Comments on: DAB plus in the UK

By: James Cridland

James Cridland — Tue, 03 May 2011 19:59:45 +0000

>Most Terrestrial DAB stations will remain mono
Most terrestrial DAB stations are not mono, as any check of stations available will show you.

>Given the massive uptake of internet services
There is no “massive uptake” of internet services.
DAB accounts for 13.7% of all radio listening.
Internet accounts for 2.1% of all radio listening. source

I agree that the highest quality for a static listening environment can be the internet, depending on the station’s bandwidth. For many, that’s not the case either.

Apart from that, your comment is spot on.

By: Aeomer

Aeomer — Tue, 03 May 2011 14:41:12 +0000

As DAB is a subset of DAB+ it will be economically unfeasible for manufacturers to create a different chip-set just for non-DAB+ countries. I expect most receivers designed (not just built but designed) in 2010/11 will be DAB+ compatible.

As for Terrestrial DAB quality, it is a bit poor but good enough mobile usage. Online is better, if you want to receive high quality Digital Broadcasts at home I would look to an internet receiver. You will never see FLAC (now the European standard for lossless audio broadcast) broadcast over the air as it requires too much bandwidth. Most Terrestrial DAB stations will remain mono. Given the massive uptake of internet services one does have to wonder if Terrestrial DAB will survive another ten years.

By: Guy

Guy — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 21:49:50 +0000

Thanks for all the commentary. I was going to go out and buy a digital radio receiver, but now I might just get an ipad and listen to the radio over the internet on that. Any thoughts on how internet radio compares to DAB?

By: Heinz

Heinz — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:33:05 +0000

So, here we go with a repetition of the CB radio fiasco of the 1980′s (remember, it was illegal in the UK, then slightly offset frequencies were licensed for use with FM only and, finally (about a decade later), the standard U.S. 40 channels were added).

Kept a lot of civil servants in a job for a few years though.

By: John Rowley

John Rowley — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:04:34 +0000

Try listening to DAB radio whilst you are gardening on a pocket radio and you discover how power hungry DABs are and until that is solved FM radio is way ahead. My mobile phone has a FM radio in it. There is no way it could be DAB without having to recharge the phone every few hours. We are trying to save the planet and using DAB will not help the cause. I do have a DAB radio and enjoy it, but would not replace the FM radios as there are too many disavantages with the reception. You only have to walk past mine and the signal goes.

By: robert in UK

robert in UK — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:47:46 +0000

I know that DAB Plus is not available in UK, but on the south coast, it should be received on a DAB Plus receiver (Pure Mini) direct from French station (france Bleu). can anyone confirm this ?
Robert

By: Richard Booth

Richard Booth — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:28:17 +0000

I have been using DAB since around 1999, when there were plenty of test transmissions, and overall, I have to say I love dab radio. I have a Roberts in the Kitchen, and it works beautifully, I have a Sony clock radio in the bedroom, which also provides me with faultless LBC at night… A vintage Technics ST-GT1000 in the Audio system, which, with higher bitrate transmissions, sounds superb, A Vita Audio in the dining room, which has a lovely tone :) A sony 6650 in the car, You can see I have adopted the technology, and yes, it does have its flaws, but overall its great. I am in Croydon, south London, and the signal there is not at all bad. Even the Sony in the car, with a standard Whip aeriel provides great service.

Embrace the technology and understand its limitations! noise and interference on FM used to drive me nuts!

Rich

By: derek

derek — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:14:50 +0000

I bought a dab for my hi fi , and i have a denon reciver for FM dab was so very dissaponting even with a good signal in london , you get the “space monkies ” noise in the back ground , i took back unit good a cambridge audio , audiophile unit , same low quility compared to FM , i got a full refund on item as its not fit for perpose low quility sold as hi fi , hi fidelity it is not just suitable for little portables and low grade units , i woont be going there agin , if FM ends i will no longer bother with radio .

By: Will Copeland

Will Copeland — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:19:54 +0000

It’s true I like most others, listen on portable radio. DAB as far as I can tell offers me no benefits. Sound quality isn’t noticeably better. Clarity on spoken voice has improved a little and it is perhaps true that DAB is an improvement on AM, but truthfully AM was always adequate. On the whole I tune into Classic FM and Radio 2 using FM because the sound quality is noticeably better. I do listen to Radio 3 on DAB and can’t hear a lot of difference between FM and DAB. About £90 pounds was spent originally on a digital radio, approximately £60 of which obviously wasted.

By: Jose Fernandez

Jose Fernandez — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:53:43 +0000

Will UK manufacturers of DAB radios start selling DAB+ portable models in the near future?…and, if so, when?
I am holding back before buying a DAB portable radio as I do not want something that could be obsolete in a couple of years or so.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:09:26 +0000

Bottom line is that Steve Green has spent a lot of time and energy debunking DAB sound quality on his site but where he loses credibility for me at least is that the guy is quite happy to give out nasty and personal comments to anyone who dares challenge him. He’s spammed alt.digital.radio to point that the board is useless and he’s spending a lot of time and effort to keep re-editing the DAB page on wikipedia.

He gives no credit to portable reception or robustness of the signal, as his only point of reference is a hifi FM tuner connected to a rooftop antenna. He cares not a jot that the majority of radio listeners listen in the car or in the kitchen on a portable radio.

By: Julius

Julius — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:40:06 +0000

Dear Craig

Here are a few links to Steve Greens ramblings on the usenet. I think people will understand who and what this person is and wether they should take him serious.

These two links shows his most used aliases :

http://snipurl.com/p70j
http://snipurl.com/p71j

Keep up the great work!