There are many great dxing tuners out there, but I'm going to focus on two and compare them: the Onkyo T-4711 and the new Sony XDR-F1HD. Both are exceptional in their own right.
From what I can gather, the Onkyo T-4711 may not be quite the equal to the Onkyo T-9090II for sensitivity and selectivity, though it is a monster tuner nonetheless.
I do know it was the best dxer I'd used, comparing it to the Yamaha T-85, TX-1000, TX-950, T-7, and T-1, until I encounted the new Sony.
It is designed for dx, with a db meter readout, tuning knob, and full-function remote control.
Here's part of a review I wrote for the Tuner Information Center:
Onkyo T-4711 (1996, $600, black, gold, owner's manual) A digital tuner with excellent sensitivity and selectivity, the T-4711 has 6 ceramic filters and is a great tuner for DXing, especially when modified. It was available in a typical black cabinet or in a "50th anniversary limited edition" gold cabinet. The T-4711 has switchable wide and narrow IF bandwidth settings, a hi-blend switch, fine tuning in 25 kHz steps, a timer and a remote control. It also has RDS (Radio Data System), described in the T-4310R writeup above. Here is a website with some suggested mods for the T-4711, but don't try filters this narrow if you care at all about sound quality.
Our contributor Ken K. found his T-4711 to be more sensitive and selective than five excellent Yamaha tuners: "In order of FM selectivity, I rate the Onkyo the best, then the T-85 (then the TX-1000, TX-950, T-7, and T-1). Of the two contendahs, the T-85 just doesn't quite match the ability of the Onkyo to hold a weak adjacent station without splatter next to a strong local. Often the Onkyo would have a station clean, on frequency, when the Yamaha required some off-tuning. If the Onkyo couldn't pull a clean signal at all, neither could the T-85. In order of sensitivity, the T-4711 and T-85 were more or less equal, then the T-7, TX-1000 (that had recently been aligned), TX-950, and T-1. Both tuners showed about the same level of hiss on distant stations. Both have stereo blend buttons that mitigate some of that. The Yamaha could grab and hold a cleaner stereo signal at a bit lower signal strength. On closer or local stations, both are strong and clear, though the Onkyo is a little more sensitive to multipath in general.
AM reception was typically (of digital tuners) hyper-sensitive on both. There's so much signal from my outside long-wire antenna that I have to use attenuators to prevent overloading. The Yamaha has some advantage over the Onkyo with the ability to fine-tune in 1 kHz steps, but it only tunes to 1620 kHz.
The T-85 has slightly stronger mid and lower bass levels. The T-4711 sounds a bit thin in comparison. Otherwise, the mids and highs are quite similar and, overall, both sound very good (though my wife claims I can't hear the annoying dog-whistle note somewhere above 15 kHz emanating from one of our old TVs).
So, the winner thus far is the T-4711. But that might be a subjective thing, because the T-85 is so close in all areas, and a little better in a couple."
Our contributor Stephan adds, "This slightly leaner sound seems to be a common issue with 'newer' Onkyos (this goes back to the T-4500/4700 at least), and I have no clue why, since from the schematic they're doing a lot of things right - big buffering and coupling caps, the T-4711 even employs Nichicon MUSE caps, and there's a 5532 in the output stage. With old models like the T-9, it was just the opposite: these beasts sounded good but one would never guess from the messy layout inside. (Alignment stability apparently wasn't extremely good though.)
Filter-wise, the most narrow setting of the T-4711 employs two SFE10.7MJK-A (150 kHz 20 kHz tol.), two SFE10.7MZ2K-A (150 kHz GDT - keep in mind these have much less steep filter skirts - 20 kHz tol.), and one SFE10.7MX-A (250 kHz GDT). The -A might stand for what is now an "A10", a filter with lower loss. With this kind of lineup, it's hardly surprising that it makes a good DXer. The T-85 uses SFA... filters [230 kHz bandwidth - Editor] in the most narrow position."
The T-4711 usually sells for $260-300 on eBay, with occasional lows of $160-170 and a high of $425 in 6/03. A "new" T-4711 went for $371 in 6/07.
The Onkyo is fairly unique in display options. In addition to RDS display and search functions, it will show frequency, date and time, station call letters (either via RDS or entered manually by the user), station scroll, and signal strength readout (in addition to a signal strength bar)- by pressing the Display button in succession.
The Sony XDR-F1HD is another stellar performer. It lacks all kinds of features, though, that make dxing easier- no knobs, meters, no stereo indicator, and the remote is almost required for use, since the buttons on the unit are on top of the case.
Brian Beezley has an excellent and exhaustive review here.
My own experience with the Sony is slightly different than Brian's. He states that it's the most sensitive tuner he's ever tested. I found the Onkyo matches the Sony on FM, more or less. Perhaps because of the different architecture, the two tuners handle extremely weak signals differently, and unpredictably. I found there were times when the Sony would completely lose a signal that the Onkyo could just barely pull out of the mud (speech could be understood)- and vice versa! I also found the Sony would sometimes separate competing signals more clearly the Onkyo, making them understandable- and vice versa! Neither was able to handle adjacent-channel local-station IBOC hash without some antenna tricks, and even that was largely ineffective.
On AM, the Sony is simply exceptional and far outperforms the Onkyo. It at least matches any other tuner I've ever used, including a Hammarlund SuperPro 200, except for a Drake R8. Selectivity is superb, as is sensitivity. Image rejection is outstanding (unless it's sitting right below a CRT TV). Any outside antenna will need attenuation- the Sony simply doesn't need much input for great reception, and too much signal will actually suppress sound output to some degree. The Onkyo AM section is easily prone to intermod and overload, and doesn't have nearly the selectivity. The Drake is a little more sensitive and selective, but it should be, at multiples of price, compared to the Sony.
A bonus with the Sony, of course, is its HD capability. The best I've done so far in locking HD stations on FM is about 100 miles, though that took better-than-average atmospherics. Similarly, when conditions were right, the best I've done on AM is about 450 miles. As with FM, the Sony doesn't help at all with adjacent-channel IBOC splatter on AM. In fact, it's worse on AM, since stations hundreds of miles away can blot out upper and lower sidebands. This is different from FM, where this only happens with local stations.
I like them both, and I use them both now in chasing distant reception. I like to check listening conditions with the meter on the Onkyo, and then see if the Sony can pull out anything the other missed. At its price, the Sony is probably the best tuner available new.
26jan10