looking for a good sounding DAB radio

spaceboy

At a low price. Any suggestions?

BillTrac

It seems Roberts have a good reputation. You could try their website

penrhyn

Something from the Pure range.
The Evoke series sound good.

coolagarry

These are which Best Buys
Pure EVOKE-2S £165
Dualit DAB Kitchen Radio £149
Roberts Ecologic 3 £68
Pure Avanti Flow £224
Pure Evoke Mio £110
Roberts Elise £45
Intempo RDi £90
Roberts Stream 202 - WM202 £126
Vita Audio R1 £130
Roberts Sound 80 £99
Pure Evoke Flow £118
Pure Evoke-1S £75.

The report also mentions a lot of radios that they recommend that you do not buy so it may be worth your while reading the report in your library

BillTrac

coolagarry wrote: »

These are which Best Buys
Pure EVOKE-2S £165
Dualit DAB Kitchen Radio £149
Roberts Ecologic 3 £68
Pure Avanti Flow £224
Pure Evoke Mio £110
Roberts Elise £45
Intempo RDi £90
Roberts Stream 202 - WM202 £126
Vita Audio R1 £130
Roberts Sound 80 £99
Pure Evoke Flow £118
Pure Evoke-1S £75.

The report also mentions a lot of radios that they recommend that you do not buy so it may be worth your while reading the report in your library

oh come on! You could have suggested something..:rotfl:

lots of good products there

totalsolutions

A good sound from DAB, you must be kidding, right ?

HO87

totalsolutions wrote: »

A good sound from DAB, you must be kidding, right ?

I'm afraid I have to agree. We had a Pure Evoke IIRC. Changed it to one of the Roberts models but that was no better. If you can actually get a signal the stereo wavers in and out as if its an old AM set in the middle of the night and given that we simply cannot get a signal at the rear of the house it was an expensive waste of space - and we live within sight of the transmitter. Its all very well being serenaded whilst doing one's ablutions but not being able to listen to anything whilst sitting at my desk was a p.i.t.a. After 6 weeks it was returned and we got our money back and reverted to using the old Sony FM trannie - uninterrupted stereo all day and a damned sight cheaper too. No reflection on the sets it was (and neighbours tell us it still is) a crap signal - despite what the Beeb and the rest of the DAB brigade tell you.

spaceboy

Well I do know that DAB is low mp3 quality, but my parents have a TEAC DAB they bought years ago that sounds acceptable.

The main problem with DAB is it uses a compression codec from the mid 90s which is very inefficient, and this is why they use up batteries so fast. The BBC were foolish to back DAB when it wasnt ready. DAB+ is better but the BBC screwed the UK up in this respect.

Anyway I'd still like a DAB radio but dont want to pay too much. It would be nice to have access to all those stations outside in the garden with an extension lead.

lilac_lady

Now that there's going to be a scrappage scheme for older radios so that consumers switch to DAB the government will hope to bring forward the switch over date. I've never heard a good sound from a DAB radio.

eamon

I've heard (last week) various "experts" on the radio talk about DAB. If I've heard it correctly then as the digital switchover gathers more pace then the sevice availablity will improve. I hope they are right as I have 2 x DABS, one being a Sony Hi-Fi separate and the other an Eltax Midi system. The Sony lives in the north facing living room and gets great reception. The Eltax lives in the south facing kitchen/diner and gets dreadful reception.
A radio ham has advised me that the physical geography of my locality is the reason why and is made worse by the transmitters not being up to the job.
Check when your area is getting changed over and wait until then and if possible borrow a portable unit and reception check every room in the house before making your decision.

Eamon

HO87

spaceboy wrote: »

Well I do know that DAB is low mp3 quality, but my parents have a TEAC DAB they bought years ago that sounds acceptable.

The main problem with DAB is it uses a compression codec from the mid 90s which is very inefficient, and this is why they use up batteries so fast.

Ah! That would explain why we went through 4 or 5 sets of batteries in the time we had it then. At that point you couldn't get a mains powered version (other than the hi-fi separates) one of the other reasons why we ditched it.

We certainly won't be rushing back to DAB anytime soon and the cost is one of the chief determinants. At least with the DTV switch over we were able to source cheap set top boxes and given that the technology appears to be the same why do we have to pay £60+ for a DAB radio when to get the same channel on Freeview cost us 17.99? I presume the extra is for a speaker and a bit of wiring. Oh, and a stupidly fancy retro case.

Please excuse any ignorance of electronics but the logic applied to the pricing sort of escapes me.