so ive had my IC-7300 for about 3 years now and honestly its been a great radio, no real complaints, but ive been eyeing the IC-7610 and also looked a bit at the Kenwood TS-890S and im starting to wonder if the jump is actually worth it for what i do which is mostly SSB and some digital on 40 and 20m, occasional 15m when the band cooperates

the dual watch on the 7610 is kind of appealing and the roofing filters on the 890 seem like they'd help in a contest pile-up situation but i dunno, maybe im just having shiny object syndrome and the 7300 is doing everything i actually need it to do. my shack is pretty basic — the 7300 into an LDG tuner and a homemade fan dipole up about 30 feet, nothing crazy

has anyone actually made this jump and felt like it was genuinely worth the money or did you feel like you could have just stuck with what you had? not looking to spend 2500+ unless theres a real practical difference day to day

I made almost this exact jump about 18 months ago, went from a 7300 to the TS-890S and honestly the difference in the receiver is real but whether its worth it kind of depends on what bothers you right now. If you're not bothered by anything specific with the 7300 then probably no. But the 890 in a crowded 40m evening is noticeably cleaner to my ears, the roofing filter situation is just better and the AGC behaves more predictably in my experience. The IF filtering options are more granular too which i appreciate for CW but you said you mostly do SSB so maybe less relevant

that said the 7300 is not a bad radio at all, its just a different class of receiver. if you can get hands on one at a hamfest or club demo before buying id do that first

i went 7300 -> 7610 and the dual watch thing sounds cooler than it actually is in day to day use tbh. i mean it's nice but i dont use it as much as i thought. what I do notice is the band scope is faster and the overall feel of the radio is more solid but man the price difference is hard to justify if your antenna situation is limiting you more than the radio is, which at 30 feet with a fan dipole it probably is no offense