The title says "tuner" because my longtime reference for FM reception ability and sound quality is a high-fidelity tuner, the NAD 4300.
The NAD 4300 AM/FM tuner was part of NAD's top-end Monitor Series line in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I purchased my first 4300 in 1989, and still have it.
Immediately notable is the fact that this is a digitally tuned tuner with a tuning knob! Each twist of the knob tunes the unit in 50 kHz increments. There is a small flywheel within the tuner to give the tuning knob the requisite heft that one expects from a tuner. The display is a five-digit display. A five-bar LED signal-strength display is immediately under the frequency readout.
There are eight presets each for the AM and FM band. Tuner output is variable, with the level control on the back panel.
The tuner's performance specifications are ambitious, especially for sensitivity and selectivity. While I've never had it measured, I believe the tuner promises what it delivers, based on my 20 years of experience with it. I bought a second 4300 on Audiogon a few years, and it has performed equally well.
I have found three sets of performance specifications for this tuner! One set is found in sales brochures; the other two are in the service manual. One of those is for US models while the other is for non-US models.
For example, mono sensitivity is specified at 9.0 dBf (brochures), 9.3 dBf (US service manual), or 9.6 dBf (non-US). Sensitivity at 50 dB quieting in stereo is specified at 34.0 dBf (brochures), 33.5 dBf (US), or 34.5 dBf (non-US). Stereo S/N ratio is specified at 80 dB (brochures), 78 dB (US), or 77 dB (non-US). I have no explanation for the difference among the three sets of specifications.
Documentation for the tuner states that it has a five-gang "tuning system" including four stages of RF filtering. There are three IF-stage filters. FM bandwidth is selectable.
There is also a blend circuit that NAD calls "FM NR", which works by reducing the L-R component of the FM stereo signal, varying upon the signal strength of the station. Blending is never total; some separation is still retained for weak signals. The "FM NR" circuit can be switched off when desired. The feature does remove significant amounts of noise, though, on very weak signals, it is quite apparent that separation has been reduced.
This has been a tuner ideal for challenging reception environments, such as fringe areas, and locations with severe blanketing problems, such as being near multiple-high power FM transmitters. While the brochures for the tuner claim image rejection of 120 dB (110 dB in the service manual), my experience (from my time living in Kansas City) has been that additional RF filtering between the antenna and the tuner still helps tremendously in blocking out unwanted signals.
The narrow bandwidth is extremely helpful in rejecting alternate-channel signals, at very little apparent cost to sonic quality. It's also great for DXing, both due to the performance and the ability to use a tuning knob rather than up-or-down buttons. I have noticed that the volume drops a little bit when switching from wide to narrow bandwidth, and the stereo soundstage can be affected slightly. But, even in not so difficult environments, the compromises are more than acceptable.
That said, if sonic quality is more important to you than reception performance, this may not be the tuner for you. The tuner is clinically accurate; it won't cover up the flaws of a badly processed FM signal. But, on a clean, well-engineered station, the tuner's sonic performance is very good. It's listenable for hours at a time.
There's an important precondition: the tuner must be aligned for best results. Even a minor misalignment can result in a gritty, distorted sound, especially on aggressively modulated signals. There was a period in my life when I moved this tuner around frequently; those moves seemed to knock it out of alignment ever so slowly. There was also a small circuit board hosting the IF filters that came loose, generating additional noise within the tuner. That's been fixed. The moral of that story is to avoid moving this tuner around a lot.
The AM tuner is surprisingly sensitive, with more bandwidth and interference rejection than the typical AM tuner afterthought, but suffers from a narrow audio bandwidth. It's pleasant enough when listening to news or talk programs, but not all that pleasant for music. My vintage Zeniths sound better; my GE Superadios sound better and have better sensitivity. The NAD's AM tuner is quite selective, however.
I wrote much of this review a few years ago for another website. Since then, the DSP-based Degen and Tecsun radios have come out. They seem to be as sensitive on FM as the NAD 4300. In one respect, image rejection, the DSP portables may be superior, since they do not have a front end to overload. Even so, the NAD 4300 still sounds better. For travel, I can still treat the DSP radios, especially the Tecsun PL-606 or the Grundig G8, as my reference, knowing that they perform very nearly as well as the NAD 4300.
Overall, this is an ideal FM tuner for difficult reception locations, and an excellent one for all others, especially for receiving weak stations or a weaker station crowded between stronger ones.