DAB and DAB+

[Nimrod103]

I listen to Classic FM a lot, and in December they were making a great issue about moving over to DAB+ and that listeners should buy new radios with this facility. I didn't bother, and found that DAB continued without a problem. However, I have begun to notice times when the reception on my DAB radio suddenly drops and comes back. Is this due to the DAB+ signal? Is the DAB+ signal a lot better quality?

I had a look around for a new radio today, but found that radios on sale sometimes say DAB and sometimes DAB+, which I assume means the retailers are still trying to offload a lot of old obselete DAB radios.

[Mike4]

Has DAB of all types not been obsolete since the internet came along?

[y0rkiebar]

Has DAB of all types not been obsolete since the internet came along?

My bedroom radio is DAB, use it daily. My car radio is DAB, use that every time I drive.

[chas49]

https://www.digitalradiochoice.com/ques ... -dab-plus/

Provides some explanation (though not a total answer)

Also https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/up ... t-quality/

Suggests that you either have a DAB+ compatible radio, or you are actually listening on FM !

[Arborbridge]

Has DAB of all types not been obsolete since the internet came along?

Obsolete? It's only just a few years since they were trying to promote DAB and make us all ditch our FM radios.

What a wasteful society we live in.

And the first time I heard of DAB+ was reading this thread. Something else to through away in a few years time - or even before most people hear of it.

Crazy world.

PS I have DAB radios and they work fine with the exception of one which gets interference from low energy lightbulbs.

[Nimrod103]

https://www.digitalradiochoice.com/questions/what-is-dab-plus/

Provides some explanation (though not a total answer)

Also https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/up ... t-quality/

Suggests that you either have a DAB+ compatible radio, or you are actually listening on FM !

Interesting. My radio is about 12 years old. It has a button to enable me to swap into FM, where the reception is not as good. So the radio must be able to use the DAB/DAB+ signal. I read that DAB+ came in about 2021, so I just assumed everything ealier was incapable of receiving DAB+ signals.

[Lanark]

DAB is measurably worse than FM in almost every way. the one advantage it has is that less energy is used by the transmitter making it more 'green' unfortunately if you also include the energy used by the hundreds of listeners then, taken as a group using DAB consumes more energy.

It does make some sense in a car where the radio can automatically switch to find a signal, unlike analogue where on a long journey you may need to retune the radio several times. That has to be balanced against a simple tuning knob vs punching in a frequency on a number pad or tring to use Auto-Tune to jump between about a million stations trying to find Radio 4.

Radios which can receive both FM and DAB are often not a good comparison because the noisy digital DAB circuitry will ruin the FM reception compared to an FM only set. It's almost like they are built with an agenda in mind.

[Dicky99]

I listen to Classic FM a lot, and in December they were making a great issue about moving over to DAB+ and that listeners should buy new radios with this facility. I didn't bother, and found that DAB continued without a problem. However, I have begun to notice times when the reception on my DAB radio suddenly drops and comes back. Is this due to the DAB+ signal? Is the DAB+ signal a lot better quality?

I had a look around for a new radio today, but found that radios on sale sometimes say DAB and sometimes DAB+, which I assume means the retailers are still trying to offload a lot of old obselete DAB radios.

I also listen to Classic FM, it's actually the only station I listen to on my bedroom radio. I posted on here in December about my irritation at having to go buy a new radio but in the end I just switched to FM and found that the reception was perfectly good.

[ukmtk]

I too listen to Classic FM.
Lost it on a DAB radio downstairs (which has an external aerial).
Have Classic FM on radio upstairs (FM).

I started to get fed up with all the talk and adverts.
I came across this wonderful free Swiss classical radio station:
https://www.radioswissclassic.ch/en
Just a tiny bit of talk (in German) but it's just like Classic FM without adverts!
I sent them a thank you and they kindly replied saying it was a public broadcast and would never had adverts.

[Mike4]

Has DAB of all types not been obsolete since the internet came along?

Obsolete? It's only just a few years since they were trying to promote DAB and make us all ditch our FM radios.

What a wasteful society we live in.

And the first time I heard of DAB+ was reading this thread. Something else to through away in a few years time - or even before most people hear of it.

Crazy world.

PS I have DAB radios and they work fine with the exception of one which gets interference from low energy lightbulbs.

Yes DAB is an obsolete technology and has been a technical blind alley ever since it was first launched.

There was massive criticism and condemnation of it in the world of HiFi and dismay at the way the BBC started promoting it as 'better' than FM and planning to stop FM broadcasts when the sound quality of DAB is lower than FM in every way. And as mentioned above a DAB radio uses (wastes?) massively more power than an FM receiver.

I listen to internet radio exclusively nowadays. ALl my DAB radios went in the recycling when unlimited data internet came along.

[Arborbridge]

Yes DAB is an obsolete technology and has been a technical blind alley ever since it was first launched.

