Sangean HDR-16 Portable HD Radio

Freddy

October 12, 2026

🤩

..the best digital HD 📻 for KLOVE, Air1, & Radio Nueva Vida! [Camarillo], all digital stations on 👉 100.30 FM, and KNX news [Los Angeles] - 1070 AM - 🙌..

tunable HD NYC market 60 miles away from nyc

attempted to like this radio

yes signals worked am fm HD however very weak with deep regret had to return this radio for a refund

0:07

Compact, great reception

Such a great, low price for an HD home radio.

Great reception. Small, compact. Doesn’t take up much room.

Love it so much!

I have HD radio in my car, really wanted one for the house.

Relaxed a very large regular radio that took up so much space.

This one was so affordable!

I live in a rural area, I’m amazed at the reception I get way out here…

Amazing Sound! Radio Fan Must Have!

This thing sounds great with headphones and the speakers! I find the controls to be very intuitive and getting started is quick. My favorite feature is the HD seek function. The size is very portable and the radio isn't heavy. Everything feels quality to the touch. There is no low level hiss with headphones and the tone controls let you adjust your experience as you wish. Great radio and can't be beat at or around $100.

Eugenio Rios

August 29, 2024

Excellent HDR-16 Radio

This Sangean HDR-16 am/fm has excellent reception with the antenna resting in its place, good sound in volume 12/28(max), the rechargeable NiMetal 1.2V is accepted by it and the charge last over a week 4 hour per day, excellent portable size, tunning the radio channels extremely easy and precise. The Rec-Out port may connect to external speaker with aux-aux cable. The display's size is acceptable for the size of the radio. I configured a weather alert without having a weather band. EXCELLENT RADIO FOR NOW.

Good for a small portable radio.

The HDR-16 seems to work well. I just got it yesterday and haven't had much time to use it. It has a little better than average sensitivity, pulling in some fairly distant stations . The sound is as good as you would expect from the speakers involved. Connecting to external speakers may give better results. There is a slight hiss in the FM stereo reception that seems to be associated with modulation. It goes away in silent gaps of the broadcast. It is less noticable during music and may not be there during HD reception. The problem I have with the unit I got was that the front was scratched considerably. It should have been sold as blemished. I'm not going to go through the hassle of returning it. The radio seems to work fine.

Very good sound quality for its size and portability

First, this is a rather small portable radio, not a full, powerful audio system with large, full frequency speakers. With that in mind, I find the sound from this Sangean HDR-16 HD radio to be very good. I attached a sample from WRTI, a local station. based at Temple University in Philadelphia. The FM pulls in a large number of stations, although I have not determined distance for these. I like the design: it looks a bit complicated, but with a review of the manual, the functions become clear. The tone control on the volume knob allows for adjusting treble and base levels; no midrange adjustment is included. The LCD display is also very good, I have not yet used the clock function, but the instructions for this seem straightforward. The presets, 5 for FM, 5 for AM, are easy to use and remove. I have not touched on many other features of this unit, but my overall assessment is that the sound quality, useful features, and ease of use of this small, portable unit are worth the price. I'd strongly consider this radio if you are looking for portability, numerous useful features, and very good sound quality in a small package.

0:52

Excellent Sound Quality & Features for a Portable HD Stereo

The front end reception is excellent on both AM and FM and the HD scan works perfectly. The additional Bass and Treble controls are a real plus that adds to the radio's room filling full range sound quality.

You can definitely hear the difference between the standard stereo and HDstereo broadcast. This portable radio is perfect as a desktop or book shelf receiver, but can be taken almost anywhere.

The first one I received unfortunately arrived with a defective power adapter, most likely due to the strain put on the end of the cord during packaging. I've got a replacement on the way.

This is the best portable transistor radio I have ever owned!

I have had this radio for a week now and I love it! It is very well built and feels very solid. It is way better than I expected. You can feel how sturdy the handle is when you swing it up. The station tuning and volume knobs are nice and tight with very little play as far as wiggling around goes. The appearance is flawless and all the seams where the parts come together is very uniform and tight. The case is a heavier plastic and the finish has a very nice gloss to it that is easy to maintain. The push buttons have a very solid feel to them. Programming stations to the presets is as easy as press and hold...wait for the beep!

