Discussion
I'm looking to pick up a DAB tuner this weekend (hifi type, not portable radio), a bit of Googling has narrowed it down to a toss-up between the Cambridge Azur 640T and Denon TU1800, both selling for £200 at Richer Sounds.
Does anyone have experience of either unit? The Denon seems to get good reviews, whereas I've struggled to find much info at all on the Cambridge.
Cheers,
Jonny
Does anyone have experience of either unit? The Denon seems to get good reviews, whereas I've struggled to find much info at all on the Cambridge.
Cheers,
Jonny
Perhaps a gander at this will help?
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/set_territory.php?TI...
Looking around the CA is future proofed as it has DAB+ whereas the Denon doesn't. AV forums seems to think it also sounds better altougth one poster had reliability problems. The Denon is a 2005 design that has yet to be updated.
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/set_territory.php?TI...
Looking around the CA is future proofed as it has DAB+ whereas the Denon doesn't. AV forums seems to think it also sounds better altougth one poster had reliability problems. The Denon is a 2005 design that has yet to be updated.
Edited by telecat on Thursday 19th November 09:59
I have the Denon, which is plugged into my main Hi Fi system. As a tuner it's OK, FM performance is excellent for the price, the DAB performance is adequate, but noticeably inferior to FM.
The previous poster made the point about the Cambridge unit being future proof. That may well be so, but DAB+ isn't here yet, or likely to be in the near future, and at £200 I'd be regarding the purchase as 'disposable' technology to be replaced as and when.
The previous poster made the point about the Cambridge unit being future proof. That may well be so, but DAB+ isn't here yet, or likely to be in the near future, and at £200 I'd be regarding the purchase as 'disposable' technology to be replaced as and when.
Incredible Sulk said:
I have the Denon, which is plugged into my main Hi Fi system. As a tuner it's OK, FM performance is excellent for the price, the DAB performance is adequate, but noticeably inferior to FM.
What's the point of DAB if the performance is noticeably inferior to FM? I thought it should be noticeably superior to FM?Silver993tt said:
Incredible Sulk said:
I have the Denon, which is plugged into my main Hi Fi system. As a tuner it's OK, FM performance is excellent for the price, the DAB performance is adequate, but noticeably inferior to FM.
What's the point of DAB if the performance is noticeably inferior to FM? I thought it should be noticeably superior to FM?Just because something is digital, doesn't mean its better. It's just digital.
Hoover. said:
I've got a Denon.....thought it would work no problem as Pure Radio/Clock Alarm in bedroom works....
However down stairs, signal is so crap I get nothing........ need to erect aierl in loft......
just something to consider.....
The DAB input on mine is connected to a TV aerial point, whilst the FM input is connected to the FM aerial on the roof. The DAB signal strength is pretty good. But as I said before what isn't good is the quality of the DAB broadcasts themselves. The ones transmitted with a low bit rate sound really crap. Radio 3 seems to be transmitted with a fairly high bit rate, but quality is still inferior to the same station broadcast on FM. What I can't tell you is whether it's the broadcasts that are at fault, or whether the tuner is just better on FM.However down stairs, signal is so crap I get nothing........ need to erect aierl in loft......
just something to consider.....
Incredible Sulk said:
Hoover. said:
I've got a Denon.....thought it would work no problem as Pure Radio/Clock Alarm in bedroom works....
However down stairs, signal is so crap I get nothing........ need to erect aierl in loft......
just something to consider.....
The DAB input on mine is connected to a TV aerial point, whilst the FM input is connected to the FM aerial on the roof. The DAB signal strength is pretty good. But as I said before what isn't good is the quality of the DAB broadcasts themselves. The ones transmitted with a low bit rate sound really crap. Radio 3 seems to be transmitted with a fairly high bit rate, but quality is still inferior to the same station broadcast on FM. What I can't tell you is whether it's the broadcasts that are at fault, or whether the tuner is just better on FM.However down stairs, signal is so crap I get nothing........ need to erect aierl in loft......
just something to consider.....
Edited by telecat on Friday 20th November 16:12
telecat said:
Quite Simply the combination of the data rate and the compression algorithm is the culprit. The current system uses MPEG-2 encoding which predates MP-3. to achieve good results you need to run at 192KBPS. Unfortunetly this curtails the number of stations you can get on the carrier. Hence most stations run at 128KBPS and speech programming sometimes drops to 92KBPS. The DAB+ format uses AAC+ compression from MPEG-4. This is twice as efficient and also allows more stations to be transmitted at higher quality even at the lower bit rates.