There was massive criticism and condemnation of it in the world of HiFi and dismay at the way the BBC started promoting it as 'better' than FM and planning to stop FM broadcasts when the sound quality of DAB is lower than FM in every way. And as mentioned above a DAB radio uses (wastes?) massively more power than an FM receiver.

I listen to internet radio exclusively nowadays. ALl my DAB radios went in the recycling when unlimited data internet came along.

Well, I never knew that. I have DAB radios around the house which work fine all the time, whereas FM was so flaky most of the time I just don't use it. I have a lovely B and O unit which can only be used for CDs now as the radio side doesn''t pick up anything except a crummy reception of BBC radio 4.

It's true that DAB either works or doesn't, there's no half measure. Experts might say it sounds better, but DAB works better by far. I don't have any internet radios except sounds on my PC. It seems such a waste of data.

Arb.

[bungeejumper]

I've pretty much lost the radio habit, TBH. We have three DAB radios in the house - one in a fairly decent hifi receiver (Denon), one in the cheapo unit in my office, and the third one a standalone portable. And we can't get a signal on any of them, except perhaps for a few pop stations on the south side of the house.

DAB on the car radio doesn't work at all on our local roads, although FM is (almost) acceptable. I believe you still need a line of sight for DAB reception, which can be a bit of a deal-breaker in even semi-rural parts. And we're not exactly mountain country here in west Wilts, just rolling hills with the Mendip transmitter 20 miles away.

I guess it must be the line of pylons a mile from our place? Although that doesn't stop terrestrial TV, which is pretty good if we use a signal amplifier. I guess I ought to look into fixing the signal, but somehow I always have more important things to do.

BJ

[Mike4]

DAB on the car radio doesn't work at all on our local roads, although FM is (almost) acceptable. I believe you still need a line of sight for DAB reception, which can be a bit of a deal-breaker in even semi-rural parts. And we're not exactly mountain country here in west Wilts, just rolling hills with the Mendip transmitter 20 miles away.

Does your car stereo not allow you to Bluetooth connect your phone to it?

Mine does, and once you've done that your phone becomes the radio with BBC "Sounds" or whatever other radio app you might prefer. Most radio stations have their own app if you don't like BBC programmes or you can listen directly on the station website via the phone through the car stereo. Sound quality is superb but best of all is the ability you then get to time-shift the programmes or rewind to listen again to any particularly interesting bit you missed when you were paying attention to something to do with driving.

And when out of the car, my iPhone doubles as a portable radio. For the size of it, the sound quality and clarity is quite remarkable particularly for speech radio. And for top quality hifi internet radio once back in my hovel, I have a Cambridge Audio CXN V2 logged into the router and playing back through my lovely old Quad II valve amps and 1970s Tannoy speakers!

https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/gbr/en/p ... ries-2/cxn

[Infrasonic]

I was in my local Richer Sounds yesterday doing a 'prisoner swap' of some home demo kit for boxed new items and overheard one of the store guys telling another customer that they 'don't do radios any more' - I would imagine for the reasons Mike4 has outlined, the ubiquity of the internet these days and streamers/apps. smartphones et al.

I picked up a FiiO R7 streamer and a pair of Focal Bathys wired/BT ANC headphones (+ built in DAC).

[bungeejumper]

Does your car stereo not allow you to Bluetooth connect your phone to it?

Good god, I'm from the wrong century for that sort of caper. In my entire life, I've only managed to get a bluetooth connection to last for 25 seconds. And I've never even tried to use my phone in the car, let alone connect it via some space thingummy that won't work.

Well, maybe it would work for you with all your techno-whizzery, but not for my zombie fingers which can kill any gizmo dead with a mere touch. Why, I'm so old-fashioned that I own a dedicated satnav that I stick to the windscreen with a suction cup, on the rare occasions when I have a need for such a thing. Okay, go on,laugh....

And when out of the car, my iPhone doubles as a portable radio. For the size of it, the sound quality and clarity is quite remarkable particularly for speech radio.

And when I'm out of my car (or at least, indoors and at home) I don't have a mobile signal at all. Well, sometimes a flaky 2G connection (which didn't work yesterday), but I have to go out into the garden if I need some sort of 3G. They do say that a 4G signal can be had about a quarter of a mile down the road, but I've not often felt the need to try it.

And for top quality hifi internet radio once back in my hovel, I have a Cambridge Audio CXN V2 logged into the router and playing back through my lovely old Quad II valve amps and 1970s Tannoy speakers!

https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/gbr/en/p ... ries-2/cxn

Sounds nice. Does a valve amp improve the sound of a digital feed? (Serious question.)

Ta for the encouragement. Things might improve when (and if) we get fibre broadband later this year, as promised. In the meantime, your hovel sounds more connectable than my Flintstones establishment. (Two foot thick stone walls, stone tiled roof, pterodactyls ate the TV aerial.) Pshaaah to such modernity! Mark my words, it'll all end in tears. Mutter, mutter......

BJ

[Nimrod103]

I sometimes listen to Classic fm on the internet using my old iPad, but on my main laptop computer (HP Pavilion with B&O speakers), the sound fades away after a couple of minutes on everything (Classic fm, BBC, Youtube). I guess this is a software or hardware fault, but I haven'y got around to having it fixed in the last couple of years. Any ideas?

