Sangean HDR-14 HD Radio/FM Stereo/AM Portable Radio,

Though I am not a radio collector, I have quite a few radios. I wish to listen primarily to classical music. As I live in the Philadelphia, PA metro region, which is, in my opinion, a "vast wasteland," at least regarding radio stations, I wanted an HD radio as I had found, from owning an HD radio in my car, that classical music can be heard 24 hours a day, something that cannot be done with a "straight" analog AM/FM receiver. I purchased three (3) Sangean HDR-16 models (to keep in various rooms of my house) and these provide excellent sound quality but they leave something to be desired, at least regarding HD reception. (I am aware of the FCC's restrictions on HD transmission power.) Having heard that this HDR-14 is actually superior in HD sensitivity to that of the HDR-16, I decided to give it a try. It IS superior in HD sensitivity! There are exactly two (2) stations that transmit classical music in my area. One is only "half" classical, at least with its analog signal; the other half is jazz music (WRTI 90.1 MHz). But this station transmits in HD and it switches the HD1 and HD2 signals at night. In other words, when the main analog channel (and the HD1 channel) play classical music, the HD2 sub-channel plays jazz. When the main analog channel switches to jazz (along with the HD1 channel), the HD2 channel plays classical music. Switching is, of course, not particularly onerous but it's a shame that this station cannot transmit both all at the same time (which would probably require a second frequency). However, in addition to that station, there is a relatively little-known station: WPEN-HD2 Burlington-Philadelphia which is "piggy-backed" onto a sports-talk radio station (97.5 MHz). The sports is on HD1 and the classical music is on HD2 (and the sound quality is excellent). Unfortunately, where I live, reception via the HDR-16 is spotty at best. Sometimes the station may play for hours with nary a hiccup but other times, well, forget it! Hoping that the HDR-14 would be better at receiving this station, I purchased one. I have been using it extensively (on batteries) since I received it (on March 2, 2019). (I cannot comment on battery life. The radio does have a low-battery indicator light but it has not yet been activated.) Its reception sensitivity is markedly better than any of the three HDR-16s I own. This HDR-14 picks up WPEN-HD2 in places in my house where the HDR-16 won't pick up any HD signals at all. And its reception is consistent on a daily basis. When I want to listen to WPEN-HD2, I can do so whenever I wish with this radio. Setting the radio is VERY easy and there are quite a few options, all of which are explained in the extremely readable owner's manual (but you don't really need that manual; everything is logical and common sense is really all you need for setting the various options within the menu). I am very pleased with the HDR-14 but, as always, there is a "fly in the ointment." And that is the sound quality. As the HDR-14 is a small pocket-size radio, you cannot expect outstanding sound quality from its speaker - and you don't get it. What I had hoped was that. through headphones, the sound quality would be excellent. No such luck here either. Now I do not want to damn with faint praise. This radio is very, very good and I'm glad I have it. I only wish that the sound quality, at least via headphones, would be at least as good as that achieved via the HDR-16. One of these days I'm going to try using it with a Bluetooth transmitter, running the sound into a stereo system but I'm afraid that I do not have high hopes - after all, if sound through headphones is only "okay," what difference can I expect in sound quality through a stereo system considering that the Bluetooth transmitter will be connected to that same headphone output? What we need, of course (Sangean please take notice) is a combination of the HDR-16's sound quality (ore even better) and the HDR-14's sensitivity (or even better). If such a radio were ever introduced, I would buy one (or more)! I also suggest that an external antenna input be included to allow a better antenna to be connected to the radio. I do not know what the fate of HD (regarding radio, this means Hybrid Digital - not High Definition) radio will be in this country. Many AM stations have already abandoned transmitting in HD (including our one news station KYW 1060 kHz - though they do transmit on an FM HD subchannel, the problem there being that the audio is delayed by quite a few seconds, something that it was not when they transmitted on AM HD). That loss is really too bad. AM HD sounds just about as good as analog FM (actually better as there is no hiss). And, at least in the Philadelphia area, the FM stations that do transmit in HD have one or more HD subchannels but they all transmit the same kind of "garbage radio" as the main channel. How many people are going to buy an HD radio just so they can listen to more of the same trash? But that's enough of my complaints. The Sangean HDR-14 is a very good radio and, when considering only pocket-sized radios, I believe that it stands head-and-shoulders above any other pocket-sized radio I own. Its sensitivity on analog AM and FM is quite good (and its FM section can be "forced" to receive in mono only which will improve analog FM sensitivity - HD remains in stereo) and its sound quality is certainly on a par with any of my other comparable radios. Therefore, if you are interested in a high-quality HD radio, I can highly recommend this one. Thank you for reading all of this and for considering my recommendation. Lawrence H. Bulk

