Poll: DAB+ is the future? Digital terrestrial radio broadcasting

Which method do you prefer when listening to radio

  • Total voters
    36
  • Poll closed .
I was an early adopter of DAB back in 2002-ish. Haven't used it in the last 5 years though, streaming is more reliable and better quality, not really sure what the point of it is anymore.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
Did you say 32kbps? Isn't that sub-AM quality?
Click to expand...

Hmm. This sound was recorded back in 2012:


And this one in 2018:


I find 32 Kb/s the satisfactory minimum bitrate with which the service is ok to the listener.
More modern and precise compressions will only improve, of course
 
Last edited:
4K8KW10 said:
I prefer 32 Kb/s DAB+ than any analogue FM.
Click to expand...

That's just your personal opinion. You are entitled to it of course, but it doesn't win your argument. It's simply a preference, and an entirely subjective one.

For something more objective, have a look at the extracts from this AES Research paper from the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science regarding the comparable bit rate for DAB+ to match or exceed FM in a strong reception area.

Their conclusions were that for DAB+ to equal modern FM it would require at least 192 kbits/s for a stereo signal.

This research was published way back in 2013. Despite this and other data sources all pointing to the same conclusion - that low bitrate DAB and DAB+ audibly degrades the sound quality of speech and music - nation states have pushed ahead with the digitisation of radio broadcasts on what I believe to be an entirely commercially-based agenda. Put more simply, DAB/DAB+ allows for more stations in the same channel space as FM, and more stations equals greater revenue for each country's Government.

All the talk about improving quality, and improving services is bull crap. It's all about money. Pure. And. Simple.
 
That is data from 2013 which used significantly worse codings/compression algorithms.
It claims you need minimum 160, recommended 192 and quality 300 Kb/s which is just insane because it would mean 3-4 radiostations on a DAB+ channel.

The FM sound always includes a barely audible for some but pretty frustrating background static noise.
Also, the theoretical and never achievable in reality FM frequency range is narrow, it lacks highs and lows.



Hear this comparison:


 
Frequency range above is totally meaningless.

1. The normal car on the road is not capable of producing those low frequencies.
2. The vast majority of adults who will be driving will not have hearing good enough for the higher frequency range.

Our cars both have expensive Meridian systems and FM sounds better than 90% of the cooking pot DAB stations.
 
Good news:

"Germany's annual Audio Digitisation Report 2021 published this week reveals that the number of DAB+ radios in German households has risen by more than 5 million to almost 22 million within the last year, corresponding to a relative annual growth of 30 percent. The number of FM radios continues to fall."
News | WorldDAB
Digitalradio DAB+ mit Wachstumsschub: Plus 30 Prozent / 5 Mio. Geräte mehr in Haushalten / Digitalisierungsbericht der Medienanstalten 2021 | DAB+ Mehr Radio (dabplus.de)
 
That's fantastic news, now all I need to do is sell my house, quit my job, leave my family and friends, apply for a visa to live in Germany, find a house, move all my belongings, find a job in Germany, buy a dab+ and join the revolution.

Thanks, going to look in to it now.
 
4K8KW10 said:
Good news:

"Germany's annual Audio Digitisation Report 2021 published this week reveals that the number of DAB+ radios in German households has risen by more than 5 million to almost 22 million within the last year, corresponding to a relative annual growth of 30 percent.
Click to expand...

Let me give you a a hint to where this site is based……. It’s not Germany. WE DON’T CARE!!!!
 
I've read the first page, I'm not reading the next 392 posts.

We were forced into digital TV in this country under the false pretence that "It's better, it's digital so the quality is better". A strong analogue picture beats a digital picture every day of the week, there's never pixelation, there's never banding. It was BS but the gullible public believe that digital is better.

DAB is the same "Digital radio is the future, it's digital, so it's better'. Forget the fact that multiple low bit channels are being squeezed into the available bandwidth with worse quality than a drunk mp3 file. A decent strength FM signal is far better than anything DAB(+) can offer.

I did own a DAB radio a few years back, it was a stupidly expensive Pure thing where the batteries lasted about two hours. My little Sony portable sounds better.

