DAB radio proving to be pretty cr@p

[torres del paine]

In the time that I've had my Denon DAB separate, we've moved house 3 times (SW London and just recently Surrey) and not once has it received a decent number of stations clearly. A fair amount of them are distorted or start off fine but slowly break up until a farting sound is all that's left.

Damn nuisance it is... anyone else not have much luck with it?

Time to get rid I reckon and put the money towards some new speakers for my hifi.

[Will26]

Total waste of money. Mine has never worked properly. I can get about 20 stations in Nottingham. 3 of which are bird song and 3 are Test channels. I hardly ever use it only occasionally if I want to listen to the footy.
I get constant static noise and the slightest change of any furniture sends it wappy. It turns off when cats aproach it and squeels when my son walks near it. Big bag of st

[mybrainhurts]

Another vote for crap...

How does it survive...?

[cjs]

torres del paine said:

In the time that I've had my Denon DAB separate, we've moved house 3 times (SW London and just recently Surrey) and not once has it received a decent number of stations clearly. A fair amount of them are distorted or start off fine but slowly break up until a farting sound is all that's left.

Damn nuisance it is... anyone else not have much luck with it?

Time to get rid I reckon and put the money towards some new speakers for my hifi.

Do you have a decent aerial? Preferably an external DAB aerial? Like FM Tuners they need a good external aerial to get the best reception.

Edited by cjs on Wednesday 18th February 08:03

[Roop]

I have a little 'Onn' portable DAB radio that cost £25 from ASDA about 3 years ago. Had around 20 stations when I was in the UK and around 12 here in CH. Works great. Only gripe is once it's memorised a station you can't get rid of it so my menu still shows all the UK stations. I have it plugged in to some Logitech speaker/sub combo in my garage and it's perfect for when I am out working on the car.

Although not a DAB fan in terms of the sound quality it delivers (although it sounds remarkably good though the Logitech setup), I can barely hear the FM version of the stations I listen to as the signal is so weak, but the DAB comes through crystal clear 100% of the time.

Absolutely no complaints for 25 notes, that's for sure.

[torres del paine]

cjs said:

torres del paine said:

In the time that I've had my Denon DAB separate, we've moved house 3 times (SW London and just recently Surrey) and not once has it received a decent number of stations clearly. A fair amount of them are distorted or start off fine but slowly break up until a farting sound is all that's left.

Damn nuisance it is... anyone else not have much luck with it?

Time to get rid I reckon and put the money towards some new speakers for my hifi.

Do you have a decent aerial? Preferably an external DAB aerial? Like FM Tuners they need a good external aerial to get the best reception.

Edited by cjs on Wednesday 18th February 08:03

No, just an internal one. I did think of going down this route but it's not normally necessary for an FM tuner. My DAB tuner is both and the FM tuner works better with the supplied flexi aerial.

In my experience, I think that DAB is simply too sensitive to location (and compressed).

[telecat]

torres del paine said:

cjs said:

torres del paine said:

In the time that I've had my Denon DAB separate, we've moved house 3 times (SW London and just recently Surrey) and not once has it received a decent number of stations clearly. A fair amount of them are distorted or start off fine but slowly break up until a farting sound is all that's left.

Damn nuisance it is... anyone else not have much luck with it?

Time to get rid I reckon and put the money towards some new speakers for my hifi.

Do you have a decent aerial? Preferably an external DAB aerial? Like FM Tuners they need a good external aerial to get the best reception.

Edited by cjs on Wednesday 18th February 08:03

No, just an internal one. I did think of going down this route but it's not normally necessary for an FM tuner. My DAB tuner is both and the FM tuner works better with the supplied flexi aerial.

In my experience, I think that DAB is simply too sensitive to location (and compressed).

Quality wise the current DAB system is a dead end, DAB+ will replace it despite the UK's "head in the sand" attitude. The presence of Freeview and Internet radio is a BIG problem for DAB. Both are less compressed and most people can get them with better reception. The fact that the BBC/OFCOM push DAB and quietly ignore the other two platforms is criminal and basically shows OFCOM to be a revenue stream rather than a regulator.

[cjs]

torres del paine said:

cjs said:

torres del paine said:

In the time that I've had my Denon DAB separate, we've moved house 3 times (SW London and just recently Surrey) and not once has it received a decent number of stations clearly. A fair amount of them are distorted or start off fine but slowly break up until a farting sound is all that's left.