<geek>Pretty much spot on but DAB in fact uses MPEG-1 Layer 2 encoding whereas MP3 is MPEG-1 Layer 3. MPEG-2 is a different kettle of fish altogether. </geek> 
Roop said:
telecat said:
Quite Simply the combination of the data rate and the compression algorithm is the culprit. The current system uses MP-2 encoding which predates MP-3. to achieve good results you need to run at 192KBPS. Unfortunetly this curtails the number of stations you can get on the carrier. Hence most stations run at 128KBPS and speech programming sometimes drops to 92KBPS. The DAB+ format uses AAC+ compression from MPEG-4. This is twice as efficient and also allows more stations to be transmitted at higher quality even at the lower bit rates.
<geek>Pretty much spot on but DAB in fact uses MPEG-1 Layer 2 encoding whereas MP3 is MPEG-1 Layer 3. MPEG-2 is a different kettle of fish altogether. </geek> Edited by telecat on Friday 20th November 16:16
Well, let's cut to the chase. When are we going to get DAB+ here? It had better be before the big analogue switch-off, otherwise there are going to be a lot of unhappy music-listening bunnies out there!
On a connected note, what sort of technology is used for radio broadcasts via satellite? Would I notice any difference if I run my Freesat box into the Hi-fi?
On a connected note, what sort of technology is used for radio broadcasts via satellite? Would I notice any difference if I run my Freesat box into the Hi-fi?
Incredible Sulk said:
Well, let's cut to the chase. When are we going to get DAB+ here? It had better be before the big analogue switch-off, otherwise there are going to be a lot of unhappy music-listening bunnies out there!
On a connected note, what sort of technology is used for radio broadcasts via satellite? Would I notice any difference if I run my Freesat box into the Hi-fi?
Even Freeview Radio is superior to DAB. Freesat should be about the same if not better.On a connected note, what sort of technology is used for radio broadcasts via satellite? Would I notice any difference if I run my Freesat box into the Hi-fi?
telecat said:
Incredible Sulk said:
Well, let's cut to the chase. When are we going to get DAB+ here? It had better be before the big analogue switch-off, otherwise there are going to be a lot of unhappy music-listening bunnies out there!
On a connected note, what sort of technology is used for radio broadcasts via satellite? Would I notice any difference if I run my Freesat box into the Hi-fi?
On a connected note, what sort of technology is used for radio broadcasts via satellite? Would I notice any difference if I run my Freesat box into the Hi-fi?
Even Freeview Radio is superior to DAB. Freesat should be about the same if not better.
more modern codecs and same or higher bitrate.Edited by Roop on Saturday 21st November 06:50
OFCOM and the BBC are resisting DAB+. However as the UK is the ONLY user of DAB now it will go. April 2010 was mentioned as the point where DAB+ would startup, but it wil take time. I'd expect a more realistic timetable to be sometime in 2011.
Edited by telecat on Saturday 21st November 10:13
Incredible Sulk said:
Well, let's cut to the chase. When are we going to get DAB+ here? It had better be before the big analogue switch-off, otherwise there are going to be a lot of unhappy music-listening bunnies out there!
On a connected note, what sort of technology is used for radio broadcasts via satellite? Would I notice any difference if I run my Freesat box into the Hi-fi?
DAB Radio and Analogue TV are two totally different things, when the analogue Tv is switched off it will not affect DAB or analogue radio, both are here to stay for many years. DAB+ may get added at some point.On a connected note, what sort of technology is used for radio broadcasts via satellite? Would I notice any difference if I run my Freesat box into the Hi-fi?
cjs said:
Incredible Sulk said:
Well, let's cut to the chase. When are we going to get DAB+ here? It had better be before the big analogue switch-off, otherwise there are going to be a lot of unhappy music-listening bunnies out there!
On a connected note, what sort of technology is used for radio broadcasts via satellite? Would I notice any difference if I run my Freesat box into the Hi-fi?
DAB Radio and Analogue TV are two totally different things, when the analogue Tv is switched off it will not affect DAB or analogue radio, both are here to stay for many years. DAB+ may get added at some point.On a connected note, what sort of technology is used for radio broadcasts via satellite? Would I notice any difference if I run my Freesat box into the Hi-fi?
Edited to add..........
Here's a link to an article in the Grauniad.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/16/d...
Edited by Incredible Sulk on Saturday 21st November 12:06
There are only about 5 million DAB radios compared to 100 million estimated plus FM radios. Any attempt to Kill off FM will be doomed to failure. Another problem they have is that the coverage is nowhere near as good as FM and that FM radios are cheap to produce. DAB costs a lot to transmit and the radios haven't come below a tenner as yet. (To be honest there aren't many below £50). When anybody can receive Radio 1 and 2 on a Pound shop radio who's going to be willing to give them up??
Gassing Station | Home Cinema & Hi-Fi | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff