so ive been running an old FT-450D for about 4 years now and honestly it served me well but ive had this itch to upgrade for a while. picked up a used IC-7300 last week from a guy in the club and i gotta say the waterfall display alone is worth it for me just to see whats happening on the band before i even key up.

but now im reading stuff about how the FT-891 is actually a better rig in some ways and the 7300 is basically just popular because of hype and the pretty screen and now im kinda spiraling a bit. anyone actually done a side by side? or even just used both at different points? my main thing is casual HF, some SSB ragchewing, might try some FT8 eventually. not a contester or anything serious like that.

also the previous owner had some weird audio settings tweaked and i cant figure out how to get the mic gain back to sounding normal. feels like im transmitting through a tin can right now

the 7300 hype is real but its not undeserved imo. ive had mine going on 3 years and the receiver genuinely holds up well on crowded bands, the 891 is a solid rig but its more of a portable/mobile thing, different use case really. for a base station the 7300 just makes more sense and you already have it so stop reading reviews lol

for the audio thing, go into the menu and do a full settings reset on just the audio section, dont do a full factory reset or youll lose other stuff. there should be a way to reset only certain menu groups. the TX tone settings and the mic EQ are both worth setting to flat first and then adjusting from there. took me a whole afternoon when i got mine to dial in the audio but once its set its set

i went from a 7300 to an 891 actually, not because the 7300 was bad but i needed something i could take in the car. missed the waterfall almost immediately if im honest. for what your doing the 7300 is completely fine, dont let the forum rabbit holes get to you, ive lost weeks to that stuff