Damn nuisance it is... anyone else not have much luck with it?

Time to get rid I reckon and put the money towards some new speakers for my hifi.

Do you have a decent aerial? Preferably an external DAB aerial? Like FM Tuners they need a good external aerial to get the best reception.

Edited by cjs on Wednesday 18th February 08:03

No, just an internal one. I did think of going down this route but it's not normally necessary for an FM tuner. My DAB tuner is both and the FM tuner works better with the supplied flexi aerial.

In my experience, I think that DAB is simply too sensitive to location (and compressed).

You do need a decent external aerial, even with FM an internal aerial will give variable results. If your TV aerial is close by then try that, I have used a TV aerial many times for FM and DAB reception.

The main advantage DAB has over FM is a greater choice of stations. As for sound quality, well a good FM signal will offer a warmer nicer sound.

[cjs]

[/quote]


Quality wise the current DAB system is a dead end, DAB+ will replace it despite the UK's "head in the sand" attitude. The presence of Freeview and Internet radio is a BIG problem for DAB. Both are less compressed and most people can get them with better reception. The fact that the BBC/OFCOM push DAB and quietly ignore the other two platforms is criminal and basically shows OFCOM to be a revenue stream rather than a regulator.
[/quote]


DAB is here to stay, DAB+ may well come in but it is years away. There is nothing wrong with DAB as a radio format and many millions of people listen to DAB radios. The vast majority of DAB listeners use a portable radio and this is where DAB excels giving a far greater choice of stations than are available on FM in a clear crackle free format.

Internet radio and Freeview/Sky radio are fine if you are listening through a HiFi or TV or a PC but pretty useless for most radio listeners, you cant have a Freeview box in the kitchen or in the bathroom or in the garage or out in the garden or down the park...

[S7Paul]

cjs said:

you cant have a Freeview box in the kitchen or in the bathroom or in the garage or out in the garden or down the park...

Not entirely true. I have a digital TV in the kitchen and an analogue TV hooked up to a Freeview box and a stereo system in the garage, so I can (and do) listen to digital radio in both of those places.

[telecat]

cjs said:

Quality wise the current DAB system is a dead end, DAB+ will replace it despite the UK's "head in the sand" attitude. The presence of Freeview and Internet radio is a BIG problem for DAB. Both are less compressed and most people can get them with better reception. The fact that the BBC/OFCOM push DAB and quietly ignore the other two platforms is criminal and basically shows OFCOM to be a revenue stream rather than a regulator.

DAB is here to stay, DAB+ may well come in but it is years away. There is nothing wrong with DAB as a radio format and many millions of people listen to DAB radios. The vast majority of DAB listeners use a portable radio and this is where DAB excels giving a far greater choice of stations than are available on FM in a clear crackle free format.

Internet radio and Freeview/Sky radio are fine if you are listening through a HiFi or TV or a PC but pretty useless for most radio listeners, you cant have a Freeview box in the kitchen or in the bathroom or in the garage or out in the garden or down the park...

DAB is dead. The system outside the UK is being dismantled in favour of DAB+. The European working group took one look at the spec and refused to ratify it for use in the wider world. It's sound quality at the low bit rates being used to generate all those stations is crap and coverage is patchy. Having a "clear Crackle free sound" does not mean it's any good and when it does lose signal it just stops.

[Mr_Yogi]

Wasn't DAB originally planned to operate with much higher data rates and have a sound quality comparable with CD, hence products like the TAG DAB tuner which retailed at about £1K?

[cjs]

telecat said:

cjs said:

Quality wise the current DAB system is a dead end, DAB+ will replace it despite the UK's "head in the sand" attitude. The presence of Freeview and Internet radio is a BIG problem for DAB. Both are less compressed and most people can get them with better reception. The fact that the BBC/OFCOM push DAB and quietly ignore the other two platforms is criminal and basically shows OFCOM to be a revenue stream rather than a regulator.

DAB is here to stay, DAB+ may well come in but it is years away. There is nothing wrong with DAB as a radio format and many millions of people listen to DAB radios. The vast majority of DAB listeners use a portable radio and this is where DAB excels giving a far greater choice of stations than are available on FM in a clear crackle free format.

