Digital radios
Discussion
Chaps,
Mrs zcacogp has a hankering for a Digital Radio, as she fears she isn't getting the full 'depth' of the excellent programming available from her beloved Radio 4 by only hearing it on FM.
I know nothing about digital radios.
Can anyone direct me to a good site telling me about them, what there is on the market and what is worth spending the beer money on, and what isn't? (Note - this is for a radio for home, not a car radio.)
Thanks.
Oli.
P.S. I get the impression that DAB radio is a controversial subject on here - please don't let this descend into a "Digital Radio isn't as good as FM", "No, it's better", "No, it's worse" debate ... thanks!
Mrs zcacogp has a hankering for a Digital Radio, as she fears she isn't getting the full 'depth' of the excellent programming available from her beloved Radio 4 by only hearing it on FM.
I know nothing about digital radios.
Can anyone direct me to a good site telling me about them, what there is on the market and what is worth spending the beer money on, and what isn't? (Note - this is for a radio for home, not a car radio.)
Thanks.
Oli.
P.S. I get the impression that DAB radio is a controversial subject on here - please don't let this descend into a "Digital Radio isn't as good as FM", "No, it's better", "No, it's worse" debate ... thanks!
Digital radio (DAB) is actually worse in quality than standard FM transmissions. The bandwidth that is allocated to each station, particularly on the BBC, is frankly disgusting.
Personally, I wouldn't bother mate. Waste of time - you're better off listening to the radio through a satellite or cable set top box, by taking the audio from the phono sockets most have on the back, to a small amp and speakers. Much better quality.
Personally, I wouldn't bother mate. Waste of time - you're better off listening to the radio through a satellite or cable set top box, by taking the audio from the phono sockets most have on the back, to a small amp and speakers. Much better quality.
Parrot of doom said:
Digital radio (DAB) is actually worse in quality than standard FM transmissions. The bandwidth that is allocated to each station, particularly on the BBC, is frankly disgusting.
Personally, I wouldn't bother mate. Waste of time - you're better off listening to the radio through a satellite or cable set top box, by taking the audio from the phono sockets most have on the back, to a small amp and speakers. Much better quality.
Depends on the application if it is for your main hifi then agreed a cable or sat feed will be much better. However if portability is required and the radio is only to be used for background entertainment then the convenience of a portable DAB radio is hard to beat.
Agreed on the BBC bitrates, absolutely shocking
Ben
Suggest you look at the thread I started a while back. DAB in this country is running up a blind alley caused by short sighted development.
www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=205558
www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=205558
Hi, one of my pressies last year was a Roberts DAB - the portable one. I use it every day and think it's great. Much better than listening on the PC. The one I have is the predecessor to this one
www.robertsradio.co.uk/rd14.htm
HTH
Dave
406TM
www.robertsradio.co.uk/rd14.htm
HTH
Dave
406TM
telecat said:
Suggest you look at the thread I started a while back. DAB in this country is running up a blind alley caused by short sighted development.
www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=205558
As the original poster stated they did not want to get into a DAB is worst than FM debate. Fact is at whatever quality much more content is available on DAB, it is content that drives radio sales and why most people buy a DAB radio not sound quality.
Ben
benyeats said:
Suggest you look at the thread I started a while back. DAB in this country is running up a blind alley caused by short sighted development.
www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=205558
As the original poster stated they did not want to get into a DAB is worst than FM debate. Fact is at whatever quality much more content is available on DAB, it is content that drives radio sales and why most people buy a DAB radio not sound quality.
Ben
As stated you could end up with a unit that will be Obsolete sooner than you think.
telecat said:
Suggest you look at the thread I started a while back. DAB in this country is running up a blind alley caused by short sighted development.
www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=205558
As the original poster stated they did not want to get into a DAB is worst than FM debate. Fact is at whatever quality much more content is available on DAB, it is content that drives radio sales and why most people buy a DAB radio not sound quality.
Ben
As stated you could end up with a unit that will be Obsolete sooner than you think.
No you couldn't the install base is around 1 million in the UK with no replacement technology on the immediate horizon. Perhaps it will be replace in 10 years but that is a good innings for a cheap bit of consumer electronics kit. A good bit of future proofing is probably to buy a unit that can receive both Band III and L-Band signals as future UK DAB spectrum may be on L-Band.
