If you're just looking for a radio that doesn't require anything extra, such as a laptop or tablet to operate, there are a number of good choices out there. The PL-680 or PL-660 from Tecsun are fairly inexpensive, decent portable radios that do pretty well. The audio from these radios could be better, but the synchronous detection feature is great for picking one sideband over the other. Not all Tecsun radios have decent sync detectors, but those two are reasonable performers. Sangean has a newer radio the ATS-909X2. Earlier versions of that radio were known for being a little "deaf" but this one seems to have overcome most of that problem. C.Crane has decent radios as well. The
Skywave SSB is a very nice small radio.
The swling post has
radio reviews. If you like to spend time playing on MW AM broadcast bands, you may want to read
RadioJayAllen's reviews. He also looks at SW and FM performance.
In terms of SDR receivers, I suggest that if you want to purchase one, get one that has better performance than the RTL-SDR. I have one and it is a a bit disappointing. For $170-ish you can get an Airspy HF+Discovery receiver from
Airspy.us. I also suggest getting a portable YouLoop antenna from them as well. The whole deal will set you back a bit over $200 with shipping. The receiver performance is frankly amazing given the price. The YouLoop is nice because it is small and is great for travel. The SDR# software is free. It is a great starter package. A word of advise: don't go this route unless you have a decent computer equipped with an i5 or better and plenty of disk space. You'll probably want to record spectrum of what you hear.
Spend some time looking around. You may value audio quality over portability. If that's the case, you may want to look at larger radios such as the Tecsun H.501. There are many offerings and generally the competition is such that you usually get what you pay for if you buy a new radio. Note that if you want a good price direct from Hong Kong,
Anon-Co is a reputable company to deal with. I have purchased from them before and was happy with the transaction.
Good luck!