I'm in a noisy location for FM at work, and did not like the noise. Bit the bullet and bought a DAB/DAB+ radio as it's not plagued as much by local noise. It's more quiet for sure, but for some reason I can not concentrate/focus and get really tired! Nearly fell asleep on my desk listening to it. The local noise on FM is very annoying, but it does not make me tired at all.
There must be something about the compression rates that makes my brain work so hard that I lose the ability to focus. I have no other plausible explanation.
Is there any study on the effects of listening to low bitrate broadcasts for extended periods of time?
Edit:
I read that the actual quality of DAB broadcasts in Norway is around 113kbps after error correction, a bit unsure which algorithm is used, but I suspect mp2.
There must be something about the compression rates that makes my brain work so hard that I lose the ability to focus. I have no other plausible explanation.
Is there any study on the effects of listening to low bitrate broadcasts for extended periods of time?
Edit:
I read that the actual quality of DAB broadcasts in Norway is around 113kbps after error correction, a bit unsure which algorithm is used, but I suspect mp2.
Last edited:
If your DAB radio runs on a Switch Mode power supply, try swapping with a standard transformer plug pack supply.
I have a portable DAB+ radio, and the sound is more agreeable with a transformer plug pack supply.
DAB+ runs AAC encoding....Wikipedia - DAB
The higher bitrate services are quite good, but the lower bit rate ones are not particularly good.
All bitrates have an MP3 type subtle distortion, that can start to grate/irritate after extended listening.
Add SMPS noise and it definitely irritates....try changing your PSU.
Dan.
I have a portable DAB+ radio, and the sound is more agreeable with a transformer plug pack supply.
DAB+ runs AAC encoding....Wikipedia - DAB
The higher bitrate services are quite good, but the lower bit rate ones are not particularly good.
All bitrates have an MP3 type subtle distortion, that can start to grate/irritate after extended listening.
Add SMPS noise and it definitely irritates....try changing your PSU.
Dan.
I always have trouble getting out of bed in the morning. I didn't notice any difference between a FM and a DAB radio alarm clock. 
DAB does indeed use MPEG-2 compression at bit rates between 64 and 192k depending on how concerned the broadcaster is about quality. The sound quality can be distinctly "meh" at the lower bit rates. We don't have DAB+ over here.
Sometimes the Internet stream of a station will sound better than the DAB broadcast due to a more advanced codec. You might get an improvement in quality by ditching the radio and listening on a speaker plugged into your computer.
DAB does indeed use MPEG-2 compression at bit rates between 64 and 192k depending on how concerned the broadcaster is about quality. The sound quality can be distinctly "meh" at the lower bit rates. We don't have DAB+ over here.
Sometimes the Internet stream of a station will sound better than the DAB broadcast due to a more advanced codec. You might get an improvement in quality by ditching the radio and listening on a speaker plugged into your computer.
Industrial area mixed with poor reception. It sounds like at least one or two noises are induced from some kind of machine.
Aside from FM noise:
The fluorescent lights in the ceiling are also quite annoying. I hear them making noise all the time. The aeration system gives off some small rattle, aside from the usual air vent noise. Also some smoke detectors near the entrance that give off (for all the other people here barely perceptible) high freq noise that I really don't like.
One of these days I will buy new lamps with my own money to deal with some of this noise.
I can handle noise, it's all around, but there must be something about that low bitrate audio feed.
Included with my cheap K-Mart (Audiosonic) DAB+ radio is a modern el cheapo SM plug pack psu.
Substituting a transformer type plug pack gives subjectively cleaner and more relaxed sound through the internal speaker, or 3.5mm-2RCA cable feeding my main stereo.
Dan.
I must get round to testing some of these wallwarts at some time I do know some are bad from my own experience, like most things in electronics it will come down to cost these days, it is irritating though with cheepo SMPSs, they are not hard to layout properly and use smaller components so it is quite easy to make a competent one at a reasonable price...but where they can grab a few extra cents profit quite a lot do...X5R caps, minimum filtering undersize main inductor etc etc....That's generally the problem not SMPS's.......
Yes, SMPS's generally get a bad rap only because it takes special effort to make a really bad linear, unregulated supply...
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.