More people using something doesn't automatically make it better.

OK, I have now trawled back through the thread for some comedy value.

4K8KW10 said:
How do you expect a 50-watt FM signal to be good, other than in a small village?
Click to expand...
I've both transmitted to, and received signals from places many thousands of miles away using FM, fully quieting, perfect quality with less than 50W.

Want to try again?
 
More news from the UK:

"
September 17th
The UK regulator has published details of the applicants for Round Two of the small-scale DAB advertisements. In total, 30 applications were received among 18 areas across North West England and North East Wales. Four areas failed to attract any applications: Chester & Ellesmere Port, Clitheroe, Rhyl Ruthin & Mold and Wirral. A selection process will now take place. Details of the areas to be advertised in a forthcoming Round Three have also been confirmed. 25 areas in all four nations of the United Kingdom will be advertised, probably in the fourth quarter of 2021. Areas to be advertised in a forthcoming Round Four will be made announced at the same time as the Round Three advertisements."
DAB Ensembles Worldwide | Latest News & Updates (wohnort.org)
 
I never had a problem with DAB, most of my radio listening is in the background and not critical listing however.

My old tuners:-

FM: Magnum Dynalab MD100
DAB: Arcam FMJ T32

Both the above sounded very good.

Currently I listen to the BBC HD AAC 48kHz 320kb/s streams via my Naim ND5 XS2 and it sounds way better them my old FM & DAB setup.
 
TonyLewis said:
I never had a problem with DAB, most of my radio listening is in the background and not critical listing however.

My old tuners:-

FM: Magnum Dynalab MD100
DAB: Arcam FMJ T32

Both the above sounded very good.

Currently I listen to the BBC HD AAC 48kHz 320kb/s streams via my Naim ND5 XS2 and it sounds way better them my old FM & DAB setup.
Click to expand...


No way is someone defending him…. And looking at that join date, probably a 2nd account :cry::cry::cry:
 
TonyLewis said:
I never had a problem with DAB, most of my radio listening is in the background and not critical listing however.

My old tuners:-

FM: Magnum Dynalab MD100
DAB: Arcam FMJ T32

Both the above sounded very good.

Currently I listen to the BBC HD AAC 48kHz 320kb/s streams via my Naim ND5 XS2 and it sounds way better them my old FM & DAB setup.
Click to expand...

I take your point about background and non-critical listening. Hell, I listened to Radio 1 and Radio 2 when it was on AM.

We'll accept quite low audio quality if in doing so we get some additional benefit, or if there's no alternative. Radio at work / whilst driving / in the background / non-critical; that's all fine. What sticks in the throat though for me is the UK Government (indirectly) peddling the lie that the DAB we got 20+ years ago was "digital, so it's better". This was part of the campaign message on the TV adverts with the little black puppet and it's Barry White-esq voiceover.

I so wanted DAB to be great. IIRC, there was a channel that carried something similar to talking books. Unfortunately it sounded like they were being read out underwater. There were other channels that I could get on DAB that weren't available locally on FM, but they sounded awful too. DAB+ offered a glimmer of hope, but that was soon dashed when the bitrates showed that they were/are using the more efficient algorithms to pack in more stations rather than to increase quality.

The point here is that we still have FM, so we have a choice. At the moment, I find no compelling reason to switch to DAB as a choice. It's sort of force on me if I jump in the car and put on the radio. The default is to always go to DAB. But I still have he choice.

You've chosen to abandon DAB in favour of streaming (BBC HD AAC 48kHz 320kb/s) for a specific channel. Would you really choose to go back to DAB for this station after that?

Incidentally, the fact that you're using streaming rather than DAB means you're akin to the son of Satan as far as our German friend is concerned. For him, it's DAB+ Über alles. Which brings us to the reason this whole thread exists. Parts of Europe have gone DAB+, but at much higher bitrates than the UK's services. That seems to be a point that Dagmar Dusseldorf persistently ignores. What he thinks of his DAB+ service isn't the same for us.

BTW, lovely tuners. Pricey; probably more than a lot of folk spend on an entire audio system, but lovely nonetheless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom