Just one persons opinion
The only real disappointment when the radio was released were the Search and Scan speeds. Initially AOR tried to say that the radio was not designed to be used as a scanner, so the speeds were acceptable.
Very quickly however they brought out an update which increased those speeds considerably. For me, nothing else could be described as needing to be elevated.
In my opinion the AR-DV1 remains a brilliant bit of kit. Due to its design it relies heavily on its internal firmware. That is mostly good, as it enables them to add new modes and fine tune many things with updates.
On the other hand as the firmware has to be so complicated, there are a few minor anomalies. Many people may never even experience them. The 'curse' is that when complicated firmware is changed it can lead to unwanted side-effects that do not immediately show themselves. That has happened occasionally, but to be fair AOR seem to continue to correct that sort of thing over time.
Other manufacturers are playing 'catch up', mainly I suspect because overall the AR-DV1 remains a threat, and it is.
A lot of the 'questions' about the AR-DV1 often seem not to look at the whole picture.
Is it the best HF receiver available, no. Does it have the best filtering, no (but putting in a lot of filters, which can never be efficient if 'tiny' and they would lead to a big increase in overall size). Is the audio Hi-Fi quality, no, but perfectly adequate for most things.
However for its size, (footprint), price, and both general and special capabilities it remains unique, and will probably do so for some time to come.
I strongly believe that as a wide-band, multi purpose receiver, especially with all the digital modes it can access, it would be my first choice. The firmware does not always behave flawlessly, but it does most of the time.
There were some compromises along the way, to keep it relatively small mainly no doubt, and it is not alone in benefiting from a bigger external speaker, or external filters in specific cases.
In fact, as that makes the radio of a size that takes up little room on a desk at home, or can be used mobile with ease, both with impressive results, I am glad AOR designed it that way.
Even with 'flagship', very expensive large receivers, compare one against another and one will do something a bit better than the other, and vice versa. That's life I guess.
Of course it would be nice if you could borrow an AR-DV1 for a week or two and try it out. Certainly some Retailers will agree to refund the purchase price under those circumstances, as long as the radio and packaging remain 'mint'.
As for all of us, the only other alternative is to wait for the perfect receiver to come out, and that would involve a lot of 'waiting', lol.
Whatever decision you finally make, good luck with it.
