DAB delight: digital radios under £20, plus top big brand deals

Paulo1982

Hi just thought I'd share sum light on why the cheap DAB radio can no longer be found on the argos website at the lower price, This is because argos update their prices every wednesday, for when their new brochures come out. So when this thead began, it would of been available, probably for a couple of weeks previously. unfortunatley most of us received the email weds. oh well.

djbd1973

competitionscafe wrote: »

Agreed. I mostly listen to BBC Radio 5 live (I work from home) as well as XFM and occassionally Radio 4 - - buying a DAB radio is one of the best purchases I have ever made - sound quality of BBC five on am is awful, it's crystal clear on Dab.
XFM Scotland and Radio 4 are at least as good as my FM reception radio (which is a decent quality model) if not better. In fact i was so impressed I bought another Dab radio so I can have Dab in different rooms (both on mains power). My first one is a Creative Soundworks 500 Dab which was on offer at £40 at amazon about a year ago (Not sure if they still make this model) the second one is Pure One which only has one speaker and not as good sound quality as the Creative but still decent and way better than am for BBC Radio 5.

At work, we can only receive one local station that is clear enough to hear properly but colleagues in the next part of the building have a digital radio and can pick up many stations such as XFM and it so much better to have the choice.

snipkin

I have had DAB radios for some years and the sound quality is good in that there is a really deep silence (no hiss) but not so good in that most stations are broadcast at low bitrates which can be annoying if you have sensitive ears. Radio 5 of course is an improvement on the AM analogue signal - but Radio 4 is worse to my ears. Only Radio 3 broadcasts at anything like a decent bitrate (most of the time at 192, whereas most stations are at 128 or less). DAB in the UK is broadcast using an old, now outdated, standard.

If sound quality is paramount and you have (or are thinking of getting) wi-fi broadband, I would advise ignoring DAB altogether and going for a wi-fi radio. You get thousands of radio stations via the internet (and worldwide) including all the usual BBC etc stations - mostly at far higher quality than DAB. This is probably the future of broadcasting. Most wi-fi radios are over £100 still but are getting cheaper. They pick up the signal from your wi-fi router - you do not need to have your computer on. See a recent review of six wifi radios in the Sunday Times at http://!!!!!!!.com/1vk58

royalsteve

bearfreeman wrote: »

While DAB seems a good idea, it's an old standard and has already been superceded by DAB +. DAB radios will not be able to receive DAB + broadcasts.

Not true, some DAB radios are supposedly (a cynic, yes!!) upgradeable to DAB+ (tho it isnt widely advertised which are/arent - tho generally those DAB sets that are on offer at the mo seem to be the ones that arent - eg i believe the Pure One isnt upgradeable)

royalsteve

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

I don't care how cheap DAB radios become, I would never buy one as they are inferior to Analogue radios. The sound quality from the DAB transmission is awful low bitrate MP2 compression and no DAB radio can reproduce it to sound as good as FM. Theres a nasty metallic sound to DAB and it lacks top end. DAB radios are only really useful in a kitchen or environment where the terrible sound quality won't be noticed.

You don't get hiss on FM provided you have a decent signal but on DAB when you lose the signal you get a nasty burbling sound like you are underwater.

I wouldn't have a DAB radio if somebody paid me to have it.

it amazes me that people go all techie on this.....who cares about the bit rate is lower on DAB - it works perfectly for me - i listen to the football commentary on the local bbc fm station, bbc berkshire - fm reception (yes far superior bitrate-who cares) is hissy, crackly and sometimes i cant tune in to it on my roberts radio, but of course its better quality, yeh but not if i cant tune in is it dur!!....but with dab (yes lower quality) - i get perfect commentary...so for me DAB wins hands down!

i mean what would you prefer a porsche that breaks down every 10 yards (FM) or a trusty vauxhall vectra that never breaks down (DAB)?

royalsteve

pioneer31 wrote: »

DAB's days are already numbered.

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/articles/DAB+-likely-to-launch-in-the-UK-in-the-next-3-years.php

the chances of it happening in that timeframe are:-
a) no chance
b) fat chance
c) f all chance

brownhandbag

Here's my take on DAB, we have had them for around 3 years.

Brilliant! for some people........ if you like spoken word so BBC 4/7 oneword 5live etc. Great for where you struggle with Radio 4 on FM and Local Radio.
But not hot for music especially classical stuff cause the signal is compressed. Here you get the same problem as you do with CD's versus records, the detail is lost.

Advice from me is borrow one and see what coverage you can get as it does still vary and we have the Pure Tempus -1 and Pure Move which is fab. We can even pick up stuff on Lundy Island

Have to say the radio is sooooo much better than TV but even then you still get the BBC repeats.

codger

We had DAB early on and haven't been impressed (Sony). Reason: the equipment (and, crucially, speaker) did nothing at all to dress up DAB's basic flaw: high compression / low quality audio signal.

DAB's okay for station choice, but as a sit-back-and-enjoy listening experience, no, it doesn't compare with FM. Or so we thought. . .

Last week, we happened to visit some friends where we encountered a DAB radio called the Evoke 3 from a British manufacturer called PURE.

The radio costs between £150 and £200. And aside from all the clever things it can do (like allowing DAB broadcasts up to a week in advance to be scheduled for recording onto an SD card), its electronics, and its twin hi-fi speakers, made us realise that -- with the right equipment -- DAB can indeed be a quality listening experience.

Were we now in the market for DAB, we'd be looking at the same price range (and the model) as our friends; as we're not, we'll live with what we've got, and continue to record the Freeview radio stations, as and when appropriate, where bit rate / compression is nothing like as poor.

More than ever though, we're stuck with the thought that these repeated MSE threads about "cheap DAB" radios are, though well-intentioned, sadly misplaced, and could lead to money-wasting rather than money-saving.

The receiver technology, and the speaker build-quality, that informs something like that PURE Evoke 3 does not, because it cannot, come cheap -- and it's certainly not present in bargain-basement sets.

DAB, spelt backwards, is BAD.

Which is the inevitable outcome of approaching this kind of radio purchase in a similarly contrary fashion: of looking out for something that's spelt out as cheap. . . instead of looking for something that's spelt out as quality.

:eek:

pippppster

I would be surprised if MiserlyMartin experienced a faulty DAB. They are one of the most overrated products I have come across, and if you have a half-decent audio setup with a good FM reception, FM wins hands down.

pippppster

Codger

Many of Martin Lewis' "grab this, grab that" exhortations are totally misplaced, namely because he is actually saying "grab this, grab that piece of cheap rubbish"