HDT-20

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.

First, reception is not good where I live, a single story home surrounded by 2 story houses. Most FM broadcast towers are 25 or more miles away. There is no "line of sight" for me. Reception with the cheap dipole antenna provided is good. Using an outdoor powered antenna (which is currently located indoor) increases the signal strength and pulls in a few more stations. I am using this tuner in my bedroom; which is really my secondary setup. My primary is in the living room and is more of an A/V system. I have read almost all of the prior reviews (sad but true); and it seems to me that many have not read and understood the manual or the unit it's self. Therefore in response I offer the following: 1) My remote works just fine; no trouble with using it. 2) The screen is OK, a little bright if you want it to stay always on 3) If you need a 1/4" for your headphones get an adapter 4) The vol control is for headphones so you don't kill your ears; and was a good idea 5) The panel buttons are a hot mess; just use the remote; issue solved 6) The tuning dial is not an issue; just push in with your thumb while resting your index finger on the unit. 7) If you do not like the alarm don't use it; I don't 8) The standby light is to show that the unit is powered and ready to turn on; just like the one on my TV 9) The clock is on screen when the unit is off and is a good thing Using the optical out really increases sound clarity; after getting some longer cables I will use that option. I have not used the AM mode; so no comments on that. Only having 10 presets is a real pain if you live in an urban area. Reviewers need to take into account that this is really a low cost tuner and should be judged in that light. If you are an audiophile with plenty of bucks maybe you should consider a different option for your $40000.00 setup. Final thoughts: This tuner is well worth the $$ (about $185 w/tax) and I would buy it again.

If you want to buy a component HD AM/FM tuner (and not spend a lot of money replacing your entire receiver), then this is pretty much the only choice on the market (as of the time of this review), so you're probably going to end up buying it. It's completely adequate: it is a decent tuner, and it's easy to set up, and the reception is good -- it can pull in ordinary FM stations on this that my non-HD receiver can barely pick out at all. It has both optical and RCA output, and even a headphone jack, so it's easy to hook up to almost anything. Assuming it's reliable (I've only had it a week, and so far so good), I'm happy to have it. It fulfills my desire to access a bunch of local HD stations that are not available as ordinary FM. But... it has no competition, and if it did, I think Sangean might be in big trouble, because there are a bunch of problems with the UI that are annoying, and anyone else who makes a similar product could easily fix: - 10 FM presets? That's not nearly enough. - The remote control only works at short range, and has to be directly in front of the unit. You might as well get up and press the buttons on the unit instead of using the remote at all, since if you're sitting more than 10 feet away you'll probably need to walk halfway before the remote consistently. - The idea that this is some sort of a radio alarm clock? Unnecessary, and annoying. The clock is tedious to set, and not useful. I'd like a way to have the display turn off entirely when I'm not using the tuner. - The display is too small to show all the info the stations send, and is unreadable from any distance, and greys out a moment after any changes are made, so it's not useful unless it's set to the maximum brightness all the time. - The tuner wheel is not for the impatient... as other reviewers have noted, it is not sensitive to how *fast* the wheel is turned, only that the wheel is being turned. What this means is that turning the wheel slowly has the same effect as turning it quickly, and that effect is to change the tuning at a set rate in the given direction. So if you're at 88.9 and you want to manually tune to 106.7, it takes 15 seconds (I timed it a few times) of spinning the wheel. Given that you've only got ten presets, if you like to listen to more than ten, this is awkward. (it's quicker to hold down the tuning button, but less accurate--easier to overshoot) - No up/down button to scroll through the presets. Ugh. It really looks like Sangean took the electronics from one of their table-top radios (the Sangean HDR-18), removed the speaker and amp, added RCA and optical outputs, put it in a different case... and bumped up the price! So--it works, and I'm happy to have it, but I wish there was competition.

Sangean HDT-20 is a purpose-built radio component, not a standalone stereo. With a Channel Master antenna and booster, it reliably pulls HD channels across New England. Routed through an external DAC and into Audioengine 5 monitors, audio is clean, dynamic, and broadcast-grade. Strength lies in signal separation: tuner → DAC → amplifier. Minimal noise, accurate stereo. Ideal for modular setups where the user controls amplification and processing. Delivers high-fidelity over-the-air radio without subscriptions. Does exactly what it was engineered to do—nothing more, nothing less.

Build date was 10-2021. After reading all the reviews and questions, I took a chance only to either get lucky or Sangean has raised the bar! Of all the complaining about the display not staying on, it does. Currently set on "2" and it dims to "1" and is completely readable with all the RDS info transmitted. For FM/FM HD, hooked up to an Yagi in the attic, Receives beyond expectations and reveals which broadcasters have a quality signal. If the signal is good, the sound is good. A few stations sound a little compressed which is what they do... set correctly, the HDT-20 can approach CD quality audio. For AM/AM HD, used the included indoor loop and much to my surprise, receives remarkably well with a radius of about 90 miles with a max of 300 miles (KRLD 1080 in Dallas) with a HD locked signal. You do need to rotate the loop to get the best signal but it does work quite well! The audio quality in analog almost matches a couple of high end vintage tuners I have (same antenna), the difference are slight and require critical listening to discern any difference. In HD, I actually listened to music that normally doesn't interest me but sounded so good I stayed on frequency. With my old eyes, the remote was still very usable and was nice in action. The presets among the other complaints are nothing to kill the deal, and work once you figure them out. Even with the indoor antenna, some lite DXing can be done on both bands just to see what's out there! Overall, I'm thrilled and considering getting another for the bedroom.

Pros greatly outweigh the cons. The FM tuner is very sensitive, and picked out stations I didn't know were in my reception area. Connecting this unit is plug-and-play. I connected the FM antenna to my rooftop antenna, optical TOSLINK to my A/V receiver and started tuning around the FM dial. All FM stations in my listening area have at least one HD channel most 3. Audio quality for HD stations is definitely clearer than standard FM. Not all HD stations audio quality is 100% great. However, I think this is more an issue with the compression/bitrate than this tuner. A few stations have definite digital artifacts; tinny sounding highs with poor bass., while other HD channels from the same station sound is excellent. Having analog output and optical/RCA digital covers all bases for connecting this unit to your A/V receiver. The cons. Biggest issue is the poor performance for the remote control. The viewing angle for reliable remote control operation is very narrow. I've tried fresh batteries (a couple of times, just in case the "new batteries" were tired), no better. I've programmed a few buttons from the Sangean remote into my learning universal remote, no better. The issue is with the IR sensor on the radio has a very narrow viewing angle. If you are not pointing the remote pretty much straight at the IR sensor, the radio does not respond to the remote at all. Second minor issue: even brief power outages causes the radio to loose the clock time setting. Fortunately the programmed stations are retained in memory. Third issue: 10 buttons for preset FM stations is not enough for a large metropolitan FM listening area. Last issue: AM performance is not very good. However, I'm surrounded by power lines, and AM reception is pretty difficult in my area without at least a ferrite rod AM antenna. The supplied AM wire loop antenna does a poor job of nulling noise sources. Overall: Good HD FM receiver for the audiophile. Once stations are preset, operation is extremely simple, and audio quality is outstanding for HD radio stations.

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.