so ive been using an RTL-SDR v3 with the direct sampling mod for a while now and honestly for the price its been great, picked up a ton of stuff on HF that surprised me. but im starting to feel like im hitting the ceiling on it, especially on the lower bands where the noise floor just seems higher than what people show in their screenshots on reddit and here.

been looking at the SDRplay RSP1B which i can get for around $130 and wondering if anyone has actually done a side by side or switched from the dongle world to something like that. the dynamic range specs look way better on paper but i know specs on paper dont always translate to real world results especially with a mediocre antenna which is what i have right now (just an end fed about 30ft up in a compromised location).

also curious if SDRuno is as clunky as it looks or if i just need to spend more time with it. im coming from SDR# and gqrx mostly. not opposed to learning new software but if its a pain id rather just keep using the rtl and save the money toward a better antenna first.

made that exact jump about two years ago and yeah the RSP1B is noticeably better on HF, not like night and day everywhere but on 40m and 80m especially the noise floor dropped enough that i was actually pulling stations i couldnt even see on the waterfall before. the ADC is just better, 14 bit vs the 8 bit in the rtl dongles and that makes a real difference when you have strong BC stations nearby stomping on everything.

SDRuno took me a week or so to get comfortable with honestly. the workflow is different, lots of floating windows and it can feel overwhelming at first. but once you get a layout saved it's not bad. i do still use SDR# sometimes with my old v3 for quick stuff just because its faster to fire up. if you're already comfortable with gqrx you'll figure out SDRuno eventually, just give it time before you write it off.

that said your antenna point is valid. i upgraded my antenna around the same time and honestly cant fully separate which improvement came from where. might not be a bad idea to put the money there first if your feedline situation isnt great either.

i went the other direction and got a HackRF instead of the SDRplay and kinda regret it for pure HF listening tbh. the HackRF is cool for transmit capable stuff and wideband scanning but its half duplex and the noise floor isnt as clean as id like for weak signal work. great if you want to do replay attacks and RF experimentation stuff but for just sitting down and listening to 20m it feels like overkill in the wrong direction if that makes sense.

the RSP1B is probably the smarter move for what you're describing.