so ive been messing around with a cheap RTL-SDR v3 dongle for a few months now and honestly its been a blast for just poking around on VHF/UHF, picking up NOAA weather sats, that kind of thing. but i keep hitting the limits on HF even with the direct sampling mode enabled. the noise floor is pretty rough and i feel like im fighting the software more than actually listening to anything useful.

been looking at the SDRplay RSP1B and the price jump isnt crazy but its not nothing either. i know the RSP1B has the MSi001 tuner and supposedly much better dynamic range but i cant really find anyone whos done a direct comparison on like 40m or 80m during evening hours when the bands are busy and everything is slamming the front end. does the SDRplay actually handle strong adjacent signals better or is it still gonna fall apart without an external bandpass filter? and is SDRuno any better than SDR# or should i just use GQRX on linux anyway

not trying to replace my actual transceiver or anything, just want something i can have running on a second monitor keeping an eye on band conditions while im operating. my main rig handles the tx side obviously.

the dynamic range difference is real, not marketing fluff. i ran both side by side on 40m last winter with a long wire antenna and the RTL-SDR was getting completely smeared when W1AW was on plus a few broadcast stations bleeding in from shortwave. the RSP1B handled it noticeably better, not perfect but workable. you'll still want some filtering if you're near AM broadcast towers though, nothing fixes that except a good highpass or bandpass upstream.

SDRuno is fine but honestly i just use it for initial setup and then switch to HDSDR or SDR# depending on what im doing. GQRX on linux works but the last time i tried it with an RSP device the driver situation was kind of annoying to sort out, might be better now. if youre just monitoring band conditions while operating your main rig the RSP1B is probably the right move, the extra sensitivity on the low bands at night is genuinely noticeable.

cant speak to the SDRplay specifically but i went a different direction and grabbed a HackRF One when i wanted to go beyond the dongle. obviously thats more money and way overkill if you just want to listen to HF, the HackRF isnt really known for great receive sensitivity anyway. so maybe ignore that for your use case lol

one thing nobody mentions enough is the antenna situation matters way more than which SDR you pick once you're past the cheapest dongles. ive seen guys with RSP2s complaining about noise that turned out to be a bad feedline or a loop antenna too close to the house wiring. just something to keep in mind before you spend the money and still end up disappointed.