Insignia NS-HD01 portable HD radio hands-on and impressions
By Darren Murph 
posted July 17th 2009 5:34PM
posted July 17th 2009 5:34PM
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For $49.99, you get the player itself, a few instruction manuals, a bundled set of lackluster earbuds and a decent enough black armband. As you could probably guess from the brand name, the unit is being sold exclusively in Best Buy stores and through BestBuy.com. We've had the device in our possession for a few days now, and we have to say -- unless you're a huge, huge fan of listening to FM radio over your own library of tracks, we're not exactly sure why you should take interest.
As for build quality, we'd say the definitely-plastic device is just fine for what it is, though the glossy black coating attracts fingerprints in the worst way. Also, the player is "small" compared to the alternative of slinging an HD Radio boombox over your left shoulder like it's 1989, but it's definitely not diminutive compared to other portable FM players (and especially not portable DAPs). Placed beside Sony's newest E-series Walkman, the unit looks ginormous. And incredibly enough, there seems to be an expanse of wasted space; sure, there are few tiny buttons, a couple of rocker switches on the side and a 1.5-inch color LCD, but there's certainly a lot of free space on the exterior as well. The top-mounted 3.5 millimeter headphone jack was nicely placed, and the microUSB charging port is definitely welcome.
We must say, however, that the buttons and display were somewhat lacking. For a $50 device, we can't say we'd expect much more, but seriously -- this LCD is one of the poorest ones our eyes have seen on a portable device. The panel looks remarkably washed out, with its only saving grace being that it's fairly readable even in direct sunlight. In practice, the "Seek" function worked stupendously well, skipping over stations with an annoying amount of hiss and locking into stations that had a decent enough signal to warrant a listen. The reception signal indicator was also rather accurate, and in our testing, the device did a respectable job of holding tight to the HD Radio signal or the FM signal instead of switching in and out.
As for the sound quality? Not bad, not bad at all. HD Radio channels sounded markedly better than standard FM stations, and the radio information text was always on-screen just moments after we locked in. We definitely missed the inclusion of AM radio (hey, we love the local sports talk guys -- what can we say?), but those who know of a few solid HD Radio stations in the area will definitely enjoy the sound. We won't go so far as to say that HD Radio jams matched "CD quality," but it was certainly close enough for a $50 device that you can strap onto your arm whilst running.
If you're asking us if we'd recommend this over, say, an even cheaper MP3 player, we'd have to say no. Who wants to deal with Ryan Seacrest and endless commercials when you can carry a smaller, cheaper device loaded up with tracks you actually care about? If you're really into HD Radio and just have to have it in a portable form, this is absolutely your only option -- and a fine one, at that -- but we can't honestly see this thing doubling up the amount of folks in America who tune in HD Radio (or radio at all, really) on a daily basis.
"It's true that brain dead FM engineers process the sound to within a inch of its life, but I wouldn't assume they're providing a cleaner feed to the HD transmitter."
It's not us FM engineers... It's the program directors who whine to the managers who force us to squeeze the life out of the audio. Because, after all, the loudest station on the dial always wins, right? NOT!
FWIW - HD radio is a solution looking for a problem.
I would buy this if it had AM.
Aside from the colour screen, it looks straight outta '98.
Just the name Insignia instantly turns me off, but even that aside I'm still saving up for the Zune HD.
Now if only I had a job that payed more than $30 a week!
Where is that totally awesome gloss???
This is great! Now I can listen to commercials with much better sound quality. Sat Radio is the way to go, and the article above doesn't even mention it. Instead it mentiones iPod?
Hmmm. I guess Cnet, has a financial interest in HD radio.
How about a portable tv to get local stations, can anyone make that?
I like tv on my phone, but the channel selection is very limited and everything is repeat after repeat.
HD radio, really, who cares, it's full of commercials and it's always the same songs, portable Sirius is the only way to go.
You're right, the worst part about HD radio is that you have to listen to commercials FOR HD Radio. It's pretty frustrating that HD Radio stations broadcast commercials that say "If you had HD Radio you would have access to new stations!" There's no content difference between an analogue station and it's HD counterpart... and that sucks.
does anyone know if this can be plugged into a car radio via a 3.5mm cord?
Yeah, absolutely it can. Just get a 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable and plug it into your head unit's aux input jack.
Is this thing worth it? Can anyone pick up HD commercial stations that play more than 10 minutes of music an hour? I'm glad I got surprised that I radio I installed in my car has A2DP because HD radio is a joke.
Very interesting device.
ToddDiroberto
http://www.prwebphotowire.com/releases2/imid1448864.htm?id=1448864&prid=2437704
http://www.docstoc.com/search/Degrassi-The-Next-Generation-Episodes-Online/
http://www.newsguide.us/art-entertainment/movies/
I hope this is not a bad sign but mine seems to have died last Friday after only a week and a half. When I plugged it in to recharge it the screen came on for a few moments and then nothing. It will not turn on and it will not charge. I am very disappointed because it is not in stock at my local Best Buy. Has anyone else had this happen?
I'm glad I checked out a review first. I have no need for FM, I have a better collection of music myself. I needed a portable radio with AM hd capability. I live just a little too far away from L.A. to reliably pick up KLAC and KSPN. I was hoping hd radio would improve this situation. I miss my sports coverage.