Most people with DAB+ in their cars are pissed about the dropouts. Norway isn't a simple country to use radio that quickly looses strength when you're not in direct sight of the transmitter...
There's still a lot of spotty areas around, and they're patching in transmitters here and there. Granted, there's only 3 counties out of 19 that are finished with the rollout, but there will be quite large areas that are either unpopulated or only populated with holiday cabins that will not be covered.
At our cabin, the DAB reception is reportedly good. I gave up on cheap battery radios years ago, as the reception turns very poor as soon as the batteries starts to get worn, so we have a Pioneer car radio connected to the solar battery, and it's actually cheaper to get a new one than adding an adapter to it. Much simpler, too - just slide the old one from the DIN frame, add a new antenna and slide in the new one.
I like a couple of the extra channels, and in the car, the sound quality reduction isn't all that important. Reception needs to be improved.
Johan-Kr
There's still a lot of spotty areas around, and they're patching in transmitters here and there. Granted, there's only 3 counties out of 19 that are finished with the rollout, but there will be quite large areas that are either unpopulated or only populated with holiday cabins that will not be covered.
At our cabin, the DAB reception is reportedly good. I gave up on cheap battery radios years ago, as the reception turns very poor as soon as the batteries starts to get worn, so we have a Pioneer car radio connected to the solar battery, and it's actually cheaper to get a new one than adding an adapter to it. Much simpler, too - just slide the old one from the DIN frame, add a new antenna and slide in the new one.
I like a couple of the extra channels, and in the car, the sound quality reduction isn't all that important. Reception needs to be improved.
Johan-Kr
In the UK DAB receivers are still on sale. DAB+ too, but as there are few DAB+ stations I suspect that few people will look specifically for DAB+ when buying.jean-paul said:
Drove from Edinburgh to London and back during the week.
The rental van was fitted with a dual FM+DAB tuner.
We gave up trying to get signals with the DAB part and listened on FM for the journey to London. I listened to FM all the way back. FM became a bit noisy, then very noisy through the hills of the Southern Uplands, but I had signal.
This is one of the regions in the UK where few DAB transmitters have been installed. Some new ones are planned so coverage must improve in the near future.
https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/dab
As always, implementation is keyword. For comparison a map of DAB+ transmitter sin the Netherlands. Not a better and certainly not a worse country but DAB+ transmitters cover the whole of the country. The lack of mountains AND the abundance of telecom masts have made installing new DAB+ installations a relatively quick affair. The map of Germany is from september 2015 and transmitters have been installed since. AFAIK implementation has been a complete new install of all equipment when DAB was switched off and DAB+ was rolled out.
https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/dab
As always, implementation is keyword. For comparison a map of DAB+ transmitter sin the Netherlands. Not a better and certainly not a worse country but DAB+ transmitters cover the whole of the country. The lack of mountains AND the abundance of telecom masts have made installing new DAB+ installations a relatively quick affair. The map of Germany is from september 2015 and transmitters have been installed since. AFAIK implementation has been a complete new install of all equipment when DAB was switched off and DAB+ was rolled out.
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So....the great switch is going...well...then...
Digital Radio FM Insider: Local FM Radio Upbeat As National Radio Shifts to DAB in Norway
I did buy a DAB radio some years ago. The sound quality was so poor I took it back for a refund. Doesn't sound like it's improved much.
Digital Radio FM Insider: Local FM Radio Upbeat As National Radio Shifts to DAB in Norway
I did buy a DAB radio some years ago. The sound quality was so poor I took it back for a refund. Doesn't sound like it's improved much.
The question that now arises to me is: each time that technology advances, will us be obligated to change every old technology devices with no option?
"The question that now arises to me is: each time that technology advances, will us be obligated to change every old technology devices with no option?"
The question that arises for me is can we call this a "technology advance" at all? An "advance" that makes portable devices like radios effectively non-portable (because of ridiculously reduced battery life) feels more like a giant step backwards to me (not to mention the poorer audio quality). It's the death of portable radios!
The question that arises for me is can we call this a "technology advance" at all? An "advance" that makes portable devices like radios effectively non-portable (because of ridiculously reduced battery life) feels more like a giant step backwards to me (not to mention the poorer audio quality). It's the death of portable radios!
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Analogue advances often maintained compatibility with older devices (e.g. adding colour to TV, adding stereo to FM). Exceptions were a change in technology (e.g. AM to FM). Hence receiving equipment made 50 years ago still works fine (and can be repaired when necessary as it mainly uses generic components).
