Tecsun Pl-990x VS 680 VS 330 VS XHDATA D-808 VS Sangean ATS 909-x2 Shannon Volmet

[@baneverything5580]

My PL-660 on the whip blows the 330 away and the Eton Elite Executive I just received today blows the 660 away. But all three have nice differences that make them a fun and useful team. I tested the 330 today directly connected to an AN-200 MW loop and it did great. I can`t wait until I get moved to my new location where I can test all three outdoors in a quiet RFI environment and with grounded external antennas.

[@o00scorpion00o]

I use the Bonito MA305 with the optional longer whip, it's really a super DX antenna. I use H155 coax and grounded, I am fortunate to live in a country area with almost no noise, the Bonito provides much less noise than wire antenna too and provides just enough signal for receivers, long wires can tend to overload. All radios change dramatically with external antenna but is the eton a dsp radio ? because any one I have ever had or saw demos of on youtube have that SSB distorted audio like the tecsuns and poor sound quality. The PL-330 is the best sounding of tecsun's dsp radios and it's 4 Khz filter actually works + it's 2 Khz filter even sounds good and way better than the 990x in general, the only real issue there is the radio is very small for base use and it has the muting while tuning, even though it's still got some of the dsp related distortion it's far nicer to listen to on SSB than the 880/990x or S-8800. If they made the 990x sound as good it would be a big step up but they will not fix it and continue to sell it as it is for years I bet.

[@baneverything5580]

@@o00scorpion00o No, the Eton is a PLL synth receiver and I believe it`s a 20 year old design. It has no soft muting on weak MW signals at night unlike most DSP radios. When the DX/LOCAL switch is set to local it knocks the gain way down even using a 20 ft reel antenna so it may work very well with a larger more resonant antenna.

[@o00scorpion00o]

@@baneverything5580 AH yes good O'l radios, can't beat them, I love my Sony ICF-2001D but sadly the lcd display is dying. Can't beat the SYNC on it, absolutely amazing.

[@migi5374]

Was the 680 on local & not dx?

[@o00scorpion00o]

at 1:49 it shows the antenna position in DX, don't let this fool you though because the 680, along with the ATS-909 X2 are the best sounding portables on SSB especially with external antenna and way better than the 880, 990x, S-8800, H501x and PL-330 and the XHDATA D-808 and most DSP radios.

[@snowpuppy77]

In this case the 990x seems to trounce all of them. Seems like 909x2 has a better ACG curve than the 990x has has the potential to sound better.

[@o00scorpion00o]

The 990x hears well on the whip but if the signal is strong it gets distorted but even in this video the audio is muffled. I will do the same test with the Bonito Antenna later. If Sangean fix the noise on the antenna and bring ssb volume up + fix the filter on ssb it will be amazing, I can’t wait to test the updated version. For the money the Pl-680 can’t be beat for performance and sound quality.

[@ashab1]

@@o00scorpion00o would you say the issue has been resolved with the sangean 909x2 or would I still be better with the 680?

[@o00scorpion00o]

@@ashab1 I don't know whether the issues have been resolved with the 909 x2, sorry but I would say keep the 680, while the 909 x2 is a nice radio and nicer to tune, with a good out door antenna there's not going to be much in the difference. Both radios sound good. If I were you and looking to spend the money on the 909 x2 I'd buy one of the communications receivers from Icom or Yaesu and Kenwood for example, you might get an older radio for around the same price or maybe a bit more but they are really good radios but you absolutely must have a good out door antenna for any radio. Check out the Bonito MA305, I got this and use H155 coax and a USB battery bank to power it, I also got the optional longer antenna for more gain, I grounded it also. Fantastic antenna. This and the PL-680 and you got yourself a really great DX station.

[@ashab1]

@@o00scorpion00o Ok great, I will look into the antenna thanks.

[@wavezone2566]

990 wins!

[@o00scorpion00o]

Yes shame it’s sound quality is bad on ssb in general. I will do the same test with the Bonito Antenna later.

[@wavezone2566]

@@o00scorpion00o The 990 has the highest noise/speech intelligibility ratio. My favorite 680 does not make much noise, but the speech is very quiet...

[@LeeLocke]

@@o00scorpion00o looking forward to that one.

[@o00scorpion00o]

@@wavezone2566 in this test the 990 has the advantage but with strong signals the 990 sounds distorted and it’s muffled especially with external antenna where the sound quality of the 680 and ATS 909x 2 become clear winners.

[@wavezone2566]

@@o00scorpion00o Tecsun is not so easy to beat)))