HDT-20 HD Radio/FM Stereo/AM Component Tuner, Black

This is my Second HDT HD Sangean tuner I own, still have the HDT-1 but wanted a digital out to mate with my new RME ADI-2 Dac. My HDT 1 lasted over 15 years and was still working perfectly so the question of are these made to last I would say Yes. I never had a problem with the 1 and so I took the plunge last September on the 2. Wow guys, Sangean outdid themselves. The Kit Looks FANTASTIC. Really looks very well built. So now here’s my reply to some of the reviews on Amazon I’ve read. Too complicated to use. Well yes and No. Sangean put a schiit load of features, buttons, menus for us folks who like to “Play” with our gear. But, you DON’T have to use it that way. I’ve got mine set up like my old HDT 1. Have 10 presets lined up, just like the old days, Tune in a station, hold down a preset button for a second and it’s set! To “recall”, a preset, you have to hit the “Preset” button and then the preset you want to go to. No big deal. Thee other thing is the button layout, most of the button’s have a “Dual” purpose, IF YOU WANT TO GET CRAZY. I just us it like a regular tuner and there is nothing complicated about it. But….if you want to Tweak away, you’ll have plenty to play with. Now, the sound, again, wit a Top Tier dipole inside antenna, reception in the Seattle area is great. Tons of college stations, underground stations and “Sub Channel stations (HD 2 and up) with lots of the sub stations streaming internet radio stations. The sound Quality is Fantastic. Digital output coax into my DAC is 48 KHz and a 24 Bit Depth! Read that again……… No digital “burps, clicks, farts, stutters, shadows, nothing but CLEAN reception and truly High Fidelity music. The digital display is easy to see from 10 feet away and at full brightness it is fine, I have no complaints about the display at all. Again, my log HDT 1 lasted 15+ years and is still perfectly functional, so I think that should say something about the reliability of these tuners. And last but not least, th AM section is surprisingly good, compared to so many tuners old and new that sound like crap on the AM band, Sangean should be commended on not overlooking this band because I do listen to AM radio a lot. I keep my tuner in 24/7 by the way, including my old HDT 1, 24/7. Not lying here, the jazz station I listen to keeps the Cats mellow at night. Hope that helps, I’m really digging it, and all the cool HD Sub channels around here really making my experience worthwhile. Gerard Masters

I have a very good 1984 receiver, but after reading multiple reviews from hi-fi websites, thought this was worth a try. NOT DISSAPOINTED! Want to share a few points below - You may want or need to add a better antenna, depending on your location. I have never had success with wire antennas so did not try the one included, but some reviewers had good results so suggest trying that first. I use rabbit ears that I harvested from a junk 1978 TV set and get very good reception considering it is right next to the tuner. I tried multiple positions but was not pleased at first. Then I moved the tuner a few inches and got better reception. So there's that. But I did notice a difference in HD quality between stations with four-bar signal strength and the ones with five bars. When the weather gets better I'll try moving the antenna to the attic and hope that helps. The five-bar signals produce outstanding results. Also if you are not doing this already, be sure to buy some decent cables to connect to your receiver or amp. I set my tuner up with crappy ones first to make sure the thing worked, but was a bit disappointed. Then I purchased some good ones on Amazon and was quire pleased with the improvement. The pair was less than $30 and well worth it. Some people spend hundreds on them but this pair got the standard FM stations back to the quality of my receiver, so unless you have a receiver/amp in the four-to-five digit dollar range there's no need spend more. Check some hi-fi community websites for suggestions and/or submit a question and I'll advise which ones I bought. BTW, I will buy more for my other components. Have not yet experimented with the AM function so cannot comment. Only drawback is that remote volume and muting control works only for the headphones, at least when running through analog components. Don't know if it would would work with total digital equipment. Setting the stations using the instructions is a bit confusing but easy once you understand that you have to release the two buttons before hitting the preset number button. Display will tell you when you've successfully added it. Overall I'm very happy with this purchase. Quality for the price is surprisingly good! UPDATE: IF YOU ARE CONNECTING TUNER TO AMP WITH RCA CABLES, READ THIS FOR GREATLY IMPROVED RESPONSE: While reading some hifi web threads I learned that performance can be enhanced by connecting tuner to a DAC (digital audio converter) via the optical audio output. Then connect from the DAC to the amp with your RCA cables. You can spend a lot of money if you want, but I bought a converter that included the optical digital cable through Amazon for $15 . Took just few minutes and WOW, really improved performance. 4-bar strength signals now sound fantastic. Search the internet for best DAC's if you want to review all options, but be sure to get one!

