I've always had good tuners before, including some classics such as a Dynaco FM3 tube with a very warm sound (died), an Onkyo T-9 which would lock into a station when you released the knob (stolen), and still have a NAD 4150 in regular use. My 1050 is not up to those standards, but has been perfectly capable of picking up all the stations I need. I have a roof antenna that is split about a gazillion times through the house. I think I tried the 1050 without the antenna when I first installed it, but hooked up the antenna the next day after buying yet another splitter so I don't know what it does without one.