so ive been running an RTL-SDR v3 dongle for probably two years now and honestly its been great for what it is, picked up ACARS, some NOAA weather sat stuff, did the whole ADS-B thing with dump1090 for a while. but lately im wanting to do more and the limitations are starting to bug me especially the dynamic range and the noise floor on HF even with the direct sampling mod.

been looking at either the SDRplay RSP1B or just jumping straight to a HackRF One. the price difference is pretty significant, SDRplay is what like $110-120 and HackRF is closer to $340-350 depending where you get it. i know the HackRF can transmit which is cool but im not sure i actually need that for what im doing. mostly just wanna do better HF monitoring, maybe some trunked P25 stuff, and eventually try decoding some weak signal digital modes.

anyone gone from RTL-SDR to one of these and can actually compare? not looking for a spec sheet just wondering what the real world difference felt like

went through almost this exact same decision about 18 months ago. ended up with the RSP1B and honestly have zero regrets for monitoring use. the jump from an RTL dongle on HF is pretty significant, the noise floor difference is noticeable right away especially if you have a halfway decent antenna. SDRuno takes some getting used to but once you get the IF bandwidth and gain settings sorted it really does perform well.

the HackRF thing is interesting but i think a lot of people buy it for the transmit capability and then dont really use it that much. also the HackRF ADC is only 8-bit which people dont always mention, the RSP1B is 14-bit and that makes a real difference for dynamic range when youve got strong signals nearby. if youre not specifically needing to transmit or do anything exotic in the 1-6 GHz range i think the SDRplay is the smarter buy for monitoring work. you can always add a HackRF later if you need it for a specific project.

the hackrf is fun but its kind of a different tool honestly. i use mine mostly for replay stuff and poking at things in the 2.4GHz range, its not really what id reach for if i just wanted to sit and listen to HF. the bandwidth is impressive, like 20MHz at a time, but that 8-bit thing mentioned above is real and you feel it when there are big signals around.

for P25 trunking specifically make sure whichever one you get plays nice with SDR++ or whatever youre planning to use for decoding. i run SDR++ with DSD+ and it works but getting the sample rates and the plugin chain right took me a frustrating weekend. just saying go in with patience