This is a great way to add HD radio to your AV system. It tunes a lot of stations using the small outside TV antenna system I have, but there is a problem with the optical/coaxial digital output. The digital output is silent for most of the frequencies on the FM band. No static and no stations even when they do tune in. I tried two different receivers and even the digital input of a MacBook Pro and the results were the same. The analog output sounds fine, but digital should be the way to go. Has anyone seen this issue? I have to try their support again. AM HD works fine, but there is only one weak station in the area far away, so I can’t use it downstairs. This is the second unit I tried. Both have build dates of 11/2022, but I bought one from Walmart which I returned. This one came from Amazon and I will probably keep it despite the problem. I would give it five stars if not for the digital output problem. There are really no competitive units still being made as HD radio has far more penetration in cars than in homes.

The quality of the HD Radio actually exceeded my expectations. Apparently, the Codec works well. It's better than analog FM, but still not as good as Audio CDs. There is a negative side to the reception though. When listening to the digital channels, if the signal isn't strong, there can be sound drop-outs, even though those have been managed by the circuits to result in little or no noise. Thus, don't expect to listen to a whole symphony without any glitches. This is happening to me in spite of my amplified antenna, which I provided myself. Also, the decision is often up to the station, to compress their narrative microphones more than they compress the classical music itself. I don't know why they do that. Or, if they offer more than one HD channel on their one frequency, they have to compress the channels more. I didn't bother to set up AM mode, and am satisfied overall. The impressive feat is high RF sensitivity. I get an FM station of some sort, on almost any assigned frequency I tune the receiver to, knowing that only odd multiples of 100kHz are assigned. Update: The problem with the sound drop-outs may have been due to one HD station I tune in to, because with that same station, the problem is not noticeably anymore. Update: This is one of those items, from which the buyer can select the HD 16 AM/FM, the HD 18 AM?FM, or the HD 20 AM/FM, at least in the Browser view. They are actually very different receivers. I only bought and use the HDT-20 HD AM/FM, and can therefore not vouch for the other items, that buyers can select out of the group. Dirk

If you have a non-HD tuner - that is, a tuner (such as a central audio controller) that cannot receive HD Radio signals - then this unit is the solution if you are looking to add HD Radio functionality to your system. It has an easy-to-use interface (including the ability to directly enter the frequency you wish to tune to), as well as digital audio outputs (TOSLINK and SPDIF) and an analogue line output (white and red RCA connectors). It has an 'F' connector for an FM antenna (I recommend using an external multi-element Yagi-Uda antenna, although a flexible dipole antenna is included with the unit) and two spring-loaded push-in terminals for an AM antenna (a loop antenna is included). Finally, the unit has a headphone output on the front so you can listen even if others in the room don't want to (the headphone output's volume is controlled via the front panel; this volume control does not affect the digital or analogue line outputs). Once again, Sangean sets a high bar and doesn't just reach it - they go above and beyond. They deserve a thorough round of applause for the superior quality, design, and performance of their products.

I listen to radio lots while I work. This receiver sounds great even though I have it connected to my 30 year old AV receiver and provides stations that you cannot hear with a regular FM receiver. Some frequencies have a total of 4 HD channels with different content. There is one frequency that has a channel that plays nothing but music (just not all day). I'm just using some rabbit ears with this receiver. The only reason I gave 4 stars for the overall review is that the remote could work a little better. But that may be because of the batteries are weak.

Besides the memory limitation of 10 per band? I didn't bother to read the manual, since the print was small, and I could have looked for a PDF to verify this. Would be nice if a firmware update could be pushed OTA to increase the number of presets. Reception, well that's the reason you would buy a separate AM/FM component tuner and this radio pulls in stations the built-in complementary on board radio to my receiver that powers some desk speakers couldn't! So many HD stations being implemented in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario area but not all the media companies are on it, but your analog radio will be the default. Didn't try the AM, there's already most of the AM content on the second or third channel of the FM. There are some weaker stations that would be able to send a digital station out to a more fringe area with the right cables and signal boosters so if you want to be an early adopter you sure can. There aren't any digital stations in the lower band settings you can choose in the settings, so you will not get any analog audio from the tv in this market (most of Canada), so you'll only pickup noise and blow your speakers. Don't try that at home!

HD20 has digital output so I can use optical or coaxial cable to connect to my 4k AV receiver lossless. it can remember last station you listened last time. Remote controller is handy. But seems HD-14 has better developed software/firmware version than HD-20: HD-14 can store more stations, has HD APS function. HD-20 only can store 10 stations at FM. But for both models, only way to sync time is you have to tune to FM94.1 in my area (GTA) and wait for a few seconds to 1min till time sync'd.