Dab radio

[biggs682]

pure dab all way round house great reception at all time

 

[derrick]

FM is only better if you don't mind spending big bucks, a cheap fm portable is not as good as a cheap portable Dab, apart from battery life.
have a dab tuner pluged into the hi fi and sound is great.

 

[User482]

FM is only better if you don't mind spending big bucks, a cheap fm portable is not as good as a cheap portable Dab, apart from battery life.
have a dab tuner pluged into the hi fi and sound is great.

I think that's probably right: for ultimate quality, you can't beat a good FM tuner with external aerial, running into a stereo amp. But for the rest of us who listen to radio on portable sets, usually whilst doing other things, DAB fits the bill nicely. On a personal note, being able to get the cricket commentary on 5live extra is infinitely preferable to R4 on LW.

 

[Bromptonaut]

We got one onks ago for the kitchen which is an FM deadspot. Works OK but signal is either there or not with a very narrow margin of 'blocky' reception between. Useless on batteries; takes D cells and they're gone in a week - modern sets may be better.

Other than for addnl stations it's no advance on FM, indeed sound quality is worse (but a little better than AM). If you have more than one radio on at once they're out of sync, not just analogue to DAB but DAB/DAB too.

And as somebody else says UK was an early adopter of DAB and we're using different tech standards to rest of Europe.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

DAB's good round our way - FM was never a brilliant reception.
And never mind the kbs rate - when you've got Planet Zep on at full blast, who's gonna tell the difference.

 

[brockers]

I'm with Uncle Mort and User482 on this. But don't forget it's all about the encoding used too, i.e., more kb/s does not necessarily translate directly into better sound. Our UK DAB still uses old MP2 compression, and you might say 192 kb/s MP2 is equivalent to 128kb/s (or less) AAC - which is the encoding you get on Freeview and on t'internet radio. However, I'm reluctant to admit that 192kb/s on Freeview through a half decent hi-fi sounds better to my ears than FM (high gain aerial in loft with line-of-sight to Crystal Palace transmitter which is all of three miles away, and a good FM tuner). 'Better' being greater stereo separation, dynamism and bass resolution.

I'd use DAB for a bedside radio or for the bathroom because of the convenience, but I'm more than happy with Freeview, FM, and internet radio if I really want to sit down to listen. And because of the hoo-ha about the FM signal being switched off, and the proposition of millions of little trannies ending up in land-fill, I read somewhere that it's been put back a couple of years and might not even happen at all.

 

[marinyork]

I'm with Uncle Mort and User482 on this. But don't forget it's all about the encoding used too, i.e., more kb/s does not necessarily translate directly into better sound. Our UK DAB still uses old MP2 compression, and you might say 192 kb/s MP2 is equivalent to 128kb/s (or less) AAC - which is the encoding you get on Freeview and on t'internet radio. However, I'm reluctant to admit that 192kb/s on Freeview through a half decent hi-fi sounds better to my ears than FM (high gain aerial in loft with line-of-sight to Crystal Palace transmitter which is all of three miles away, and a good FM tuner). 'Better' being greater stereo separation, dynamism and bass resolution.

Technically speaking if you say freeview, you are more or less correct. The commercial stations AFAIK and the 'other' bbc stations on DTT aren't at 192kbs. They are/were at a mix of 128, 96 and 160kbs. DAB would have been a lot more acceptable were it DAB+. Even AAC is very 'old' now. That is the sobering thought.

 

[brockers]

^ I think was referring to Radio 3 on Freeview (and Late Junction specifically - worth the license fee alone in my view!) at 192kb/s, but I'm aware that other BBC stations use a lower bandwidth. (Is there a correlation between bums on seats and number of kilobytes per sec, or is it the posher the channel, the higher the quality? Anybody know?)

For all your DAB conspiracy theory needs, you need look no further than here:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/

(And how in God's name does one insert a hyperlink on this new, all singin', all dancin' CC? )

Edit: Found it by going into edit.

 

[pepecat]

We have a Ferguson DAB radio and it is complete crap. Crackling and popping and all sorts, regardless of where it is in the kitchen and at what angle the ariel is. We also have a small Roberts one that someone gave us, and it is magnificent. Wherever it is in the house - kitchen or otherwise - the stations are clear as a bell.
I reckon the make of radio as well as where you live and signal strength etc also have a bearing on the quality of the sound. DO NOT buy a ferguson!

 

[brokenflipflop]

I bought a Roberts DAB and I'm very happy with it. It cost me £140 because it has wi-fi but I don't know why I got one with the wi-fi because I've not bothered to use that facility and the normal DAB version was only £85 which I wish I had got. A few weeks ago I won a Pure Dab on radio 2 popmaster but compared to my Roberts it's crap. I think like most stuff (cycling stuff excluded of course) you get what you pay for.

 

[col]

I listen to popmaster most mornings,Probably heard you? Im crap at it though.
I would be using the radio while out driving so wondered if a dab would be suitable. Im leaning towards this type for my Ipod,http://www.amazon.co.uk/Griffin-GC17088-Radio-iPhone-iPod/dp/B003ERT46W but again I dont know about performance or the ipods battery life with this in use?
Also Roberts seems to be the way to go if its a dab.

 

[NormanD]

Here might well be an option for people looking to buy a DAB for the first time

 

[derrick]

Here might well be an option for people looking to buy a DAB for the first time

That is going to sound crap.

 

[brokenflipflop]

I listen to popmaster most mornings,Probably heard you? Im crap at it though.
I would be using the radio while out driving so wondered if a dab would be suitable. Im leaning towards this type for my Ipod,http://www.amazon.co.uk/Griffin-GC17088-Radio-iPhone-iPod/dp/B003ERT46W but again I dont know about performance or the ipods battery life with this in use?
Also Roberts seems to be the way to go if its a dab.

I'm quite crap too, on that day my opponent was crapper than me and the 3 in ten was the easiest one I've ever heard so I got lucky. The Pure one dab I won is good for work and I use it in my van. The down side? I had to buy a chargeable battery for it (it didn't come with one - mains only) and it was £25. The good news is it lasts ages.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

+1 for the Pure One I have the Pure One Classic in rubber