Digital 'advances' rarely maintain compatibility. In the UK there have already been several 'updates' for digital TV which have left many older digital TV devices inoperable. Before DAB has become mainstream it is already being replaced by DAB+. There is also the usual digital problem of software updates, some of which create new bugs, and some of which are unavailable for older devices. So yes, for digital we can expect to have to replace our equipment every few years - long before it actually wears out. Repair (except for simple faults) is unlikely, as special-purpose chips are used with a short catalogue life. The result will be more use of land-fill and more energy used to make the replacements.
DAB was designed by engineers to be a reliable high-quality system. They got two things wrong:
1. wrong frequency band: Band 3 - should have been Band 1 to get greater range and better building penetration
2. the spec allows for low-quality too - they were naive to assume that nobody would choose to use low bit rate for music stations
Digital 'advances' rarely maintain compatibility. In the UK there have already been several 'updates' for digital TV which have left many older digital TV devices inoperable. Before DAB has become mainstream it is already being replaced by DAB+. There is also the usual digital problem of software updates, some of which create new bugs, and some of which are unavailable for older devices. So yes, for digital we can expect to have to replace our equipment every few years - long before it actually wears out. Repair (except for simple faults) is unlikely, as special-purpose chips are used with a short catalogue life. The result will be more use of land-fill and more energy used to make the replacements.
DAB was designed by engineers to be a reliable high-quality system. They got two things wrong:
1. wrong frequency band: Band 3 - should have been Band 1 to get greater range and better building penetration
2. the spec allows for low-quality too - they were naive to assume that nobody would choose to use low bit rate for music stations
I work repairing industrial equipment, and the new BGA devices are a pest. It appears to be designed to fault in a short time. It also includes commercial devices: TV's, play consoles, etc.
Yes, you hit the nail on the head here. DAB+ could have been so much better. One would assume that experiences and complaints regarding the former DAB would have led to higher minimum bit rates when switching over to DAB+ but here many music stations are broadcast in the lowest possible bit rates...
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Not well known, but virtually every cellphone has a built-in FM receiver. It's part of the chipsets everyone uses, regardless of from whom.
Generally speaking it's disabled by the wireless provider so people don't know it's there. The reason, of course, is the telecos want you to use data and pay for data for streaming music.
DAB was implemented here in Canada in the 1990's but the takeup was so poor that it was shut down in 2011.
I prefer to buy digital FM radios designed for the US market, which uses a unique digital broadcast regimen. Why a US market radio for Canada, which doesn't receive the US digital broadcasts, and never implemented it for domestic radio (because DAB)?
Because the system is designed so that if the digital signal is not available (or more precisely, if in the US, isn't strong) then the radios default to analog FM. US listeners complain that the radios switch from digital to analog and back, which annoys them. But used here in Canada, they simply receive analog FM 24/7.
A nice compact Directed (mfr) digital FM radio designed for the US market set me back $40 and installed in the car easily (it's like 15mm - ½" deep, and maybe 2x6" on the face).
I don't think FM is going anywhere soon in most places on earth; they have sold most of the analog TV spectrum already so there is just that small band that used to reside between analog TV channels 6 and 7. In fact there is talk about extending the FM band down to cover what would have been channels 5 to 7 (essentially adding the Japanese FM spectrum of 76~88 MHz to the existing North American one of 88~108 MHz).
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I have worse to tell. I put a £4 storage card in the Nokia. On the whole it's MP3 is far better than DAB. Oh Superman used to make peoples jaw drop, not least the end with real depth in the little sounds and the correct use of stereo. Someone said " your speakers make anything sound good " If only. I suspect the clean DC power source and simplicty being important. The input Z of my preamp is high. This should help the Nokia be in class A.
Difficult to get BBC Radio 4 on a storage card. A high load impedance may help if your Nokia has a Class AB output; if it is Class D (more likely?) then Class A is not possible.
When DAB first arrived in the UK the forums were full of comment on it:
- Radio 4 listeners complained "it makes speech sound unnatural, but I suppose it must be OK for music"
- Radio 3 listeners complained "it is just not good enough for serious orchestral music, but I suppose it won't do any harm to pop music"
- Radio 1/2 listeners complained "it is no good for modern music, but I suppose it will be OK for that simpler classical stuff"
So everyone was basically saying "it sounds horrible for the type of thing I listen to, but I suppose it must be OK for everything else because otherwise they would not have adopted it".
