How far away are they?
I'm not sure that the performance of the Intermediate Frequency (IF) stages in any tuner would be all that relevant to your problem. Did you mean overall RF performance, instead?
you also commented -
"So, I'd rather have good audiophile sound with more choices than great audiophile sound with basically no choice.
Also, the limiting factor in FM tuner audio is not going to be a modded audio output stage. Have you listened to the majority of FM stations???"
I've never bothered with the majority of FM stations here in Aussie!
It reads to me that signal strength is the issue where you are, on all the stations around you, including those you might really want.
It puzzles me that you seem to believe that the tuner and its RF performance should be the sole focus for dealing with stations that you want, but are weak where you are. This is a very self-limiting approach.
Because you really are only working on the back-end of the problem.
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Let's look at my situation, it might help you to see the issues. I only have two stations I bother with, out of many. Yes, FM is mostly just as bad here in Aussie as in the USA.
I live in Australia's capital city Canberra, which is inside the Great Dividing Range in SE Australia. Almost all stations have their big transmitters up just one big tall telecom'ns tower on a big hill, plus lower power repeaters (with different frequencies) on two other big hills.
Because I am between the area served by the main tower, and an area served by both sets of repeaters, AND between two hills to either side, I need a directional antenna - so as to eliminate multipath effects.
Being directional the antenna also has gain, but this is only really valuable for the 2nd station - whose signal is an order of magnitude smaller than the other station. Despite this I don't get overload.
I bothered with a large directional antenna - and it's more than 20 yrs since - because I knew:-
- that no tuner can deliver its maximum RF performance or sound quality, without being into full-limiting on all stations (a strong signal) and that the signal needs to be low in multi-path, as well. And ...
- that hilly areas are rich in reflections - which will be collected by most indoor and omni antennas, and will affect the sound. Even when it isn't grossly audible multipath still stuffs up nuance and detail.
Both stations stick to good engineering principals, one provides regular live broadcasts of simply-miked acoustic music - from visiting international ensembles and Australian ensembles. The other low-power station is also a rich source of simply miked live and recorded local concerts. Such concerts constitute a true high-end source IMO.
So for me good audio results are vital. And a directional antenna with gain was thus also vital. No I did not know a lot about antenna types back then - despite having done a 'signals course' so that I could carry a radio in the harmy - I just knew what radios need from their antenna.
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Apparently, you've decided to limit the audio performance you can get from FM, by focussing solely on tuner RF performance, when a consideration of antenna type would complete the radio reception picture.
You will thus get less pleasure from all stations, even the good ones. Even after the mods to the audio stages? Yes, because the Sony uses a lot of processing - in its RF front-end - to achieve its excellent RF performance. This should lose detail and nuance, and reports do suggest that it does.
I suggest that you shift your focus a bit. To those stations that are truly of interest to you, and determine what compass bearing those few are on, from where you live.
Then you might be on the way to knowing what kind of antenna, or antennas, you might need - to get each of those stations sounding good - through having a strong and low multi-path signal to feed to any tuner.
Obtaining the right antenna might not cost you as much as you think. Indeed for just 80 bucks - the Sony's cost - you might be able to build (and aim) 3 DIY wire antennas that each perform as well as just one external yagi and rotator. One or more of them could be a spread one to cover all the transmitters in a distant town.
Look in AA's FAQ section and read the article there, about rhombics.
http://images.audioasylum.com/images/Rhombicantenna.pdf
You just may find that a - very cheap - DIY wire rhombic antenna or two, or three, on your ceiling/s, or up in your loft, would really solve your main problem, which is signal strength.
A wire rhombic looks like <> and you point it <> ---> ?!. So they are directional, and thus have very good gain even compared to a long outdoor yagi. Each equal-length side does need to approach or exceed 11 ft. And the alignment of your rooms or roof spaces - relative to each desires station's bearing - will also be an issue.
At least, read the article!?
Lastly I would be happy to advise further, but you would need to do the research and mapping. :-)!
Other posters also asked you about where you were, or similar. IE about your local conditions.
I hope you now see why they did ask such questions.
Warmest
Timothy Bailey
The Skyptical Mensurer and Audio Scrounger
And gladly would he learn and gladly teach - Chaucer. ;-)!
'Still not saluting.'
Edits: 12/15/09
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