Who is #1 Sdrplay or Airspy? in performance, bang for the buck.

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prc117f

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Airspy is 199
SdrPlay 165.

Sdr Play has a hole in the 380-430 But gets HF

Airspy starts at 25mhz but no hole.

Other than that which is the superior receiver? I heard the SDRPlay is the superior receiver and more sensitive than the Airspy by 3db?

Any one here have experience with either? or both?
 

Airspy-US

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We vote Airspy, but we are admittedly biased. Still, there are a lot of 406-420 and 420-430 MHz enthusiasts, and the upcoming Spyverter will add HF to the Airspy. The Airspy also has a US distributor. (Selfless plug)

3dB is the point at which the human ear can first detect a change in a signal, so it's only really useful in the specs.

To counter the 3dB, the Airspy has 20% more bandwidth on the scope with at least half of it (10%) useable.
 
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smason

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Also, SDRPlay is still not shipping product. Preorders taken, supposed to be shipping "late April" no recent updates.
Almost smells like vaporware, website has computer rendering of the new case, but no real photos.
 

prog

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We vote Airspy, but we are admittedly biased. Still, there are a lot of 406-420 and 420-430 MHz enthusiasts, and the upcoming Spyverter will add HF to the Airspy. The Airspy also has a US distributor. (Selfless plug)

3dB is the point at which the human ear can first detect a change in a signal, so it's only really useful in the specs.

To counter the 3dB, the Airspy has 20% more bandwidth on the scope with at least half of it (10%) useable.

I'd add that Airspy has *much* more dynamic range and this has been demonstrated over and over on the different reviews. This brings Airspy into another category of receivers.
In the other hand, the "dongle class" receivers bet on lower NF to make the offer more attractive, but they still lack what makes the essence of a good receiver: Dynamic Range.
I'll quote Leif Asbrink SM5BSZ on this one: "The Airspy is currently the only radio that has wideband reception with reasonable performance."

https://youtu.be/_xSgbKPkhE4?t=1h21m38s
 

J9G

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SDRplay covers the frequency range down to 100kHz. So, no additional hardware (converter) and all its wiring is needed.

SDRplay has very effective and well designed filters for each of its band. This improves dynamic range to a level, which never can be reached with a broad band design.

I could not find any information on real dynamic range in LeifAsbrink's youtube review. It only covers the quite unimportent close range performance. And I know, it is not easy to follow a 2 hour youtube video...
 

Boatanchor

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For me, the Airspy unit gives me great performance on V/UHF, but I also have a Funcube Dongle Pro+ which works really well on HF as well as V/UHF, so I have pretty much the whole (interesting parts of the) spectrum covered in two very compact units. I can run both at the same time, on the same PC and monitor V/UHF on the Airspy and HF on the FCDP+.

Sadly, the missing coverage on SDRPlay from 380-420Mhz, was a real deal breaker for me.
There is a major local trunking system that uses this band, so the SDRPlay was out of the question.

Once you go SDR, it's really hard to go back :)
 

NYG

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Also, SDRPlay is still not shipping product. Preorders taken, supposed to be shipping "late April" no recent updates.
Almost smells like vaporware, website has computer rendering of the new case, but no real photos.

I have no horse in this race but how can you say the SDRplay is vaporware when some people in this forum actually own it?
 

Yagi23

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I meant the new version. new case, SMA connector,

Well I got a message from SDRplay yesterday to tell me that my piece of vapourware (I already own a Mk 1 version) will be shipped out to me next week :)

As for Prog's comments on dynamic range, I am sceptical. I own both an Airspy and an SDRplay and I can honestly see no real difference in dynamic range. Both seem to have around the same ENOB in the ADCs. What I can say is that in my case, the sensitivity of y SDRplay looks slightly better.

I watched the video posted by Leif Asbrink and it was hard to follow everything he was doing, but he appeared to be using a gr-osmosdr driver which had been reverse engineered for the SDRplay and in my experience didn't provide correct control of the device. SDRplay say this driver is nothing to do with them and is not supported by them, so I was dubious as to whether this was really an apples to apples comparison.

When I made my comparison, I used Prog's own SDR# software and I could honestly see no significant performance difference.

I tend to use the SDRplay more than the Airspy because HF support is key for me.

The good news for me was that my second SDRplay is only $149, so even with their proposed Spyverter, Airspy have a long way to go to be competitive with that
 

prog

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Well I got a message from SDRplay yesterday to tell me that my piece of vapourware (I already own a Mk 1 version) will be shipped out to me next week :)

As for Prog's comments on dynamic range, I am sceptical. I own both an Airspy and an SDRplay and I can honestly see no real difference in dynamic range. Both seem to have around the same ENOB in the ADCs. What I can say is that in my case, the sensitivity of y SDRplay looks slightly better.

