so ive been using a cheap RTL-SDR v3 dongle for about a year now mostly for aircraft stuff and some HF with the direct sampling mode and honestly it works way better than i expected for the price. but ive been eyeing the SDRplay RSP1A and wondering if the jump is actually worth it for someone who's not doing anything super serious

like the main thing i notice with the RTL is the noise floor on HF is pretty rough and the direct sampling hack feels like exactly that, a hack. i was receiving some 40m SSB last night and it was just marginal, kept losing signals that i know were there because i could see them on the waterfall but couldnt pull them out of the noise

does the RSP1A actually fix that or is it just marginally better and i should save up for something like an Airspy HF+ Discovery instead. i run SDR# mostly but i've been messing with SDRuno a little too. anyway just curious what people think who've used both

the jump from RTL-SDR direct sampling to the RSP1A on HF is not marginal, its pretty significant. the RSP1A has a proper frontend for HF, actual filtering, and the noise floor difference is noticeable right away. i made the same move about two years ago and the 40m and 80m reception basically became usable instead of frustrating

that said if you're mainly interested in HF and want the absolute best bang for buck specifically for shortwave and ham bands, the Airspy HF+ Discovery is kind of in its own class for the price. the dynamic range on that thing is really impressive and it handles strong broadcast stations without desense killing everything around them. SDRplay is more of a general purpose wideband receiver and it does that well, but if HF is your priority the Airspy is hard to argue with. i use SDRuno with the RSP1A and its fine once you get used to it, SDR# feels a bit more polished to me personally but thats just preference

had the RSP1A for a while, its decent. my one gripe is SDRuno feels kinda clunky compared to SDR# but i think they've updated it a few times since i last really dug in. the hardware itself is solid tho. if you're doing HF receive the difference from the dongle is real, not just spec sheet stuff you cant actually hear