This radio is excellent! Admittedly, options for new radios with hybrid digital capability are slim and sangean pretty much makes all of them outside of car stereos, but this radio (and I assume the HDR-16) stands on its merits despite that market position. The good: - FM reception is stellar. HD stations come in smooth. I have an insignia NS-HD01 which does not pick up some HD subchannels. This radio gets everything, even inside my house. - Sound quality is surprisingly good and punchy for one single mono speaker. - Convenient size: I put it in a little case and chuck it in my bag. - Fit and finish: feels “premium” and is a good weight in hand. I like the rubber buttons, the headphone jack, the little kickstand, and it feels solid. I would not worry about a small drop. - Battery life: I get about 35 hours out of 3 rechargeable AA batteries with a mix of headphone and speaker use. Bad: - The shiny plastic is a fingerprint/dust magnet I find myself wiping off frequently The AM reception is also surprisingly good, and the station preset menu is easy to navigate. A great buy for anyone who is looking for a little FM/AM receiver for travel or home

I have a bunch of HD-capable radios, plus two cars that get HD as well. I can report that this one is the best for travel in North America. It's small, light, and very capable. Its reception on AM and FM is solid, and its sound through headphones is excellent. The speaker is about what you'd expect in a radio this small: serviceable, but not great. Use headphones if you can. The user interface takes some getting used to, but not much, and it does work well. I like that it has four "pages" for different locations. I have five buttons each for AM and FM set to work in the four places I frequent most: Santa Barbara, Baltimore, New York, and the Bay Area. Other reviews here knock the build quality, but I don't see it. It's a solid little radio. I give it four stars because five-star reviews have become less trustworthy. And this radio isn't perfect. But what is?

We absolutely love this radio. It works great, and we’re genuinely so happy with it. HD FM comes in clear and strong. AM works too, but it’s a bit more sensitive to location—it struggled when we stayed in a basement but performed well when we stayed on the 37th floor. Still, for a compact radio, it’s impressive and easy to travel with. A few things we’d love to see in a future version: • A way to keep the screen backlight on at night for better visibility. • Some way to view which stations are saved to each preset number—right now, you have to tune through them one by one to remember what’s where. • It would be amazing if NOAA weather radio was also included. It seems like most radios make you choose between HD Radio or NOAA, but having both would make this perfect for emergencies. • And this one’s a long shot, but we’d love an audio input option. I bring a small keyboard when we go camping, and my spouse plays their Omnichord. The Omnichord has its own speaker, but keyboards usually don’t—being able to use this radio as a portable speaker would be such a nice bonus. Even with those little wishes, we wouldn’t hesitate to buy this again. It’s a fantastic little radio that does exactly what we hoped for—and we’re really grateful to have found it.

This is a really nice portable radio. My main use case is day trips to the beach or park. It’s small, like an old school Walkman if that means anything to you, but the speaker is still plenty powerful for the size. It can easily slip into a beach bag, backpack, or even shorts pocket. I usually just want enough sound for my wife and I to listen without bothering anyone else too much and the built in speaker is definitely up to that - don’t need to push max volume even with background beach noise. If I’m looking to bump it louder, I have a $6 Bluetooth transmitter that plugs into the 3.5mm headphone jack and a jbl go bluetooth speaker. I also have a sangean hdr-16 - another portable hd radio that’s my go to around the house or backyard. It’s bigger, which means the antenna and speakers are as well, with all the benefits that comes with. The 16 is more like a big hardcover book in size - still plenty portable but actually takes up some space, while the 14 can generally be tucked into an already fully packed beach bag or one of the smaller pockets on a backpack Whether the HD Radio is worth it to you will depend on how close you are to the radio tower. I think it’s a neat technology and I prefer the HD broadcasts when available - the sound quality is noticeably better than a standard FM broadcast, and the station is actually 3 broadcasts in one, so you’ll have more to choose from. For example my local NPR station has classical on their second band, and the BBC world service on HD 3 - the local top 40 station has alt rock on HD 2 and talk radio on HD3. But the HD broadcast range is usually like half the range of the standard FM transmission. The less dense / more rural your area, the less likely you’ll have access to the HD band. I live on the east coast where the air waves are densely packed, at any given time I can generally find several stations that are close enough for HD, but I would imagine there’s lots of places where it gets you nothing

