Sorry for the OT but I'm sure someone here will know. I'd like to buy a digital radio for someone as a Christmas present. I am clueless about the options on these new-fangled beasties. The person concerned would, I know, like to take off-air recordings (:-)) - but do all these types of radios provide such an output? (similar to the way ordinary radios have an earpiece output socket). What features should I check for? I'd like to avoid the "ah if only it had a ????" thing. I see Argos have several models - anyone have a recomendation for any of them - or maybe somewhere else I should look? Thank you
I have the Richer-Sounds cheapie tuner, the Acoustic Solutions SP110, which in the summer was 80 squids. Being a "Hi-Fi Separates"-style tuner, it has a stereo analogue output on two phono sockets, just right for taping from; a headphone socket with its own level control; and an optical digital-out (Toslink) also. The built-in digital-to-analogue on this cheapie is a bit naff (some distortion on speech, sometimes, which is what I listen to most of all); I know it's the D-to-A because feeding the digital-out into the 'puters TosLink digital-in clears up said distortion on the spot. Here in Bristol I use just the supplied-in-the-box wet-string indoor aerial, and the signal-quality and strength reported is very high; for a more rural location you might need a Real aerial.
It's not a medium for the ultimate Hi-Fi enthusiast, as in order to squeeze lots of stations into the available bands, they push the encoding down or indeed beneath the quality of typical MP3s (with the alleged exception of Radio 3 live concerts, AIUI). But for me, the instant tuning to a wider variety of stations than FM, and the lack of fading in/out, makes it worthwhile. A colleague with a portable DAB radio, on the northern fringe of Bristol, reports it's very senstive to location in his house - full-on error-free reception in one position in a given room, no or very poor reception a few feet away. As with all matters radio, your (more relevantly, your benefactee's) mileage may vary, objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear, the value of your investment may go down as well as up, errors and omissions excepted, etc. etc. etc. (Which suggests it may be worth buying from a shop with a real refund policy and giving your happy gift-receiver the receipt, even though it reduces the romance factor!)
An excellent summation - but two comments stand out and cannot be ignored.
Firstly, the signal strength is vitally important. Portables will only work successfully and reliably within a few miles of a transmitter with a clear signal path. Unlike analogue FM radio which degrades gracefully, digital is on or off with no halfway house. The hi-fi tuner or a separate aerial option (yes even the portables (as distinct from personals) have an external aerial socket in addition to the telescopic) require a new (and thus likely still expensive) aerial as (a) digital is transmitted around 220MHz which is 'out of band' for both existing TV and radio aerials and often for masthead amps as well and (b) they are vertically polarised where many existing external aerials (particularly FM) will be horizontal. Also be aware that not all transmitters radiate all stations: we have a Tx site about nine miles from here but it only transmits the Leeds EMAP multiplex that carries a few local independent and one BBC local station but none of the BBC or independent nationals. For those I would need a significant directional aerial to point at sites 30+ miles away.
Secondly the quality. The broadcasters seem to have taken the opportunity to make digital a quantity rather than a quality medium and as such it suffers badly. MP3 is usually at a data rate of 128Kb; you need 256Kb to get anything remotely near a good FM receiver. It is alledged that BBC R3 uses
192Kb at certain times of day, but 160Kb is more common. ClassicFM uses
160Kb all the time, as does (did?) BBC R2. But - and this probably gives more indication of how the broadcasters view it - BBC R4 is in mono - yes mono - most of the time, news, plays, or whatever.
If your friend already has any form of half decent FM receiver then he/she will probably be disappointed with the quality of DAB, unless that is it is receiver on a card in the PC and plays through PC speakers where quality is expected to be poor!
Others have answered your specific query. Just a thought, but when I've looked for digital clocks in the recent past a fairly high "must have" feature for me is the ability for the clock to sync to the Rugby time signal. I've got a cheapo (sub 10 pounds) sitting on my desk next to the monitor and I know I can depend upon it being accurate.
This sort of sync would be particularly useful for a clock radio if the mains fails and you have forgotten to replace the battery in the recent past. If you have to get up for work the next morning it would be nice if the clock figured out what the time was and remembered to give you a nudge at the appropriate time.
As it happens there are a couple of utterly fascinating links between DAB and time signals. (Normal people can pass on to the next thread at this point).
