Sony ST-SDB 900 QS

...months ago, I reviewd two Sony HiFi seperates items which I'd used to comprehensivly upgrede my HiFi system. I'd missed out the quite fantastic DAB tuner but this is now to be rectified.

I'd acquired a portable Sony XDR-S1 DAB radio some time ago and had been delighted with it. However, I'd decided to acquire a
proper Hifi system shortly afterwards and realised that a portable radio didn't exactly fit the role. Back in those ...
...so the Sony name didn't matter so much in itself.

So I had pretty much a blank sheet to work from.

I looked into the possibility of acquiring a seperate DAB tuner. Several were available including models from Pure, Denon and Sony. The Pure model was ruled out at an early stage-it's appearance just didn't appeal despite me knowing it was a very capable performer. The Denon offering was a different offering altogether, ... more

A few months ago, I reviewd two Sony HiFi seperates items which I'd used to comprehensivly upgrede my HiFi system. I'd missed out the quite fantastic DAB tuner but this is now to be rectified.

I'd acquired a portable Sony XDR-S1 DAB radio some time ago and had been delighted with it. However, I'd decided to acquire a
proper Hifi system shortly afterwards and realised that a portable radio didn't exactly fit the role. Back in those days I had a mixture of Pioneer and Techincs seperates so the Sony name didn't matter so much in itself.

So I had pretty much a blank sheet to work from.

I looked into the possibility of acquiring a seperate DAB tuner. Several were available including models from Pure, Denon and Sony. The Pure model was ruled out at an early stage-it's appearance just didn't appeal despite me knowing it was a very capable performer. The Denon offering was a different offering altogether, pleasing to the eye and capable of a very good performance however at almost £300 represented a considerable investment. Which left the Sony...

After reading several reviews available in the HiFi press, I was swaying towards the Sony option. It had received rave reviews and at £250 RRP offered a nice saving over the Denon model.
So off to the Hifi dealers to see them in the flesh.

I visited Sevenoaks HiFi in Wolverhampton who leaned towards towards the Denon but felt this had more to do with the fact they didn't stock Sony but at least I could see it and listen to it. The sound was incredibly good but I couldn't tell whether I would be as well off with the Sony. So I held fire...

I then visited the Sony Centre in the Mander Centre Wolverhampton where (sadly but expectedly) I could only see the
Sony model. Not ideal but I was impressed with the appearance and with the sound.The real clincher was the price. The Sony Centre had a promotion on which had the tuner available for £180...£180???!!!. yas almost £120 cheaper than the Denon. So with a little haggle, I parted with £200 c/w a set of interconnects (phono leads to plug into my amp). Deal done!

Upon opening the box, I was impressed with the quality of packaging,keeping the tuner well protected. The unit itself felt substantial enough to instill confidence and there was also a temporary DAB ariel, FM ariel and AM/MW ariel supplied along with a comprehensive remote and instructions.

The instructions were incredibly clear and easy to understand, I had the gist of it's operation in a matter of minutes. Connecting it
up was a simple affair consisting of plugging in the supplied mains cable and inserting my phono interconnects into its sockets and connecting up to my amplifier. I then connected up the DAB ariel (which was a thin piece of black wire) and laid it over the top of my wardrobe. After that I followed the instructions to start the DAB tuning, which I knew from experience was longer than expected. A quck push on the MODE button with 'DAB INIT SCAN' soon had it underway and in about 3 mins the scan was complete.

I then proceeded to store the various DAB stations into the tuner's memory using the supplied Remote (WARNING! DON'T LOSE THE REMOTE-this stage is impossible without it!). The display was impressive. A Light Blue Dot on a dark backgroung which was bright and clear. This can be adjusted to suit personal taste. As with other DAB tuners, it's capable of displaying the Time, DAB Signal strength, Bit rate expressed in Kilobytes per second (the higher the better-most stations are at 128 kbs some like Virgin and Classic FM are on 160kbs whilst Radio 3 can go up to 192 kbs. On the opposite scale Radio 5 live is usually 80kbs for Sports commentary-all to do with making effective use the bandwith available), name of the Radio station and other things such as the music track being played. Pretty impressive and whist there's a lot there it's never confusing.

But the acid test is the sound quality.

In a word-SUPERB!

The standard Radio 1 and 2 etc were crystal clear, no hiss or crackle-and better than I'd expected. Virgin Radio proved even better but the real treat was on Radio 3 as I listened to Beethovens "Eroica"-staggeringly clear without a foot wrong. For a while I was in audio heaven. It was certainly looking good.

It was almost as good on FM, which had the advantage of broadcasting a full Stereo version of 'Kerrang!' (my musical tastes are somewahat varied...). again the reproduction was excellent if a little hissy. The RDS (radio display system) was also good if not so comprehensive as the DAB radio allowed.

Drawbacks?

Well sadly, some of my local radio stations such as Beacon Radio are prone to a weak signal resulting in a sudden drop in quality predeeded a dreadful 'boiling mud' sound. This has been rectified in some part by purchasing a boosted indoor ariel. The ultimate solution is to have an external DAB ariel installed but this is something I cannot do as my Landlord's refused permission (concerned other tenants may follow suite and his roof would look like a moble phone mast..).

And again Sony in their infinite wisdom have seen fit to discontinue it without a replacement. Which is crazy, but there is
still stock so availabilty is still pretty good.

So if you're looking to add a DAB tuner to your Hifi system then do whatever you can to get it. It will drag your radio listening experience out of the dark ages right into the 21st Century.

Grab it whilst you can!

Thanks for reading.

Peter 

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