I watched the video posted by Leif Asbrink and it was hard to follow everything he was doing, but he appeared to be using a gr-osmosdr driver which had been reverse engineered for the SDRplay and in my experience didn't provide correct control of the device. SDRplay say this driver is nothing to do with them and is not supported by them, so I was dubious as to whether this was really an apples to apples comparison.

When I made my comparison, I used Prog's own SDR# software and I could honestly see no significant performance difference.

I tend to use the SDRplay more than the Airspy because HF support is key for me.

The good news for me was that my second SDRplay is only $149, so even with their proposed Spyverter, Airspy have a long way to go to be competitive with that

Unfortunately, most A vs. B topics in the internet end up with fanboism and this thread is no exception: Too much blabla and very little scientific facts.
Have you done any IP3 measurements with calibrated lab instruments? Well, Leif did. It's true that most people cannot follow *and understand* what Leif says in his videos because he's a physicist with deep understanding in radio signals and their application and his jargon is not crafted for the lambda scanner user. But this is no valid reason to reject his measurements without providing a proof. Hopefully, others did these measurements and also compared many radios in severe RF environments and the results speak of themselves ;-)
May be a simple RTL dongle with the help of amplification is sufficient for your *own* RF environment: Lower NF and also Lower Dynamic Range - but oh please, it's ridiculous to assess the performance based solely on your "feeling". If you're happy with X or Y, heck just use it but don't impersonate radio scientists in forums...
I'll not comment on the rest because proper HF operation needs much more dynamic range than the current Airspy One or any wide band radio can provide *today* - If you wonder why, have a look on rfspace.com.
Ah, the CloudSDR uses the same tuner chip as Airspy to cover higher frequencies... There must be a good reason for that.
 
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prc117f

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I would recommend the elad fdm-s2 they run 540 bucks and it comes with an excellent software package that can even demodulate drm. It is a 16bit fpga based unit. I use one.

Anyhow that hole in the sdrplay is a big problem.

This is why I would say the airspy and fdm-s2 would make a. Nice combo if you want dc to daylight coverage.

Anyhow on that note I have yet to see a good airspy video on YouTube.

I will be running tests against an ettus b200 and an rtl dongle. Obviously the rtl dongle will suck by a large margin but a simple video would suffice.

I would not recommend a b200 though it's more of a gnuradio product, it does not play well in windows or with sdrsharp. You can get it to work but it's wasting the product and it would operate in a suboptimal fashion.
 
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Yagi23

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Unfortunately, most A vs. B topics in the internet end up with fanboism and this thread is no exception: Too much blabla and very little scientific facts.
Have you done any IP3 measurements with calibrated lab instruments? Well, Leif did. It's true that most people cannot follow *and understand* what Leif says in his videos because he's a physicist with deep understanding in radio signals and their application and his jargon is not crafted for the lambda scanner user. But this is no valid reason to reject his measurements without providing a proof. Hopefully, others did these measurements and also compared many radios in severe RF environments and the results speak of themselves ;-)
May be a simple RTL dongle with the help of amplification is sufficient for your *own* RF environment: Lower NF and also Lower Dynamic Range - but oh please, it's ridiculous to assess the performance based solely on your "feeling". If you're happy with X or Y, heck just use it but don't impersonate radio scientists in forums...
I'll not comment on the rest because proper HF operation needs much more dynamic range than the current Airspy One or any wide band radio can provide *today* - If you wonder why, have a look on rfspace.com.
Ah, the CloudSDR uses the same tuner chip as Airspy to cover higher frequencies... There must be a good reason for that.

Hello Youssef. I think the person most affected by "fanboism" is you, but that is hardly surprising as you are the person behind the Airspy.
I actually bought the Airspy first and think it is a great product. I held of buying the SDRplay for a while because of negative comments on some of the forums, most noticeably from you. But that was before I understood your inherent conflict of interest :)
To answer your question about IIP3, No I have not made any comparative measurements, but I have been a Radio engineer for over 30 years and I also have a degree in Physics. I fully intend (when I have time) to go ahead and make some comparative measurements in my company's RF lab and when I have done so, I will post the results on this and other forums.
My point about Leif's measurements was in no way intended (as you incorrectly implied) to question his knowledge or skills. Nothing in what I said suggested any such thing. I was merely pointed out that if the driver being used does not correctly control the device, then you cannot draw definitive conclusions on performance.
My own opinion is that there is room in the market for both Airspy and the SDRplay . I think both are very good and innovative products and give great performance for the price point, but they do have differences in functionality that will tend to make people lean one way or the other. If some people chose the Airspy over the SDRplay and more power to you. If it is the other way around, then get over it.
Finally, as to your last comment on the CloudSDR using the same tuner chip as the Airspy, well so to a lot of the RTL dongles and you have been openly critical of their performance (for good reason).
Now, I suggest you go and have a cup of coffee, lie down in a dark room and calm down a bit :)
 

prog

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To answer your question about IIP3, No I have not made any comparative measurements

Fair enough.

I have been a Radio engineer for over 30 years and I also have a degree in Physics.

