so ive been messing around with a cheap RTL-SDR v3 for the past few months and honestly its been great for learning but im starting to hit its limits on HF. direct sampling mode works okay but theres a lot of noise floor issues and i keep reading that the SDRplay RSP1C or whatever the current model is makes a huge difference. my main thing is just listening around 40m and 80m, some shortwave broadcast stuff, and occasionally poking around at WSPR spots to see whats actually propagating.

the price jump from like 30 bucks to 120ish is noticeable for me right now but if its genuinely that much better im probably just gonna pull the trigger. anyone actually compared them side by side? or even gone from an RTL to a HackRF and found that worthwhile? i know HackRF is TX capable which is interesting but i think thats probably overkill for what i want to do

also running SDR++ mostly, tried SDRUno and found it a bit clunky but maybe im just not used to it

yeah the RSP1C is genuinely a big step up for HF, not even close really. the RTL in direct sampling mode is fine for like, proving the concept to yourself, but the dynamic range difference is pretty obvious once you put them next to each other. i had both running at the same time for a while with a splitter and the noise floor on 80m especially was noticeably cleaner on the SDRplay. 40m was less dramatic but still better.

SDRUno is clunky i agree, but if you stick with SDR++ it actually works fine with the SDRplay, the driver setup is a little annoying the first time but once its going its solid. i wouldnt bother with HackRF unless you actually want to transmit or do RF testing stuff, the receive performance isnt as good as the SDRplay for HF work and its more expensive. for just listening the RSP1C is probably the sweet spot honestly.

i went RTL to HackRF about a year ago and kinda wish id gotten an SDRplay instead tbh. hackrf is cool and i do use it for some signal analysis stuff but the receive sensitivity isnt anything special, its more of a swiss army knife than a dedicated good receiver. for just listening on the bands the SDRplay would probably have served me better. that said i dont regret having TX capability for experimenting

one thing nobody mentions enough - your antenna is gonna matter way more than which SDR you pick for HF. i was running a crappy random wire and upgrading to a proper end-fed made way more difference than any of the SDR hardware swaps i did