Internet radio and Freeview/Sky radio are fine if you are listening through a HiFi or TV or a PC but pretty useless for most radio listeners, you cant have a Freeview box in the kitchen or in the bathroom or in the garage or out in the garden or down the park...

DAB is dead. The system outside the UK is being dismantled in favour of DAB+. The European working group took one look at the spec and refused to ratify it for use in the wider world. It's sound quality at the low bit rates being used to generate all those stations is crap and coverage is patchy. Having a "clear Crackle free sound" does not mean it's any good and when it does lose signal it just stops.

So if DAB is dead when will it stop broadcasting in the UK? In the UK DAB radios are still selling very well and many millions listen to DAB broadcasts every day. IF any broadcast standard is dead it is analogue radio which will switch off in a few years time in favour of digital.

As for quality, as I have already said, the vast majority listen through small portable radios or radio alarm clocks where the quality is perfectly good.

Edited by cjs on Thursday 19th February 06:02

Edited by cjs on Thursday 19th February 06:03

[cjs]

S7Paul said:

cjs said:

you cant have a Freeview box in the kitchen or in the bathroom or in the garage or out in the garden or down the park...

Not entirely true. I have a digital TV in the kitchen and an analogue TV hooked up to a Freeview box and a stereo system in the garage, so I can (and do) listen to digital radio in both of those places.

You are an exception. Most people listen to radio through small portable units.

[Roop]

I have an interest in a small commercial radio station in the home counties and one of the reasons we have not switched to DAB is because of this potential switch to DAB+ (which is a vastly superior format). In the region, there are now slices available on the DAB multiplexes that three years ago were like gold dust. Very pleased we held back and didn't pay out £££s for one.

I remember reading many years ago and with huge disappointment about the forthcoming DAB digital radio standard in the UK. Effectively the UK was being forced into an outdated, inefficient and lossy format (DAB is MPEG-1 Layer 2) whereas the propsed standards for the USA and Japan were, although compressed, based on lossless CODECs. That would have been something...! Not sure if it ever came about though. Anyone know different...? I assume that stuff like Sirius and XM satellite in the US isn't lossless...?

Call me a cynic, but OFCOM (ie: the Government) are IMHO robbing bds who just wanted to cram as many stations into the bands as possible to maximise their revenue, hence we ended up with stty compressed sounds full of quantisation noise and other compression artefacts. Still can't beat BBC Radio 3 on a good FM tuner with a good antenna. Don't like the content but the reproduction is as good as it gets in the UK.

Anyways, back on topic, the UK will switch to DAB+ at some point. Definitely. The problem is the BBC and OFCOM stubbornly flogging a dead horse with their fingers in the ears singing "lalalalalala". Loads of people will be pissed they have to throw out their DAB radios. Glad I paid £25 for mine.

Here in CH quality seems better but I wonder if that's because they use higher bitrates. Sadly, my cheapo DAB radio doesn't show much data on the tuned stream so I can't see bitrates or such.

[Jonny_]

Sound quality is the least of DABs problems.

Not sure about anyone else but I don't listen to the radio because I want high-quality sound. Radio provides a good variety of music which can be played for hours on end without having to bugger about changing CDs. Plus there's news, footie commentary and even dubious "comedy" available all the time. If I want to listen to "hi-fi"-quality music then I play a CD.

No, the big problem I have with DAB is that the signal is p*ss-weak compared with FM. The DAB-capable micro system in my bedroom needs a tw@tting great dipole antenna pinned across the wall to pick up anything at all, whereas a couple of metres of wire dangled behind the wardrobe is enough to give perfect FM reception.

Sort out the transmitting infrastructure and 90% of people will be delighted with what DAB has to offer. A few more years of development and we should be approaching the point where a small portable DAB set will cost under a tenner and will run for hundreds of hours on a pair of AA's.

Edited by Jonny_ on Saturday 21st February 21:37

[Dave200]

I'm in Central London, and quality and station choice (even on a cheap clock radio) is brilliant.

Must be a location thing.

[Jaguar steve]

DAB is very compressed. I live on a hill and get a excellent signal but the sound quality is pretty poor. Only reason to have it on at all is Planet Rock.

[toohuge]

I have a DAB unit and another vote for it being useless, even with an external aerial. I also have one in my car which is pretty terrible as well.

[RichB]

I bought a DAB for my kitchen I was expecting great things but reception is pretty poor.