Ben
I bought a portable radio from ASDA a few weeks ago. It has DAB and FM and cost £30. So far so good and for general use it's fine, although the speakers are tinny and the 2.5W output doesn't ruffle any feathers. Having said that I plugged it into my Arcam Alpha amplifier and it sounds fine - DAB sounds *much* better for me as I have bad FM reception here. Get loads more stations as well.
At some point I will get a proper hifi sized DAB tuner, but for the time being this one is great. It's ASDA's own brand one - "Dual" I think.
At some point I will get a proper hifi sized DAB tuner, but for the time being this one is great. It's ASDA's own brand one - "Dual" I think.
benyeats said:
Suggest you look at the thread I started a while back. DAB in this country is running up a blind alley caused by short sighted development.
www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=205558
As the original poster stated they did not want to get into a DAB is worst than FM debate. Fact is at whatever quality much more content is available on DAB, it is content that drives radio sales and why most people buy a DAB radio not sound quality.
Ben
The OP also stated that the radio was for his wife to listen to Radio 4 and that she thinks Radio 4 on FM "lacks depth". Unless that means she doesn't like missing the shipping forecasts I can only interpret it as a comment on the sound quality, and Radio 4 on DAB will be like Radio 4 on FM only it won't sound as good.
roop said:
I bought a portable radio from ASDA a few weeks ago. It has DAB and FM and cost £30. So far so good and for general use it's fine, although the speakers are tinny and the 2.5W output doesn't ruffle any feathers. Having said that I plugged it into my Arcam Alpha amplifier and it sounds fine - DAB sounds *much* better for me as I have bad FM reception here. Get loads more stations as well.
At some point I will get a proper hifi sized DAB tuner, but for the time being this one is great. It's ASDA's own brand one - "Dual" I think.
What Never heard of the Dual CS505 Turntable????? Many of them were partnered with the original Alphas.
Let's pin down what's wrong here. How does she listen to radio at the moment? Portable, Ghetto blaster, via Hi-Fi?? I agree that digital can sound good and a good Freeview reciever could be the answer if She listens at home. Any Portable solution may depend on the Headphones and a decent tuner/aerial. Feed the forum some info and lets work on it!!
>> Edited by telecat on Thursday 1st December 19:51
>> Edited by telecat on Thursday 1st December 19:51
Chaps,
OP here. (Bit of a pun that actually, as I am the original poster, but my initials are OP as well ... cool, huh!)
Back to the topic.
The "Lacks Depth" comment was a bit tongue-in-cheek, Mrs zcacogp thinks that things will be so much better with DAB. Sound quality, news quality, comedy quality, content quality and all the rest of it. "The News Quiz" will be just so wittier when heard digitally, don't cha know, dahlin'. So, it's really not about sound quality at all ...
The reason for wanting DAB is that we always seem to struggle with getting a good signal on the current radio set-ups. We listen on three sets in the house, as follows:
A Midi system, in the bedroom, circa 1990. OK sound quality, but with a wire ariel which stick out of the back and is tacked up the wall. Reception is very variable depending upon where you stand in the room, what you are wearing, what the weather is like, whether the cat has sneezed recently etc etc etc.
A very old transistor radio in the kitchen. This was my grandmothers' when I was little, and it is there as a bit of memorabilia more than anything else. Rigid "mast" type ariel at the back, offer really pretty good reception all in all.
A radio part of the components HiFi in the lounge. Not sure what sort of ariel this has, but reception is consistently good.
Mrs zcacogp is keen to replace the radio Midi system with a DAB system - mainly because it will be smaller, tidier and (she thinks) offer consistently bombproof reception.
I am aware of the timing issue which will prevent having a DAB radio and an analogue radio on in the house at the same time. (Shame - one of my favourite parts of the weekend is to have R4 on in all rooms at once. My jokes about "The News Quiz" at the start were aimed at me as much as anyone else.)
Oli.
OP here. (Bit of a pun that actually, as I am the original poster, but my initials are OP as well ... cool, huh!)
Back to the topic.
The "Lacks Depth" comment was a bit tongue-in-cheek, Mrs zcacogp thinks that things will be so much better with DAB. Sound quality, news quality, comedy quality, content quality and all the rest of it. "The News Quiz" will be just so wittier when heard digitally, don't cha know, dahlin'. So, it's really not about sound quality at all ...
The reason for wanting DAB is that we always seem to struggle with getting a good signal on the current radio set-ups. We listen on three sets in the house, as follows:
A Midi system, in the bedroom, circa 1990. OK sound quality, but with a wire ariel which stick out of the back and is tacked up the wall. Reception is very variable depending upon where you stand in the room, what you are wearing, what the weather is like, whether the cat has sneezed recently etc etc etc.
