I have an msi.sdr which uses the same two chips. It works with Linrad.
If I stay on HF all works well, kind of, with that. With some issues/quirks. manageable.
I had to install the mirisdr4 library. You may have to look for that to find it. I also have a SoftRock, which is even more sensitive..with my sound card.. it can receive a 192 KHz slice at once.. For that one can use QUisk.
If I am going to spend $100 or more I would buy one of the most inexpensive ham SDR radios, of which there are several and use that..just for receive now.. Because of that option being out there.. They should sell their receiver for less.. They would sell a lot more of them if the price was lower..more economical for the entry level unit. Its too much for what it is.
I dabble with the idea of making an add on transmitter that turns the Soft Rock (receive only now) into a transceiver...A cheap, fairly capable one.. That can definitely be done for very little. Probably could also use additional band pass filtration, if so.. (just a guess) his is fairly normal sof solid sate QRP gear, needing additional filters to be clean. Helps the receive a lot too.. Use them. And be licensed! And learn stuff. Better safe than sorry.
The 14 bit SDRplay RSP1A makes for a VERY capable receiver for a little over $100 in conjunction with a laptop using SDRuno or HDSDR software (both free). If you don't need the portable radio form factor, it provides for a VERY usable and versatile weak signal receiver at a very reasonable price. It is a significant improvement over the various (RTL-SDR) dongles.
As always for weak signal work, antennas, antennas, and antennas...
Gordo
HS0ZPC
K5ABB
All of the inexpensive "shortwave" receivers benefit greatly from the addition of an antenna jack with a ground. If you do that make sure you insert a capacitor in series to the antenna. For various reasons that is helpful. Then you can use a proper unun too.