When DAB first arrived in the UK the forums were full of comment on it:
- Radio 4 listeners complained "it makes speech sound unnatural, but I suppose it must be OK for music"
- Radio 3 listeners complained "it is just not good enough for serious orchestral music, but I suppose it won't do any harm to pop music"
- Radio 1/2 listeners complained "it is no good for modern music, but I suppose it will be OK for that simpler classical stuff"
So everyone was basically saying "it sounds horrible for the type of thing I listen to, but I suppose it must be OK for everything else because otherwise they would not have adopted it".
I suppose you need to think about how many people actually care about sound quality, considering the amount who listen in mono on a small kitchen radio.
I would have thought a ratio of about 500:1.
I would have thought a ratio of about 500:1.
More than you might think, when shown the difference.
It's all about perceived price/performance ratio and actual affordability.
Dan.
It's all about perceived price/performance ratio and actual affordability.
Dan.
Point taken.
I have an old valve FM radio at my parents house. I forget the make. It has AM also. What I do not forget is how wonderful it sounds.
I bought a new FM radio for the bathroom. A dreadful thing called Alba. It should be said in most ways my girlfriends Pure brand DAB is better. After doping the Alba's 1 1/4 inch speaker with PVA wood glue and putting some damping in the case it now sounds rather OK and even has some bass! Radio 4 is splendid and shows the trouble taken with some broadcasts. Alba worked hard to kill the FM advantages. Hearing the PVA mature was fun. I discovered this when repairing old paper cones. The repair was often better! The Alba now sounds better than the DAB albeit with less bass.
I was in Totnes Devon one summer. The street was filled with vibrant sound. When we got close it was one of the famous small Bush valve AM radios in ivory white. He wanted £30 which was far too cheap, it was a church jumble sale. I didn't buy it as I knew it would end up in my workshop with my big drill etc splashing it. For what should be 1 watt of audio is was an impressive sound. One would have said FM as the clarity was excellent. I think the sound carried for 100 metres!
I have an old valve FM radio at my parents house. I forget the make. It has AM also. What I do not forget is how wonderful it sounds.
I bought a new FM radio for the bathroom. A dreadful thing called Alba. It should be said in most ways my girlfriends Pure brand DAB is better. After doping the Alba's 1 1/4 inch speaker with PVA wood glue and putting some damping in the case it now sounds rather OK and even has some bass! Radio 4 is splendid and shows the trouble taken with some broadcasts. Alba worked hard to kill the FM advantages. Hearing the PVA mature was fun. I discovered this when repairing old paper cones. The repair was often better! The Alba now sounds better than the DAB albeit with less bass.
I was in Totnes Devon one summer. The street was filled with vibrant sound. When we got close it was one of the famous small Bush valve AM radios in ivory white. He wanted £30 which was far too cheap, it was a church jumble sale. I didn't buy it as I knew it would end up in my workshop with my big drill etc splashing it. For what should be 1 watt of audio is was an impressive sound. One would have said FM as the clarity was excellent. I think the sound carried for 100 metres!
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I have a Graetz 416 valve receiver at my parents house, it sounds great.
Even has a line in (turntable input), which has no RIAA curve equalization i can hear when using my phone.
Even has a line in (turntable input), which has no RIAA curve equalization i can hear when using my phone.
Alba used to be a cheap UK brand. Now it is an even cheaper UK-badged brand.
People with cheap kitchen radios might not notice the sound problems with DAB (although some of them will) but most of them will complain about the unreliability ("it only works if I put it on that particular spot by the window").
People with cheap kitchen radios might not notice the sound problems with DAB (although some of them will) but most of them will complain about the unreliability ("it only works if I put it on that particular spot by the window").
Sound quality like good food will sell things. No one really ever says the Beatles or Pink Floyd were about sound quality. They were and the Beatles could somehow have enough of it when cheap radios. It's so wise to do your best when selling things. You can't fool all of the people all of the time. They vote with their Visa cards. Friends of mine detest Bose. Give them credit as they do believe sound is the selling feature. The Bose radio is mostly mono due to it's size. I caught myself rather impressed by one at my dentist.
The best radio I ever heard of the kitchen type was the B&O ( Beolite ? ). I think I read the speaker was to be found in some respected hi fi and TV speakers. B&O did plenty of research. Alas they seldom got to use most of it because the house style was the brand . No one would want to own B&O speakers up against brands like KEF ( that is bought outside of a B&O system ). Ones I tried were rather good. B&0 recievers are often said to be worst of type due to rather simple amplifier designs. They are very good and often a bit more sensetive than others. My Armstrong 625 is possibly better in total. If you want to build a very simple yet good quality amplifier the B&O designs are a good starting point. They look too simple to work. They always tested well at Gramophone Magazine and liked Quad ESL well enough.
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