so ive been using a cheap rtl-sdr v3 dongle for about a year now and honestly its done pretty well for what it is, been running SDR# and occasionally gqrx on linux depending on which machine im at. mostly doing airband and some NOAA weather sat stuff with a turnstile i threw together. works fine for that.

but ive been thinking about picking up an SDRplay RSP1B or maybe the RSP2 because i want better dynamic range, the rtl-sdr gets pretty ugly when theres strong local signals around. i live maybe 3 miles from a couple AM broadcast towers and even with a good bandstop filter its still a mess on HF. the SDRplay supposedly handles that a lot better with the tuner architecture but i dont actually know anyone whos compared them directly for HF specifically.

not really interested in transmitting so HackRF is probably overkill and id rather not spend that much anyway. just want cleaner reception especially on 40m and 80m where im trying to decode some WSPR and js8call traffic. anyone made that jump from rtl to SDRplay and actually noticed a difference on the crowded bands?

yeah the RSP1B is a solid step up, made that move myself about two years ago. the big thing you'll notice right away is the 12-bit ADC vs the 8-bit in the rtl dongles, theres just a lot less noise floor nonsense and the dynamic range improvement is real not just spec sheet talk. near those AM towers you mentioned the RSPdx might actually be worth the extra money because it has the notch filters built in, the HDR mode on the lower bands is specifically designed for that kind of situation.

for WSPR decoding with WSJT-X it works great, i was pulling stations in from all over on 40m that i was completely missing before. the SDRuno software is a bit of an acquired taste honestly, some people like it some people dont but you can use it with sdrpp or even SDR# with a plugin which is nice. only real gripe is the RSP1B doesnt have the bias tee which matters if you want to power active antennas directly off the coax.

hackrf is overrated for pure receive work imo, the noise floor on that thing is genuinely not great compared to dedicated rx-only hardware at the same price. i have one and i use it mostly for replay attacks and messing around with transmit stuff not for actual listening. if you just want to receive dont buy a hackrf.

SDRplay is the right call for what youre describing. the AM broadcast problem is real and annoying, i had the same thing living near a 50kw station.