XHDATA D368 Shortwave AM FM 12 Band DSP Stereo Portable Radio MP3 Player Wireless BT Speaker with Rechargeable Battery Multimedia Speaker Support Micro SD Card USB Flash Drives (Black)

The new XHDATA D368 radio is essentially an upgrade to the D328, with the larger battery, an mp3 status readout, and FM stereo reception capability via a different chip, being the new features. The D328 was already an excellent radio for its price and the D368 carries on this good performance tradition.Bought three of these radios based on my previous experience with the D328 and was not wrong in my estimation. Despite what the other reviewers may erroneously say, the D368 is unusually sensitive on all the AM, FM, and SW bands, but tuning in a station does require a certain knack, especially with the weaker AM stations at night.Tuning on the AM band with this type of analog/DSP radio requires careful tuning VERY slowly from a lower frequency to a higher frequency, and stopping when the station volume is loudest. Sometimes tuning in the reverse direction works better. Repeat as necessary for accuracy while ignoring any false station images [as some reviewers have noted], which is characteristic of this type of radio. The tuning LED is of little or no value in AM mode.In AM mode, this radio uses an internal loop antenna which is highly sensitive to direction, especially at night when tuning in weaker stations. It is very easy to miss a station if the radio is not pointed correctly.For FM tuning, the tuning LED mostly works well, but even then a final adjustment is often necessary when directly on the station. A scan across the FM dial in this medium size city with the antenna partially extended yielded an incredible 40 listenable stations.SW tuning is similar to AM - the slower the tuning adjustment, the better chance of catching a station.Be advised that the Automatic Gain Control of this radio is overly aggressive on strong local AM stations and falsely reduces the apparent reception level. The workaround is to tune in carefully and then turn up the volume level.The Bluetooth and the FM stereo function both work well. The stereo separation on weaker stations is particularly good and noise free with this radio - quite unlike older analog radios.MP3 playback resets to the beginning of the file that was last played if the power on the radio is turned off and then back on. This is a problem if listening to longer MP3 files. The D328 does not behave in this way, so likely this is an oversight written into the D368 firmware. The workaround for a resume MP3 playback function is to press the left most button "M" to select the Bluetooth mode, then turn the radio OFF. When the radio is turned back on to the MP3/BT position, the MP3 file will begin playing where it left off. This information is not in the instructions.The discontinued Sony earphones [MDR-E10LP] are a very good match with this radio, but when using most earphones or earbuds, some of the FM stations may sound a bit shrill at times, according to the response of the earphone and how the FM signal is equalized at the station. Using a high quality headphone set will Improve the listening experience and prove the output frequency response of this radio is unusually good. This is also an excellent radio for classical music [using high quality headphones].The move of the earphone jack to the top of this radio was a good choice, rather than it being on the side with the D328 where it interferes with the volume control.The new mp3/Bluetooth red display is a little too bright in dark rooms, but others may find no objection to this. An LCD display might have been a better choice and would have use less battery power.The small speaker has surprisingly good fidelity for its size indicating the XHDATA design engineers spent some extra time getting the speaker driver circuitry correctly matched to this particular speaker.In summary, this is another excellent radio from XHDATA from a proven basic design. There is hardly any type of radio currently available that provides this kind of quality, features, and value in this price range.

For an inexpensive shortwave radio it picks up a lot of stations! The sound quality is very good. Overall, it’s a great value and well made.

I will echo some of what was said regarding AM selectivity, there is no fine grain selectivity on AM, some clear channel stations will activate the Tuning indicator LED and some will not as they bleed all over the dial.Tuning to an AM station should have nothing 10 Khz on either side of that frequency, but there is bleed-over anywhere from 50 to 70 Khz on either side of said clear channel station making this useless for me on AM as I only like weak distant stations which by the way is an excellent means to test the selectivity of all radios I purchase and decide whether or not to keep.That flaw aside, FM is pretty good at capture and holding for a DSP based radio, SW is good as well as I typically test the time standard frequencies to determine a SW ability to pick up a known constant on SW depending on the time of day 8 Mhz and below at night 8 Mhz and above during the day, etc.At dusk I was still picking up 10 Mhz clearly and 15 Mhz, I never went outside again to check if 5 Mhz would come in more clearly, maybe tonight if I get really bored.I can't speak to BT as I never use it, MP3's playback is fine with a full range if not lower volume than most of my other BT/tf card speakers.If XHdata put some effort into the AM selectivity, this model would be nearly perfect as I have some earlier XHDATA models that have digital tuning and although I can pick up weak signal AM stations with those models, some of them are hit or miss because sometimes the bands do not work properly.For example, I had one where the AM did not work, but I got FM twice and no it wasn't the truncated Japan freq range, it was the entire 88-108 freq range twice, there was the notation for the switch position being "AM or MW" but no matter how I toyed with the switch, it refused to activate the AM band on that particular sample.One of the reasons I didn't wait around to try receiving 5 Mhz on SW was because on that dial position, (SW1) there were a lot of harmonics around 5 Mhz, some may even call these ghost signals as they're not where they're supposed to be because if you're listening for the ticking, (more like a beeping tone) of the atomic clock signal(s) if you can hear more than 2 different audio portions, (when it should be just the beeping tone on 2.5/5/10 & 15 Mhz) then harmonics is an issue here.Granted I typically try to do the SW outside to avoid the RF attenuation of an active house wiring "cage" affecting SW reception, but sometimes I can receive SW inside because there are areas like the raised roof area where I know there's no wiring installed there.If you don't require SW or BT, then a better AM with great selectivity is the Kaito KA580, it can run on the installed Lithium or 3 AA batteries and it has AM/FM?NOAA reception and can play tf cards.Granted it costs a bit more than this XHDATA model, but it's worth it.

This radio does everything that is advertised! It really does it pick up distant frequencies quite well! Other radios that I have had would not even pick up stations 50 miles away, but this radio is picking up stations at least 100 miles away! If I ever need another this is the one I will get!

This radio is excellent on all bands, MW, FM, and SW. I found it particularly sensitive on the SW bands. It does not have SSB to listen to Ham radio stations, but in terms of bang for your buck, it's excellent. it's easy to operate and has excellent sound quality. It's not a DX machine, but it will pick up all your local AM / FM stations, and a little more. There is not much to listen to on shortwave, but I just listened to Radio Romania International on 11620 kHz, with just the whip antenna. Listening inside was okay, but I walked outside on the patio, and the signal became very strong. It's a good radio to have for emergencies, or everyday use. For the low price, you can't get a better radio, in my opinion. Forgot to mention it has BT, which works well, and a TF mico SD card reader. Amazing amount of goodies on this radio. I also want to say, I have not been a paid endorser to write a review of this radio. I just decided to do this because I have a lot of experience in the radio field, and when I come across this radio, I decided to put my thoughts in this review. You can't go wrong with this radio for the price. Comes with a 3.7V 18650 rechargeable battery. Definitely smart !