so ive been messing around with a cheap RTL-SDR v3 dongle for about 6 months now and honestly its been great for just learning the ropes, scanning around, decoding some APRS, that kind of thing. but ive been reading more about the SDRplay RSP1C and im wondering if the jump is actually worth it for what i do.

my main thing right now is HF listening, some airband out of curiosity, and ive been trying to get into weak signal modes on 2m like ft8 and maybe eventually meteor scatter. the RTL-SDR handles airband fine obviously but on HF with the upconverter its just... okay. noise floor isnt great and i feel like im missing stuff. running SDR# on windows and occasionally trying SDRangel when i feel brave.

anyone gone from a v3 dongle to an RSP1C or even an RSPdx? is the difference noticeable enough that it would actually change what i can hear or is it more of a "feels better" upgrade. dont want to spend $150 if its just going to be marginally better.

yeah the jump from RTL-SDR to RSPdx specifically is pretty significant on HF, not gonna lie. the noise floor difference alone made me go back and re-listen to some bands i thought were just dead on my end and suddenly there was stuff there. the direct sampling on the v3 dongle is clever but it really is a compromise, the RSP stuff has actual front end filtering which matters a lot if you're anywhere near urban RF noise.

for ft8 on 2m the RTL-SDR is probably fine as long as your preamp situation is decent and you're not fighting a terrible noise floor from your computer USB. the weak signal improvement you'll notice more on HF than VHF honestly. if HF listening is your main thing then yeah i'd say its worth it, if you're mostly doing VHF stuff maybe put that money toward a better LNA or a filtered preamp first.

one thing though — SDRplay's software, SDRuno, is actually pretty decent now. took them a while but it doesnt feel like abandonware anymore. still run it alongside HDSDR on occasion just out of habit.

i went RTL-SDR v3 -> HackRF and honestly kind of regret not going SDRplay instead for pure receive. the HackRF is cool if you want to transmit or do SDR experimentation stuff but the receive sensitivity is noticeably worse than even a decent RTL dongle in some situations. everyone talks about HackRF like its the ultimate SDR and it kind of is for certain things but straight up lisening its not the best bang for buck.

RSP1C is probably the sweet spot for what your describing. the RSPdx has the notch filters and stuff which is nice near AM broadcast stations but probably overkill unless you got a big MW station wiping out half your HF.