Battery consumption is more than fair. I tested to see how long the batteries would last at volume level 16 and found they lasted quite well. The radio uses more of the battery than most radios do. I measured the used batteries at 1.12 volts. Most radios will only use them down to 1.3 volts. I got at least 30 hours out of the first set of batteries. The sound quality did not falter much at all until right at the end.

The sound quality I found as astounding considering the radio size. The bass and treble works surprisingly well. You can actually follow bass notes without a problem. It doesn't have low bass, but for it's size, the bass is surprising. The crossover points for the treble and bass were well engineered. The overall sound quality was bigger than I expected.

The reception: This unit receives FM as well as I had hoped. I am even able to listen to one station my other radios won't pull in. The FM really pays off when in low reception areas like concrete buildings. The AM section works very well and easily receives double the stations my other radios do.

I took time to test both the headphone jack and the line out jack. I used a pair of HyperX gaming headphones to listen. Here is where the bass the BIG sound is! I had to turn the bass down a little and the treble up a little. The sound was crisp and clear on a HD station, comparable to a home audio system. I tested the record out on a very good Bluetooth speaker system that has an aux in jack. It performed very well. I do agree with previous reviewers that this would be a great FM tuner in a larger home stereo system.

I am a curious person and I like to see what is inside stuff, so I cracked the case and looked inside. Everything is discrete surface mount technology. it is very clean and uncluttered. What surprised me most is the size of the magnets on the speakers. Their size indicates a higher level of quality than you would normally expect. The solder points were solid and nicely done. The wires are a decent gauge and hot glued in place for extra durability.

My bottom line is...this radio will outlive me for sure! I am happy and I feel I got more than I was expecting in several different categories. This was the best portable radio purchase I have made!

As advertised, but better...

This is a great little radio! I mostly listen to talk radio, and it's perfect for that, but when I want to listen to music it's really good too. Of course you can't compare the Sangean to something like my monster sound system in the house, but considering it has two little 2" speakers it does very well. I carry it around with me while I do the yard work, which can be mind numbing, and it takes my mind off the tedium. I can't believe how long the batteries last in this thing. I've had it for over a month and they are still going strong. I should do a follow-up when they inevitably die. It's well worth the money; it's not cheap because it's not cheap.

THREE MONTH REVIEW: Still loving it. I picked three months because the batteries just died. I listen an hour or so, most days, to talk radio. Others I listen to music with the bass maxed at louder than normal volume, for one to two hours. Of course the louder, and the more bass you do does shorten the battery life.

Works great!! Jamming out at work all day now. Great reception and sound, easy to use

So So Speaker But CD's Sound Quality In The Circuit

I had bought this HD radio for my unusual purpose such as I parked my radio in one spot to feed from headphones 3.5mm jack. From headphones jack into my long range wireless BLUETOOTH 5.0, that to my hands-free headphones in CD's sound quality. I also set both; BASS and Treble control, that has helped to get right sound quality. Only if companies ever come out with built in 5 bands equalizer for even better control because poplar radio stations has crank up too much of mid to high BASS to impressed most people.

So far so good.

Bought this as a gift for my elderly father and set it up yesterday.

It’s small, sounds about right for its size, and fit and finish appear to be just fine.

Reception is hard to speak to given the terrain here. We are in a valley surrounded by rocks in a rural area with few radio stations.

I got this primarily because of a quirky little local AM station which also broadcasts from a generator when the power grid goes down for seasonal wildfires and the occasional snowstorm. AM reception is decent given both the terrain and the age of the house, so no complaints.

It wasn’t bad to set up, controls are nice, and the basic black finish will work in any room.

As to the HD features: nothing is broadcasting in HD around here yet, though at some point every station in the country will likely have to, and FCC regulators appear to be facilitating that a lot lately so it’s a good feature to have in a radio in advance.

On the whole it’s a good purchase.

If you’re looking for a small radio for the kitchen or spare bedroom this unit should fit the bill nicely.

Highly Sophisticated Radio

Excellent Radio! I have more than 30 years experience on radios as an FCC Extra Licensed amateur radio operator(HAM). This small radio is loaded with outstanding features. Its a HD, RDS AM FM. The best thing I like about it is the tuning system. I believe it’s a Phased Locked Loop (PLL) tuning. it is precise and No drifting of stations. Another excellent feature is the emergency alerts. A lot of other radios alerts, but this particular unit allows you to have 10 presets of your location using either your ZIP Code or county/state. That allows for more location precise alerts. Regarding the sound it’s very clear with good emphasis on mid and high frequencies. You can hear the bass but it’s not boosted. I almost gave its sound 4 stars having less bass, but it’ll be unfair to expect strong bass from two small 3 inch speakers that only uses 1.5watts peak. It does have separate Treble and Bass tone controls by pressing its volume knob to access them. It’s a small radio, only 10 inches wide and 5.5 inches tall. Its an excellent sound quality for its size. The RDS system also allows it to have its clock synch precisely.

