Analog Reception
To compare the HDR-650 CD reception to analog I plugged it into an unused stereo input on my Sunfire Theater Grand 5 AV preamp. Then I switched with my Sunfire remote between Tuner and that input. One of the first things one discovers is that FM stations are first tuned in analog mode, and then after several seconds they lock onto the digital signal and display the “HD” on the right after the frequency of the station. There is no way to switch back and forth between analog and HD, but it is usually quite audible when it automatically switches to the HD signal. There are several buttons on the remote not present on the actual tuner: Seek, Menu, Alarm, Sleep, Snooze, the ten station presets (which are useful because there is no rotatable knob to go up and down the dial), and volume up and down buttons. (The Sony tuner lacks the volume control.)
I went to HDRadio.com to get the list of which stations in the Portland area had HD transmission and which also had a second channel. I found nearly all the FMs had HD. And I discovered some interesting program availabilities that interested me on three of the outlets. Most were programming rock, but one has an HD2 channel with blues, one with smooth jazz and one with comedy. The multicast channels appear on the HD tuner display thus: FM 105.9-1 HD and FM 105.9-2 HD.
When the tuner automatically locked onto the HD signal, I usually heard an upgrade in clarity and lower noise. The same was true when I switched to the high-quality tuner in my Sunfire preamp, which includes some built-in FM noise reduction. On both the all-classical and the all-jazz stations I could discern greater clarity on some of the instruments or sections of the orchestra. I have read that some stations are using a lower amount of volume compression and processing on their HD signal compared to their analog transmissions, where they are trying to get the widest possible coverage. Digital works differently, and reports from some sectors are they more distant stations are received with greater clarity than before. However, it should be remembered that HD Radio is similar to DTV in that it is either an on or off proposition – if there is insufficient signal it will simple mute rather than provide a distorted or noisy signal. You would probably be able to get much better reception of distant stations if you attached a good indoor FM antenna or better yet an outdoor antenna to the unit’s antenna input.
Summing Up
All in all, I was greatly pleased with the reception and audio quality of this HD tuner and take back some of the negative comments I have made about HD Radio (but not about the misnomer). Since many people have probably held off going to HD due to the “entry fee” being something around $200 or more for a small table radio, both the Coby and Sony tuners should bring many more users into the HD Radio fold.
– John Sunier