When it comes to Digital AM/FM you can't beat this portable for only one reason. It's the only one on the market! There's NO competition. Analog AM is okay and on par and even exceeds other radios of this size. However, analog FM is horrible. I use heaphones a lot so stereo is important to me. When my other radios such as my R-108 can easily pick up an analog FM stereo signal with little hiss this radio can't and even when it says "Stereo" it's lying half the time. If you're not within 30 miles of even the most powerful analog FM station expect mono and worse sounding audio unless you're using a long wire antenna or just lucky. It seems that it's all bad software because this radio feels great and feels well built and pictures I saw of the internals look to show thw radio is well made. When it works it works well and HD works very well when your close and not moving. I use this radio on the bus and as a passenger in the car a lot. HD and FM stereo performance verries on the distance on the station and the car or bus you're in. It's similar to my R-108 in vehicle performance. I would suggest having a wire antenna if using on the go. It's hard to fit in your pocket and AM/FM performance degrades significantly even when using a wire antenna. Horrible pocket radio. I also used rechargable AA batteries which had some issues but they seemed to resolve on their own. The radio would I have a great shut off but after swapping the batteries around it worked fine. Sangean, if you read this PLEASE create a software update to fix the stereo sensitivity issue. I'd rather have a minor stereo hiss for weaker analog signals than forced mono and no hiss. It's not right that my $40 R-108 is able to outperform this radio in any aspect especially on AM and FM. I expected more from an $80 Sangean. In the next model please add 1. HD toggle switch so I can use analog when it's better. 2. Analog FM Stereo sensitivity control. Just like a force mono maybe a force stereo? 3. Larger RDS display 4. Shortwave maybe? 5. Rechargable BL-5C battery option? 6. 0-9 buttons with direct input. 7. A way to turn on the backlight without changing anything. Final verdeict: Great radio when it works. Bad software. Too expesnive for what you get.

Update: At six months this little radio is still going strong. The "key lock" feature is invaluable and i have learned to turn it on and off almost automatically. I did decide to use recharagable batteries. The normal batteries last an expected amount of time, but I think I am just accustomed to unlimited power via an outlet or car. Still love it and still take it with me everywhere. :) I fell in love with an HD radio station six months ago when I began to drive a car with HD radio. Now I have a better car, but no HD! This little radio picks up HD well in the car, but also plays everywhere else. It can be connected to my new car via an aux cord, my PC speakers/sound system via the existing hookup cord, and even sounds wonderful connected to my 1970's stereo speakers-my favorite HD station fills the room! The speakers on the unit are typical "transistor radio" speakers. And, in hindsight, I am thinking transistor radios were designed that way (pre headphones), in order not to disturb those around you too much. With so many options to get great sound, it's not a large concern for me, mostly just considered a "back up" way to listen to a great station/radio. I have had no problems with battery life. I have used it consistently for two weeks on the same batteries. I am looking forward to exploring more HD stations. I enjoy the variety and the quality of music available in HD, and am so glad I found a device to become my "new best friend" in regards to listening to great music (everywhere!) . :)

Don't buy any HD radio! Period. Make sure to read allot of reviews, the technology underlying it, and understand why HD radio is a big failure. It just doesn't work consistently. Most of the problems inherent with HD radio technology applies to this radio. Ask yourself, after 20 years how come HD radio still not as common as HD TV? I know, you want to listen to your favorite radio stations without interference, and you think HD is the solution. You're wrong. On paper, the theory of HD radio broadcast was, half good. In practice, especially how many additional subchannels greedy broadcasters try to cram to their allotted bands, it just doesn't work. What's worse, you can't just turn off HD and listen to analog broadcast like any old radio. When broadcast quality is inconsistent, the radio keeps shifting between HD and analog, skipping broadcast, eventually it becomes unbearable. You're better off going through the pain of installing proper dipole antenna near a window and run the line through a 75ohm coaxial cable to the radio. Suddenly your staticky old radio will sound HD++ Explaining all the technical problems with HD broadcast is very complex and you'd have to take college courses on Antenna Design Theory. If it were simple, the engineers who originally designed HD radio IBOC technology wouldn't have screwed up so horribly (part of the problem is greedy broadcasters trying to cram too many subchannels rather than leaving enough buffer in their band allotment). Original design should have kept digital and analog portions entirely separate bands. But, now it's too late. ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS AND Computer equipment interference: Radio broadcast signal quality varies greatly with weather conditions, time of day, seasons, sun spot activity, along with many other factors that you have little or no control over. And that's exactly what makes it difficult to evaluate a radio (or cellphone) particularly an HD radio. By that time 30 day return period is over. After reading this review and doing your research, if you're still itching for an HD radio, make sure it has dedicated antenna input jack. Unfortunately this particular radio does not have a dedicated external antenna input. I gave up and stopped using this radio. Save yourself the disappointment. You can thank me now or later.