so ive been running an RTL-SDR v3 dongle for about a year now, mostly scanning local repeaters and doing some aircraft stuff with dump1090, and i want to step up to something better. the RTL does fine but the dynamic range is kind of garbage when im near anything strong and the noise floor is pretty ugly above like 1 GHz.

been looking at either the SDRplay RSP1A or just going full send on a HackRF One. the price difference is real - RSP1A is around $110 and the HackRF is usually $300+ for a legit one, more if you want the portapack thing. i know the HackRF can transmit which is cool but honestly i mostly just want to receive better. i use SDR# and sometimes GQRX depending on what machine im on.

has anyone gone from a basic RTL to an RSP1A and actually noticed a big difference in the noise floor or selectivity? im particularly interested in HF since i finally got a decent wire antenna up. the RTL with the direct sampling hack works but its not exactly amazing down there.

went through basically this exact same thing last year. had the RTL v3, liked it but hit the same walls you're describing. ended up going with the RSP1A and honestly for receive-only work it's hard to beat at that price. the 12-bit ADC vs the RTL's 8-bit makes a real difference on crowded bands - less of that splatter you get when there's a strong local signal nearby. HF through the direct sampling on the RSP1A is actually usable, like genuinely usable, not just a curiosity like it was on the RTL.

SDRuno is the native software for SDRplay and its gotten a lot better over the past couple versions, though i still sometimes use it with SDR# via the plugin. if youre mostly a listener and want better HF the RSP1A is probably the right call. the HackRF is great hardware but the receive performance is actually worse than the RSP1A in a lot of ways - lower bit depth, noisier front end. you're paying for the TX capability mostly.

dont sleep on adding a good bandpass filter and LNA before whichever SDR you get - that honestly made more difference for me than swapping the dongle itself did. i went RTL -> HackRF and kind of regretted it for pure receive because the noise floor on the HackRF is just not great, the previous reply is right about that. its fun for experimenting with transmit stuff and replaying signals and whatever but if you just want to sit there and listen to HF all day the RSP is the better tool. theres also the Airspy HF+ Discovery which is stupid good for HF/VHF if you ever want to go further down that rabbit hole, bit more money but the dynamic range specs on that thing are ridiculous.