Because of circumstances I find myself appreciating having the radio on in the background playing familiar bits of music I like. Though I admit I have issues with Classic fm which seems to be very repretitive. Some weeks they have played the New World Symphony and Jupiter every day.

[Mike4]

I sometimes listen to Classic fm on the internet using my old iPad, but on my main laptop computer (HP Pavilion with B&O speakers), the sound fades away after a couple of minutes on everything (Classic fm, BBC, Youtube). I guess this is a software or hardware fault, but I haven'y got around to having it fixed in the last couple of years. Any ideas?

Because of circumstances I find myself appreciating having the radio on in the background playing familiar bits of music I like. Though I admit I have issues with Classic fm which seems to be very repretitive. Some weeks they have played the New World Symphony and Jupiter every day.

Can't you listen to classical music on Spotify? It's very clever and works out what you like in a flash. That way you swerve all the 'radio' malarky and the adverts every 30 mins can be got rid of by shelling out ten quid a month!

[Infrasonic]

@Bungeejumper - If you live in a mobile RF Bermuda Triangle maybe get yourself a proper aerial on the house that covers 3/4/5G spectrum - we've discussed it on this board multiple times in the past and there are posters who have done it and reduced their RF desert issues.

Bluetooth - yep it is a PITA but with kit that implements it correctly once it is initially paired and connected it should reconnect subsequently with little drama. My latest headphones are great at it, older kit less so...

One of the reasons I always home demo hifi kit first is because my city centre flat is very congested around 2.4GHz - multiple wifi SSID's, Bluetooth signals, microwaves et al.

So I only use 5/6GHz wifi bands now and all new purchases have to be wifi 6E/7 capable and BT kit like headphones has to be multipoint so it can switch between more than one paired source - e.g. phone + streamer so I can take phone calls whilst listening if needs be.

The FiiO R7 streamer actually has a setting where 2nd order harmonics can be added to the signal, mimicking tube amps - not tried it yet.

[stevensfo]

DAB on the car radio doesn't work at all on our local roads, although FM is (almost) acceptable. I believe you still need a line of sight for DAB reception, which can be a bit of a deal-breaker in even semi-rural parts. And we're not exactly mountain country here in west Wilts, just rolling hills with the Mendip transmitter 20 miles away.

Does your car stereo not allow you to Bluetooth connect your phone to it?

Mine does, and once you've done that your phone becomes the radio with BBC "Sounds" or whatever other radio app you might prefer. Most radio stations have their own app if you don't like BBC programmes or you can listen directly on the station website via the phone through the car stereo. Sound quality is superb but best of all is the ability you then get to time-shift the programmes or rewind to listen again to any particularly interesting bit you missed when you were paying attention to something to do with driving.

And when out of the car, my iPhone doubles as a portable radio. For the size of it, the sound quality and clarity is quite remarkable particularly for speech radio. And for top quality hifi internet radio once back in my hovel, I have a Cambridge Audio CXN V2 logged into the router and playing back through my lovely old Quad II valve amps and 1970s Tannoy speakers!

https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/gbr/en/p ... ries-2/cxn

Our Volvo's bluetooth function got very little use until a few years ago when I was suddenly given an enormous increase in mobile data on my phone, that a teenager would laugh at, but for me is far more than I need. The problem is that I have Spotify and I am slowly discovering all the old radio comedies that were around when I was too young to appreciate them.

Thus, I drive more slowly these days and pray that no one is there at work to see me fall out of the car, laughing.

The most recent was an episode of 'I'm Sorry I'll read that again', with many sketches the precursors of Monty Python, including John Cleese in bed, asking his wife about her having an affair, only to realise the the man is in bed with them .... as well as a few others!


Steve

[tjh290633]

I've pretty much lost the radio habit, TBH. We have three DAB radios in the house - one in a fairly decent hifi receiver (Denon), one in the cheapo unit in my office, and the third one a standalone portable. And we can't get a signal on any of them, except perhaps for a few pop stations on the south side of the house.

DAB on the car radio doesn't work at all on our local roads, although FM is (almost) acceptable. I believe you still need a line of sight for DAB reception, which can be a bit of a deal-breaker in even semi-rural parts. And we're not exactly mountain country here in west Wilts, just rolling hills with the Mendip transmitter 20 miles away.

I guess it must be the line of pylons a mile from our place? Although that doesn't stop terrestrial TV, which is pretty good if we use a signal amplifier. I guess I ought to look into fixing the signal, but somehow I always have more important things to do.

BJ

I have a DAB set in my office upstairs at home and there is DAB on the car radio. The office one has 3 channels preset by me, R3, R4 and 5 Live Sports Extra. I now cannot find any other stations. The car radio can only find stations that I do not wish to hear, and only R1 of the main channels. Perhaps I need to go to the top of Ditching Beacon and try tuning it there.

TJH