I will do another review for its reliability after 10-12 months. Programing it is very simple too. Nothing complicated.

Bottom line for its initial use, I’m very impressed and happy with it!

This is a super radio in a small package and how sweet it is except for...........

Knobs are very difficult to grasp as they are tapered and not as grippy as the non tapered type, but I took care of that as I am an at home hobby Machinist and made the proper knobs for it, as far as "HD" radio that"s the best thing that ever happened to Radio, it is fabulous sounding but not with this wimpy radio, what makes it shine is headphones but a good pair or earbuds.

Sangean HDR-16 HD Radio/FM-Stereo/AM Portable Radio Review...

I have found this to be an excellent HD radio after only three days of use. Receive the HD channels with the external antenna in the collapsed folded down position, am about 20 miles from Milwaukee. Tone quality is decent for it's size. Have the PR-D5 but was anxious to have the HD model.

sleepyastronaut

May 18, 2018

Love it

Love it

buy this and the one with wifi

i gave it a 4 star rating only beacuse you can not charge the batteries in the radio. but other than than i have my hooked up to my monster 3 speakers and it is awsome.

Joe Tedd

December 24, 2016

This is a fine radio, and I love the fact I can ...

This is a fine radio, and I love the fact I can now enjoy some of the HD radio broadcasts being offered by AM stations piggy backing onto the FM HD channels, so I can hear a higher quality presentation than AM affords, that being said with all the bells & whistles they added to this wonderful radio, who was asleep at the wheel when it came to providing a display setting switch? Even a Lo/Hi setting if stepped attenuation couldn't have been programmed into the eprom would have been a better solution than offering none at all.

The manual makes reference to viewing the menu display to display the current firmware value for the radio, and that it's for display purposes only,

I've got to believe if the genius who signed off on the final version of this unit could have seen fit to include a usb jack to enable cell phone charging, & quite possibly the ability for a firmware update to be installed on the device, so if/when enough consumer feedback chimed in about those features which could possibly be enabled or enhanced through a flash-update, not only would that have gone a log way for Sangean to protect the consumers value of the radio they invested, but shown some forethought to ensuring their devices truly meet (or can be made to meet) what customers are asking for, vs. a pre-selected check off list must have, nice to have, won't have features.

Other than that one issue with the display not being able to be dimmed, this is an excellent radio, I live on Long Island New York, and it picks up the city grade signals with no issues, as well as those from out on Long Island (AM & FM) & across the water up to Connecticut. No external loop needed for decent quality reception, (my unit is placed on a bed stand just by my window)

I will mention nifty-difty wicky-jive O feature I DO love on this Sangean HDR-16 HD, a ~TONE~ Control Yes, being an owner of the

Sangean PR-D5 unit, which this HDR-16 replaced in my bedroom, I was so enamoured by how well that unit has been performing over the past few years, I figured time to upgrade & enhance my bedroom/sleeptime listening experience & move the old PR-D5 to the bathroom, now if the PR-D5 had implemented the same level of "logic" in incorporating the tone controls in that device as they did with the HDR-16, that would have been Great!

Sangean folks, note to those who review lists of customer must haves: "we, the great unwashed consumers" appreciate and enjoy the ability to custom tailor the sound to our liking - Please consider allowing us the ability to always have that ability, It can't possibly cost more than a few pennies to enable that design into the chips your devices consists of.

That's my Susan B. Anthony's worth evaluating & reviewing this device. I'd have given it an easy hands down (5) S*T*A*R*S if the radio had that one feature that myself (and apparently a few others) feel is an important one - the ability to dim the display, or at least toggle the damm thing off if incorporating a hi/low switch wouldn't otherwise allow, but other than that - for the price, you can't beat this radio for reception, built nicely - and the controls have a good feel to them.

If anyone from Sangean feels like contacting me directly and engaging me in a one on one with regards to how this device could pack even more bang for the buck, and hire me on as a customer control Q/A agent, I'm open to hearing from you :)

~Joe Tedd~