Very surprising to see how you can still only rely on your "feeling" with all this years long experience with RF instruments.

Now, I suggest you go and have a cup of coffee, lie down in a dark room and calm down a bit

And you call me fanboi?
 

prog

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I would recommend the elad fdm-s2 they run 540 bucks and it comes with an excellent software package that can even demodulate drm. It is a 16bit fpga based unit. I use one.

Anyhow that hole in the sdrplay is a big problem.

This is why I would say the airspy and fdm-s2 would make a. Nice combo if you want dc to daylight coverage.

Anyhow on that note I have yet to see a good airspy video on YouTube.

I will be running tests against an ettus b200 and an rtl dongle. Obviously the rtl dongle will suck by a large margin but a simple video would suffice.

I would not recommend a b200 though it's more of a gnuradio product, it does not play well in windows or with sdrsharp. You can get it to work but it's wasting the product and it would operate in a suboptimal fashion.

That's a more reasonable choice. The S2 has plenty of dynamic range and it is just about right for HF. If you also add a preamp on your VHF/UHF mast, you'll be very happy with the performance.
 

Yagi23

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Fair enough.



Very surprising to see how you can still only rely on your "feeling" with all this years long experience with RF instruments.



And you call me fanboi?

Nowhere in my original post did I use the word "feeling", which you keep quoting me as saying. I suggest you read it again before misquoting me. My comments on Leif's video relate to the fact that it is a very (very) long video and I was merely questioning the efficacy of the particular software driver he was using and pointing out that in my experience using this driver has a detrimental effect on performance as it contains bugs and is not supported by the supplier of the hardware which it is designed to control.
I have repeatedly stated that as far as the Airspy and SDRplay are concerned, I believe that there is space in the market for BOTH of them. It all depends what you want to use them for as to which you might choose. Stating that is hardly an example of fanboism as you claim.
Yes, I do believe that in the case of the units that I own, the SDRplay has better sensitivity and I don't need calibrated instruments to check that. All I need is a signal splitter (whose outputs can be switched between the two different devices in case of different path losses) and compare the SINAD for the two different units. The SDRplay was better, end of story. This is a comparative radiated sensitivity test, which is MUCH more meaningful that a conducted sensitivity test. However, that could be just down to device to device variations or even just the quality of the antenna port match,so I cannot honestly say that this will be true in all cases. It is just true in my case.
The SDRplay doesn't cover 380MHz to 430 MHz and that is a problem for some people. In that case, they should choose the Airspy. Surprisingly my SDRplay does work across the section of spectrum and I contacted the SDRplay support team about this. They replied that some units will in fact cover this gap, but they couldn't guarantee it for all units, hence the spec. The SDRplay does cover HF and is cheaper and there is no arguing on those points.
I have simply tried to provide some data for the original poster in answer to his question about the two different devices that I didn't come down firmly on the side of the Airspy has obviously enraged you. It is a pity that you can't be considered to be truly independent in this debate as you so clearly have a very strong vested interest where Airspy is concerned. At least Airspy-US had the good grace to acknowledge this.
 

prog

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However, that could be just down to device to device variations or even just the quality of the antenna port match,so I cannot honestly say that this will be true in all cases. It is just true in my case.

This is the most reasonable part. The rest is simply unscientific at best. Leif warned me that most retired "RF engineers" won't understand these numbers. He was right.
Apologizes for the noise.
 

Yagi23

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This is the most reasonable part. The rest is simply unscientific at best. Leif warned me that most retired "RF engineers" won't understand these numbers. He was right.
Apologizes for the noise.
There is nothing unscientific about pointing out that a reverse engineered S/W driver that is buggy and does not control the hardware correctly makes the data questionable. As I have already said when I have time, I will make comparative measurements using calibrated equipment to show the dynamic range of the two different devices and will make the data available to users of this and other forums.
BTW, just because I have over 30 years experience as an engineer doesn't automatically make me "Retired" if that is what you are implying. I am not retired in fact. I am not sure how old Leif is, but if he really thinks that "most" retired RF engineers wouldn't understand this stuff, I would be very surprised. It would be a very derogatory comment to make. Are you sure you aren't putting words into his mouth?
 

prog

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Leif can be contacted directly by mail and he will be happy to explain his findings and answer your questions.
Out of curiosity, I looked on the forum and here's what I found:
http://forums.radioreference.com/members/yagi23.html
Your posting history sounds fishy. Are you sure you don't work for these guys? ;-)
 

Yagi23

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Leif can be contacted directly by mail and he will be happy to explain his findings and answer your questions.
Out of curiosity, I looked on the forum and here's what I found:
http://forums.radioreference.com/members/yagi23.html
Your posting history sounds fishy. Are you sure you don't work for these guys? ;-)

I work with a small company in Cambridge UK these days, but have previously worked as an apps engineer for a range of companies including Plessey and Analog Devices. What's your background before Airspy?
 
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