Anan 7000 DLE mkII vs SunSDR2 DX

Original review (2022): feature comparison and notes

Features won in my original 2022 comparison. The highlighted cell marks the winner of each row.

Notes by feature

Source: the original comparison spreadsheet.

So, is there a winner?

People will ask which one “wins”? This is tough to call.  Taking the capability to run in linux out of the comparison, the Anan becomes a clear winner to me. Had I not had the Anan to compare with, if the SunSDR2 DX was my first SDR, I would be very happy with it.

The hardware spec of the Anan wins, as it should for the added cost but the software is not making full use of the hardware potential. The missing link is that the project is open source and to make the improvements needed, FPGA firmware programming expertise is needed.

This is a very specialized area and super rare to find someone who understands it, who is a ham operator, who owns an Anan, and who wants to contribute for free to an open source project. The likelihood this situation changes is very remote.

To clarify this issue. It is simpler to find people to program in the application/PC software stacks than in the FPGA domain. What this means is that a lot of the FFT processing is done in the Thetis/PowerSDR software. This leaves a lot of the potential of the Altera Cyclone IV just lying on the table.

It is less efficient to do, though current compute horsepower allows for it to be possible, though at higher latency and requiring vastly more bandwidth on the link between the radio hardware and the software stack. This introduces the issue where the Gigabit ethernet link needs to be just pristine or the software will glitch causing operational issues.

The SunSDR uses 100 Mbit ethernet and it is a more reliable link because there is a less critical data going back and forth over that link.

The reason that Flex has been able to make remoting so efficient is that they have put most of the computation into the FPGA and this means that the software is just a control surface with far less data needed to translate over a remote control link. The Anan could be in the same situation... if the right expertise was applied to the firmware architecture.

For my own use, though this is still the shiny initial impression stage, I'm pleased with the SunSDR2 DX and due to my desire to operate in linux all the time, this may tip the scales. I will be awaiting the somewhat delayed debut of the ExpertSDR v3 software which is a total redesign and rewrite. If the redesign fills in a few voids, particularly in the audio processing, it may narrow the gap.

Nits To Pick or Wish List Items

Anan 7000 DLE mkII

• Runs and really depends on Windows. I dislike Windows for many reasons
• The handling of VAC, it's not a good user experience if you feed a microphone in via VAC, it's meant as the dedicated mode for digital mode use so you lose some basic controls oriented to operating phone with VAC audio as the source. You lose independent RX volume control and mic level controls.
• The amount of shuffling to go between phone and digital modes, again if you use VAC for a microphone. There's clunkiness to change the Audio settings for the device to use for digital too, buffer size etc.
• BNC connectors. I've just never liked how they just wobble all around without a good feel if they are solidly terminated. I hate that if you gently wobble them you can see variations. Low confidence in them.
• A balanced line level input would be nice

SunSDR2 DX

• The NR algorithm needs to be enhanced (default settings are poor but works better once you adjust Rate and Leak in the DSP tab). Works better than the lousy NR in a Kenwood TS-590SG but nowhere near NR2 in Thetis (the best I've ever used by far) or NR4 in SDR Console.
• Lack of Diversity which I use heavily for noise suppression. With a single hardware ADC, I'm not sure this can be addressed without a new hardware design.
• The default RX filters are fixed values in the software presets. I prefer to customize them as I like a 0 Hz low cut when using 3 kHz and wider RX modes which is common for me. The  RX filters should be memory settable. A width and shift slider for digital modes would be a huge improvement too though memory settings for RX filters tied to the mode of operation would settle that issue.
• I wish the TX bandwidth was saved with the Proc profile vs the global as I have to do the global for some components and then remember to check the Proc profile as that isn't tied to the global. The reason is, let's say I have MyMic1 microphone that I want to run 3.5 kHz wide, I want the Proc profile to be equalized for that passband specifically as it does change and the TX width to be 3.5. It requires two stages of toggling.  Proc profile should also change a TX width.
• The power output on HF isn't really 100W, it's more like 70W. I don't miss the watts but it is sold as a 100W rig. Unsure if maybe a quality control issue with bias levels or something like that.
• A balanced line level input would be nice
• There is a known software issue with the transmit buffer whereby after sending a Tune tone, the following key up will transmit about 1.5s of that tone before the stale buffer is flushed.
• There is a known firmware issue where using the hardware PTT (as opposed to software controls for PTT) when released will release before the transmit buffer has flushed. Simply, a PTT hardware switch will drop close to 1s of the last part of the signal sent...it clips off parts of words. You have to mentally pause and say "and" to yourself before releasing the PTT switch or you will lose the tail of what you said.

The points that give the win to the Anan at this point

• The NR2 is just amazing, best NR algorithm I've ever used second only to SDR Console's options after spending time to manually tweak them as a close 2nd runner up.
• Diversity for noise cancellation - It can mean armchair quality vs very ragged copy in many cases.
• The receiver just seems hotter, I have an easier time with very poor signals when going A/B between the Anan and the Sun, but it's close.
• The audio processing still wins, the multi-frequency compressor is extremely effective once one gets their head around what is happening and how to apply it. The Sun can sound excellent but the sheer audio power of the Anan makes it conspicuous when friends who know the difference hear it. I can get them both to sound nearly identical to someone hearing me very strong but the density of the signal is higher with the Anan and people in the distance can pick it out right away.
• The SAM sync detector is hugely faster to slew on the Anan so if you are in a fast break-in AM discussion with people +/- 3 kHz with old rigs involved, the Anan snaps to them where the Sun can not keep up with the frequency shift and you lose people on short transmissions as it tries to find their carrier.
• These points all make for more comfortable copy and as I am primarily a rag chewer on SSB and AM, they are meaningful to me.

ExpertSDR v3: the total re-write of the software for the Sun SDR rigs (July 2022)

• The software for the Sun is undergoing a complete overhaul. This includes new firmware architecture and the whole code base of the main user interface.
• The re-write allows them to keep firmware much more independent from the main software core release. This means that changing operating characteristics in one software package that runs cross platform makes things much simpler. One release, serves linux, Mac and Windows and it functions identically across the platforms. Previously the software was tied to the model of radio AND the OS it was compiled for, this is far more complex and more prone to inconsistencies with the releases.
• The interface is using Qt6 which itself is being rapidly developed. It's an efficient, cross platform toolkit that supports more complex software applications more easily than other frameworks. It has a slick, clean, modern appearance.
• Many improvements are being made. AGC behavior is vastly improved, the audio limiting and processing systems have had significant work. As one small example, you have to try really hard to force this radio into a truly dirty signal, particularly via virtual audio (you can still clip the hardware op-amp on the analog mic level inputs).
• The newly introduced ANC noise filter is using a sophisticated speech pattern based filter, a neural network and in the right conditions it's pretty remarkable.
• It's running relatively solid for me on Win 10 x64 and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and I default to running EESDRv3 as my daily software at this point.
• It is still very alpha software, getting closer to what I would consider a beta release. Anyone running it must understand that there are frequent bugs that come and go with each of the releases and take appropriate care and caution when running it.
• A 1.0 release will likely be out in a few more months (it's Jul 2022 right now). For non-technical users, I would wait for that point before running V3 vs V2.
• The enhancements of this new re-write take the Sun up a notch and make it yet more appealing, though the "race" is closer, if running on Windows is not a deal breaker, the Anan + Thetis is still ahead by a length.