DAB radio under £15. DAB Alarm clock under £20

Cad wrote: »

Speaking as an ex-BBC audio engineer, I'm always puzzled by the assertion that analogue FM inherently 'sounds better' than DAB.

...

By comparison, the MP2 signal sent via DAB has no high-frequency filtering, and the signal-to-noise ratio can easily be 60dB or more (that's nine times better, not four times, for any non-techies ). Sure, the 128kbps streaming rate may not result in exactly as good a sound as from CD, but the vast majority of people simply can't hear any difference, despite what MP3 'snobs' claim.

Secondly, whilst FM exciters (correct name for transmitters) are 'transparent' in the sense that they neither add nor subtract anything from the signal presented to them, that signal invariably goes through one or more audio enhancement processors on its journey from studio to exciter, otherwise the signal would sound very weedy and MUCH noisier. So it it not correct to say that it is possible to hear 'exactly what was coming out of the studio' unless you mean the enhanced/rocessed version after it has travelled through the widgets post-studio.

Also remember that nowadays, many radio stations use 128kbps MP3 files to store music on their studio playout systems, so logically you'll never hear better than that 128kbps MP3 quality regardless of the transmission medium (DAB or FM)!

My personal opinion is that DAB—whenever I've heard it, anyway—delivers much better sound quality than analogue FM transmissions. Obviously, the internal amplifier and speaker in a £15 unit is unlikely to sound wonderful; but equally, I've always wondered why 'Pure' brand DAB radios have such a good reputation when their built-in speakers and amps don't exactly fall into the 'audiophile' category either (in my personal opinion).

Just my two-penn'orth. No need to call out a lynch mob!
--
BFN
CAD

The signal-to-noise ratio doesn't really matter unless you are listening in a quiet room, and when you are listening in those situations, the major shortcoming of DAB as broadcast in Britain becomes very apparent.

The problem with DAB is it is not even 128kbps MP3-- a quality most people no longer use for downloaded music as 192kbps AAC (a more advanced codec and a higher bitrate) is becoming commonplace. 192kbps MP3 is generally also considered good quality (not as good as AAC, but good enough). Artifacts can become noticeable when you drop down to 128kbps MP3 though, which is why anyone who cares about their music wouldn't encode it at that quality.

The problem is that with MP2 audio which is used on DAB, you need 192kbps to match the quality of 128kbps MP3. MP2 is an ancient format dating back before the introduction of DVDs (it is the audio codec used on them). 128kbps MP2 is generally considered equivalent in blind-tests to MP3 at a bitrate of around 80-96kbps, in other words a quality far below what a good VHF FM tuner can reproduce with a good signal, and a quality with very noticeable artifacts in difficult sections of music.

If they replaced DAB 128kbps MP2 with 128kbps AAC, then I would say it can match the best FM tuner in delivering audio with the minimum of artifacts (DAB) / noise (analogue FM). I'm afraid that DAB will never replace my FM tuner here in the meantime as I know that it would be downgrading the quality. Radio on DTT Freeview is much superior as it generally uses 192kbps MP2 which at least brings it up to a quality level equivalent to 128kbps MP3-- not perfect but good enough for most people.

Personally I'd say start again with both systems, H264 for DTT Freeview, and AAC for DAB, but it seems by adopting them early, we are doomed to go down the road of outdated codecs.

I use DAB for BBC Radio 2, 4, 5, 5extra and 7, as well as TalkSport and Virgin. These are all either poor quality in my area or not available on FM. I'm perfectly happy with the quality.

DAB for portability, not for audio quality.

Digital audio via Freeview for quality, definitely not for portability.

DAB for stations that aren't available on FM, and DAB for stations you can't get anyway in areas of poor FM reception.

And which DAB radio? Either the budget models. Or the very top-end. The middle sector is a waste of money: sonically they don't perform like the top-end models because of the inadequacy of their speaker; performance-wise, what they pull in isn't better than the twenty-quid affairs.

As to DAB itself: it was always going to get caught out, pretending to the consumer that, equivalently, the best of modern motoring in 2004 was a Ford Escort circa 1984.

It's old old old old. . . but guess what: it still runs, so rejecting it out of hand because it could, and should, have been so much better really is cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.

DAB is going to die. Once you try an internet radio, with over 10,000 stations and access to the BBC Listen Again facility, you'll never even think about DAB. Many of the streams are much better quality than DAB too. Germany has abandoned DAB.

If you have a wifi network it really is a no brainer. My internet radio, the IR100, cost £45 from PC World. You can get a version that plugs into your stereo from Currys for £35.

Once you try an internet radio you will never buy another DAB. And a radio without the ability to upgrade to DAB+ will need to be replaced too.

You are probably correct, but internet radio is zillion miles away from a clock radio so that grandad can listen to the cricket in bed at 4.30 in the morning from NZ without the hiss.

Let's look at the costs, 300 quid for a computer, 20 quid a month for the tinternet, 40 quid for your gizmo-radio-thingy - or 15 quid at tesco's for a plug and play box for the kids bedroom. Oh and that assumes you don't live in the sticks and can still only get 512 or 1mb broadband.

Plese keep the product in perspective.

musical_norwich wrote: »

DAB is going to die. Once you try an internet radio, with over 10,000 stations and access to the BBC Listen Again facility, you'll never even think about DAB. Many of the streams are much better quality than DAB too. Germany has abandoned DAB.

If you have a wifi network it really is a no brainer. My internet radio, the IR100, cost £45 from PC World. You can get a version that plugs into your stereo from Currys for £35.

Once you try an internet radio you will never buy another DAB. And a radio without the ability to upgrade to DAB+ will need to be replaced too.