OK, just us geeks left? Fine. First off, there is some sort of a time standard broadcast by the DAB networks, displayed by many of the receivers, which seems to be at least within a few seconds of the "proper" time standard as received by increasingly cheap and widely available radio-sync'ed clocks. Secondly, you'll find when you listen to the same station on both DAB and analogue FM that the DAB signal lags the analogue one by 2-3 seconds (presumably that's the encoding and decoding delay) - the same phenomenomenon is noticeable when digital-terrestrial transmissions of BBC1 and cousins is compared with analogue broadcast. The broadcasters seem to reduce this lag when transmitting the time pips (my impression is it goes down to 1sec), but there's still an intriguing "softness"/imprecision in the broadcast almost-a-synchornising signals as a result...
One is a Technics and has digital outputs and analugue outputs for connecting to a amplifier.
The other is the Pure Evoke 1 which has a 3.5mm stereo analogue output which I have connected to an amplifier. I got the later as it runs off an external 12V power brick and I use it in a camper van fedding a power amp. This has a built in amplifier with an optional second speaker for stereo listening, yes optional, built to hit the £100 price mark.
I am impressed with both of them.
Check the signal strengths in your region. I added an external ariel to the hosue and found 4 or 5 multiplexes over 2 on the ribbon type ariel. One of them drops out occasionally under atmospherics or other enviroenmental issues.
The great bit is good sound quality with the receiver sitt>Sorry for the OT but I'm sure someone here will know.
The reason I ask is that the sound quality of Radio Stations is actually better in many cases on Digital Terrestrial TV (Freeview) than DAB, and for the same money you get some extra TV channels. Almost all models have phono out and I use mine through an amp as a radio much of the time, some BBC Channels e.g. Radio 6 etc even show the DAB type program information on the screen.
Posters to the < uk.people.consumers > news group may also advise you which suppliers to patronize/avoid; which suppliers tend to have a suitable stock and/or ship on time/tend to be out of stock and/or bill you before shipping etc. Also expereience with suppliers/reatilers who quickly honour any warranty concerns or refer you off the representative of the 'manufacturer', who may be in Taiwan/Mexico/S.Korea etc. All things to watch out for. Terry.
Is it harrogate's statement that is rubbish, or is it rubbish of the broadcasters to be transmitting mono? I think you mean the statement but could be read both ways.
Many thanks all. Yes I know OT post but uk.d-i-y - *the* group inhabited by people who know stuff without going OTT :-) The dig. radio is in fact for my son - who tells me there are stations only transmitting digital signals(!). Of course this could all be a clever ploy :-) He listens to such thing as Drum 'n Bass (whatever that is).
contains links to nine 'Electronic - Drum & Bass' Net radio stations. If you have broadband this could provide him with the soundz until DAB gets sorted out.
Excuse me, may I interuppt please? Where does my original comment say that Radio 4 is changed to mono by DAB? My statement was - and as far as I can see does still say - that Radio 4 being broadcast in mono on DAB (whilst in stereo on FM etc) shows the standpoint of the controlling organisation - 'never mind the quality feel the width' - pack as much in as you can and ignore the feelings or interests of your customers.
I wonder how long they would last in the real world with that view?
It's the factual basis of your claim which Dave is taking issue with. In my DAB listening, I certainly hear some transmissions on R4 in stereo - quite distractingly so given the particular layout of the speakers I listen on (some drama soundFX recreate the glorious days of Steam Radio as they pass unctiously from panned-hard-right to panned-hard-left. Always in that direction, too: clearly the BBC's ideological bias showing again. The Torygraph ought to point out that dastardly plot...). And the Archers gives me Ruth spatially separated from David. So, at least *some* R4 programs reach *my* DAB set in glorious stereo.
In the Real World, compromises on quality so as to address the mass market are common as muck and cheap as chips. You want a premium product, expect to pay a *hefty* price premium. The market driver for DAB seems indeed to be variety rather than broadcast quality: sorry, but the hi-fi quiet-room listening audience seems to be a (small) minority. The Beeb caters to that minority in some cases - Radio 3 concerts are allegedly broadcast in a higher bitrate than most - but seems to exercise at least defensible "real world" judgment in its use of the spectrum it gets; at least to this licence-payer's cloth ears!
Err, if it's in stereo on FM but mono on DAB, isn't that a fair enough way of putting it?
Your statement is still wrong. If R4 is broadcasting a stereo programme on FM, it will also be broadcast in stereo on DAB. Of course, not all programmes on R4 are made in stereo.
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