The original thread,
https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=29983
has gotten a bit long in the tooth. I'm a new member who has been avidly browsing this outstanding forum for a week or more. I have some new information and a similar question and would like an update, so I thought it worth starting a new thread for 2019.
I have a related problem to Weirdcuba's in the original thread. I want an excellent FM tuner that can reject the noise I'm currently getting in my ancient Yamaha CT-800 on otherwise excellent stations that have HD channels (apparently because the tuner, designed way before HD, cannot filter out the HD sidebands). If I could get my hands on a McIntosh MR88 (preferably used and significantly below $4000!), I'd probably buy it and be happy. I've beaten the bushes, however, and come up dry.
Main Question: Are there modern audiophile tuners out there that can eliminate HD "self noise" on analog and also receive the HD channel(s) causing that noise? To satisfy, such a tuner would have to both provide excellent sound and good selectivity and also allow a choice whether to listen to the analog or the HD channel on any given station. (It's clear from browsing this forum that there are several -- perhaps many -- pre-HD tuners that will do the former, and that could be a fallback if I cannot find one that will do both.)
New Information:
1) I followed up on Weirdcuba's report that Magnum Dynalab was working on something 3 years ago. Once again they are saying that they have a tuner in the works, to be released this spring, that will do all of this for a price below $2000. It's not clear where they are getting the HD decoder chips now that HD Radio (or whoever owns the IP this year) has discontinued all but automotive chips -- Silabs perhaps? -- but perhaps they will succeed. I'm on their mailing list for developments, but no details are currently available. Does anyone have any more insight into this option?
2) Maks mentioned on the old thread that DaySequerra had an entry in the field at that time. I followed up on this as well and learned that they are currently offering their M4.2Si for around $1400 (I think -- no quotes yet), which they claim does it all. Mike Pappas (VP for Business Development) tells me that they developed expertise using Texas Instruments chips for monitor radios to quality-control HD broadcasts around the country, and that their new model is based on these chips. Their specs are very scant, however. All I know is that their (now discontinued but probably related) M4 was reviewed very well in 2013. Does anyone have experience with this new tuner?
Are there other models currently in production (or available used) that I should look at besides the MR88? Any suggestions gratefully accepted. -- Clark2