I have built my own electronics in the past (post the valve age) and am now more inclined towards top end digital although everything starts and ends in the analogue world, but came to this website to answer a specific query about DAB.
@DCrofter I believe DAB is MPEG encoded (via lossy compression) digital audio. The bitrate is pretty low, and to my ear it the compression is audible. For more info, see:
https://www.pure-audio.com/en-GB/blog/music/dab-radio/
https://www.pure-audio.com/en-GB/blog/music/dab-radio/