so ive been running an RTL-SDR v3 for about two years now and its been great for what it is, ADS-B, some NOAA weather sat stuff, general poking around the bands. but im starting to hit the limits of it and thinking about stepping up. the two things im seriously looking at are the HackRF One and the RSP1B from SDRplay.

the HackRF has the TX capability which is obviously appealing but from what i understand the receive performance isnt actually that great compared to dedicated RX-only stuff. the RSP1B seems to have better dynamic range and sensitivity but its RX only and costs more. i mostly just want to do better HF monitoring and maybe decode some digital modes, not really planning to transmit with it.

anyone actually used both and can give me a real comparison? not looking for spec sheets, i can read those myself, just want to know what its actually like day to day with the software and whether SDRuno is as clunky as it looks in the youtube videos i've seen

had a HackRF for about a year before i picked up an RSP1A and honestly for pure receive work the RSPx stuff just walks all over it. the HackRF noise floor is noticeably higher and on HF especially you really feel that. if your main thing is listening and decoding then dont bother with the hackrf just for the TX capability you probably wont use anyway.

SDRuno is a bit of a learning curve but once you get the workflow down its fine. i actually run mine through SDR++ most of the time now which is way cleaner and works great with the SDRplay drivers. give that a shot if you end up going that route, way nicer UI than SDRuno imo.

i'll throw in a slightly different take - the RSP1B specifically added the notch filters for MW and FM broadcast which makes a real difference if you're anywhere near a strong station. i live maybe 8 miles from a 50kW AM blowtorch and before i had that filter my whole HF experience was basically garbage no matter what i tried. just something to keep in mind depending on where you are.

also worth mentioning that SDR++ with either device is genuinely pretty solid these days. the plugin architecture they added means you can do a lot without bouncing between different apps for different things.