A very old transistor radio in the kitchen. This was my grandmothers' when I was little, and it is there as a bit of memorabilia more than anything else. Rigid "mast" type ariel at the back, offer really pretty good reception all in all.
A radio part of the components HiFi in the lounge. Not sure what sort of ariel this has, but reception is consistently good.
Mrs zcacogp is keen to replace the radio Midi system with a DAB system - mainly because it will be smaller, tidier and (she thinks) offer consistently bombproof reception.
I am aware of the timing issue which will prevent having a DAB radio and an analogue radio on in the house at the same time. (Shame - one of my favourite parts of the weekend is to have R4 on in all rooms at once. My jokes about "The News Quiz" at the start were aimed at me as much as anyone else.)
Oli.
To sum up it will probably not sound as good as FM as long as you have decent FM reception. (although it does not sound like you do). On the plus side you will have a load more stations and therefore choice. If you will only be listening to R4 then spending the cash on a decent FM antenna will be a better investment.
Most people I speak to with DAB radios are very happy with them as I am sure you / your wife will be as it does not sound like it is to replace a decent FM hifi setup.
Ben
Most people I speak to with DAB radios are very happy with them as I am sure you / your wife will be as it does not sound like it is to replace a decent FM hifi setup.
Ben
Parrot of doom said:
You will not get better reception. It will be worse.
Its a fact that a noisy analogue transmission is easier to listen to than a noisy digital transmission.
If you want to improve your reception, put an antenna on the roof (or in the loft space) and connect it to your radio.
The DAB signal comes from a different Tx than the FM one so it is a little disingenous to say it will be worst. DAB is designed to be inherrently more resistant of the multipath that is often the cause of poor FM reception.
However DAB (or any digital broadcast system) tends to be more 'all or nothing' than analogue systems and can sound pretty nasty on the edge of the signal reception area so next advice is to make sure their is a decent DAB signal in your area.
Ben
A properly installed DAB Tuner unit(like the Sony St SDB-900) with a dedicated DAB roof aerial , with the digital optical sound output routed to decent Amp sounds fantastic in my experience.The same unit does FM , and the DAB transmission is miles better on the same station.
If the reception is cr@p don't blame DAB for goodness sake , I happened to be lucky to live on the higher part of town where my aerial gets the best signal with no obstructions.
The channel choice is amazing and suits all tastes.It's almost like listening to a CD player.
>> Edited by allnighter on Friday 2nd December 00:34
If the reception is cr@p don't blame DAB for goodness sake , I happened to be lucky to live on the higher part of town where my aerial gets the best signal with no obstructions.
The channel choice is amazing and suits all tastes.It's almost like listening to a CD player.
>> Edited by allnighter on Friday 2nd December 00:34
In my experience, DAB always sounds good if the signal's OK (not getting into hifi here, I mean as a radio that's on, usually in the background, and I listen to the radio constantly when I'm at home, usually 4 or 7). The analogue signal where I live is variable, and, although the sound quality is better when it's good, it is unlistenable more often than DAB is - much more noticeable with LW than FM (TMS, obviously).
If that makes any sense.
When the DAB signal is bad, it frequently cuts out, or descends into meaningless wow & flutter noises, but the signal really is poor here for anything (no mobile reception in the village for orange/vodafone or O2). The cutting out doesn't happen that often, and certainly didn't stop me buying a second set for upstairs.
Both of mine are pure ones - an Evoke + speaker in the kitchen and a Tempus 1 in the bedroom, and I can't fault them at all - excellent pieces of kit, although I think the Roberts ones look nicer (never heard them - didn't wait for the leather-bound one to come out - so can't compare the sound).
If you listen to the radio a lot, it's a thing worth having.
If that makes any sense.
When the DAB signal is bad, it frequently cuts out, or descends into meaningless wow & flutter noises, but the signal really is poor here for anything (no mobile reception in the village for orange/vodafone or O2). The cutting out doesn't happen that often, and certainly didn't stop me buying a second set for upstairs.
Both of mine are pure ones - an Evoke + speaker in the kitchen and a Tempus 1 in the bedroom, and I can't fault them at all - excellent pieces of kit, although I think the Roberts ones look nicer (never heard them - didn't wait for the leather-bound one to come out - so can't compare the sound).
If you listen to the radio a lot, it's a thing worth having.
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