Terman characterizes the TRF's disadvantages as "poor selectivity and low sensitivity in proportion to the number of tubes employed. They are accordingly practically obsolete." Selectivity requires narrow bandwidth, but the bandwidth of a filter with a given Q factor increases with frequency. So to achieve a narrow bandwidth at a high radio frequency required high-Q filters or many filter sections. Achieving constant sensitivity and bandwidth across an entire broadcast band was rarely achieved. In contrast, a superheterodyne receiver translates the incoming high radio frequency to a lower intermediate frequency which does not change. The problem of achieving constant sensitivity and bandwidth over a range of frequencies arises only in one circuit (the first stage) and is therefore considerably simplified.