Great DAB Radio Hunt

webdigga

Please read reviews about Scan online. I had a really bad experience with them and I clearly wasn't the only one!

quoia wrote:

I bought one of these portables when it was on the "Today only" special price from Scan computers.

http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/

Specifically the "smallest DAB radio in the world" - the Adapt (Perstel) DR-101 Portable DAB Radio

It was discussed here at the time
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=55076

Cost me £38.72 (inc VAT)

Currently £45 +vat = £52.88

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=83317

davet_3

never had any probs with scan personally

Ian_Robinson

I'm very impressed with this Alba one from Argos. £49.99, so a little more than some others but unlike most it has DAB/FM/MW, CD, tape, and remote control. The sound is excellent and it's a handy portable. If it had live pause and rewind, it'd be perfect...

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5129539.htm

Litotes

Alba is a brand of Bush (or is it the other way round) and from my dealings with Bush I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

I had a Bush alarm clock radio and about 13 months after I bought it the radio stopped working completely.

I searched on the web and found that this was quite common. I wrote to Bush asking if they would replace / repair the radio and as yet, having resent the email half a dozen times... I am still waiting.

Thus I would steer clear of Alba / Bush and any other associated brands.

al_yrpal

There is much talk of "low price" on this forum (as usual), but little talk of quality.
For anyone with a SKY box there is no need to waste money on the inferior quality of DAB radio.

There has been lots of disappointment suffered by radio afficionados about the poor quality of DAB radio braodcasts. The reason for this is apparently that too many radio stations are crammed into the available spectrum. I have no such problem. I used to have SKY, and decided that it was a load of expensive old rubbish plagued by intrusive adverts. So, I cancelled after a year and was left with all the free to air stations. This service via satellite includes all the radio stations. There are absolutely no quality problems with Digital Radio through the satellite. Every channel is clear as a bell, and the sound quality through the surround sound amplifier attached to my TV is wonderful.

Why waste cash on DAB which is a big step down from FM?

L.S.D.

Webdigger... I also had a problem with 'SCAN' it cost me a fortune in phone calls & they still owe me over £10-00. This was two years ago & I will never use them again. I have seen similar remarks on many forums. Stay well clear.


al_yrpal... I also have both Sky & Freeview for the radio BUT DAB has lots of local & national channels that are not on either SKY or Freeview.

DAB is not a step down from SKY, in fact SKY sounds highly compressed to me, & DAB is certainly not a step down from FM.

Daniel_B

Hows about this from empire direct - £59.99 with a CD player as well:

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index~modelcode~GOO-GPS185DAB.htm

Mike-C_2

p4psb wrote:

I am looking for a 'Boom Box' style DAB Radio with CD Player. In addition it MUST have a clock with alarm.
Any suggestions gratefully received.

If by "Boom Box" you mean something like the Ministry of Sound MOSRC023 - Portable Boombox - With CD & DAB Radio, £60, it does not have an alarm and I very much doubt that you will get an alarm on a portable.

However M of S also do a Cube Micro System with DAB, FM, MW, CD/MP3 player, 2 speakers plus sub woofer, and remote, for £95 which includes delivery. Great sound but comes in one colour only, white.

If you check out the spec you will find no mention of an "alarm", nor is it mentioned in the User manual. However it has the next best thing, a "Daily Timer" feature which will switch the set on and off at preset times of day, so with the volume suitably set it should be capable of waking you up. However, unlike a full featured "alarm" system, there is no Snooze button, or gentle fade-in of volume. There is also a sleep timer function.

The sound is really pretty good although we have never pushed it to the volume limit - no need - and it has had mainly good reviews on Amazon. Particular praise for the clarity of DAB.

More info at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001RBVFK/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1/202-7690698-2323004

When it launched (c 2004) it was closer to £300 so it is in my view a steal at £95, providing of course that you like white.

axean

L.S.D. wrote:

DAB is not a step down from SKY, in fact SKY sounds highly compressed to me, & DAB is certainly not a step down from FM.

I'm afraid DAB is a step down from Sky/Freeview. DAB could and should be superior, offering CD quality sound, but it doesnt. The UK started DAB too early (about 10 years ago) and using technology that was then dated.. A hell of a lot happend in the last ten years. The result is dab stations that have inferior quality compared to the best fm signal.
The language we use mp2 is out of date, and the bit-rates (around 128kbs) too low. Freeview/Sky use around 192/160kbs mp2

So...DAB uses 128kps.....freeview/sky use around 192kpbs
Freeview/Sky is better :beer:

Using the latest "language" AAC+, DAB's 128kbs would give us CD quality, but to get CD quality from mp2 would need a bit-rate of 256kbs

And it gets worst, when looking for the link below I saw that has ofcom just given a ruling allowing DAB stations to reduce their quality even further to only 112kbs. :T :rotfl:

If your freeview/sky radio sound worse than your DAB player then there its probably to do with your set-top box or speakers

This website explains the details, there is a lot of information on the site. Its an exellent site, worth adding to your favorites/bookmarks.
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/index.htm

And this is about Australia anouncing they wont go down the same path as the brits who now have a "legacy issue"
http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=291597

edit:Something else I remembered
Sky have launched a type of portable radio that links with your sky box. This means you can listen to sky radio channels all around your house, at distances up to 30m. quality better than DAB and more stations
http://www1.sky.com/skygnome/

al_yrpal

Everyone reckons DAB is a choice of quantity(of stations) over quality. I'lll stick to my SKY box, or, my FM tuner, DAB is rubbish.

If you are in any doubt read these:-
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?action=search2
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1073916113/15