Interested to here your take on Digital radio reception DAB - any good?
 
How's does the quality compare with normal FM radio and streamed music from a smart phone?
 
Any issues with incompatibility with different country standards (DAB, DAB+ or DMB)
 
France is really late adopting a standard DAB (Radio Numérique Terrestre or RNT) but have read that its going to be

"DAB+ sur la bande III"

 

Hope the Columbus will work with that.

Interested to here your take on Digital radio reception DAB - any good?

 

How's does the quality compare with normal FM radio and streamed music from a smart phone?

 

Any issues with incompatibility with different country standards (DAB, DAB+ or DMB)

 

France is really late adopting a standard DAB (Radio Numérique Terrestre or RNT) but have read that its going to be

"DAB+ sur la bande III"

 

Hope the Columbus will work with that.

Only a problem for me for 14 hours per year   It would be furstrating if it was not compatible, but I guess its down to the red tape/making a decision

Only a problem for me for 14 hours per year   It would be furstrating if it was not compatible, but I guess its down to the red tape/making a decision

What are you doing for 14 hours a year, seems a short holiday? Or was that supposed to be days?

What are you doing for 14 hours a year, seems a short holiday? Or was that supposed to be days?

Sorry I meant 28 hours per year (2 holidays of 7hrs each way), Calais to Morillon 1100 takes around 7hrs and 7.5hrs to Chamonix.

 

To be honest though we rarely listen to the radio, its usually Ipod all the way, beeen travellling to France since I was 6yrs old and can always remember the radio stations being not very good lol, so when I started driving out there it was always CD's/Ipod

hehe, we also drive to the alps each year, Verchaix - just a stone's throw from Morillon as it happens!

 

My view is that I don't measure DAB in terms of quality, it simply offers more choice. I personally like to listen to BBCR6 music, not available on FM. When travelling across France, we'll just be using music from SD card, not a problem.

Interested to here your take on Digital radio reception DAB - any good?

 

How's does the quality compare with normal FM radio and streamed music from a smart phone?

 

Any issues with incompatibility with different country standards (DAB, DAB+ or DMB)

 

France is really late adopting a standard DAB (Radio Numérique Terrestre or RNT) but have read that its going to be

"DAB+ sur la bande III"

 

Hope the Columbus will work with that.

The VAG group DAB radio module will work with DAB & DAB+.

France has actually adopted DMB fors their digital radio technology.

I would expect the VAG DAB module to also be compatible with DMB, but not certain.

In reality, most modern DAB radios have a engine with chipset that includes DAB, DAB+ & DMB - the issue is whether the radio manufacturer implements all the functionality as there is a cost isse with license fees for each one.

 

As already Dodgy said, DAB gives you more choice, with both digital only National and Local stations.

As far as quality of transmission goes, if you were listening to Five Live on AM, then DAB will be an uplift in quality.

The sound quality varies from station to station, as it depends on the bit rate of the transmission - basically higher bit rate = better sound, but transmission cost is higher.

Some stations, even music ones, are only mono and very low bit rate and don't sound great, compared to a station like Absolute Radio that uses a high bit rate in stereo.

 

John.

Edited 4 February, 201412 yr by JayTee

Like the sound quality in DAB but have found around the hills of the Wolds anyway, the signal is regularly lost particularly on local stations.

 

 

TP

Sorry I meant 28 hours per year (2 holidays of 7hrs each way), Calais to Morillon 1100 takes around 7hrs and 7.5hrs to Chamonix.

Likewise - recently returned from Flaine - snow was pretty mediocre this year.

 

I tend to listen to plays that I have downloaded from the BBC each week (LINK) because listening to CDs, a USB MemoryStick or MP3 player almost always leads to moaning from someone or other in the car.

 

ps - l'Beu is probably my favourite Grand Massif restaurant

Likewise - recently returned from Flaine - snow was pretty mediocre this year.

 

ps - l'Beu is probably my favourite Grand Massif restaurant

 

They just had 7 inches of snow this weekend and predicted another 30 inches of snow in the next week

 

Might have to try that place as we tend to go out for a nice meal on 1st and last night, the rest of the time we each take a turn to cook as there are 5 of us in the 4 bed apt

Like the sound quality in DAB but have found around the hills of the Wolds anyway, the signal is regularly lost particularly on local stations.

 

 

Ditto.

 

Although purists will point out that DAB is inferior to FM, when I can get it, I prefer listening to DAB.

 

If I bought new, I'd definitely add it to the spec list.

 

That said, the features of the Pure Highway that I've fitted to the Yeti (the ability to rewind live radio when the missus talks over the news) make it an acceptable aftermarket fit.

 

The real problem is coverage, and whilst it's generally good, it's not great in the Cotswolds

Generally its very good. More listening choice compared to FM in the UK and on the most part considerably better quality.

Only problem is that digital reception in the UK a bit like cellular coverage is still a bit patchy in areas so sometimes you end up with no sound for short periods of time, also as the signal washes out you get an annoying squelch noise before it goes dead....less abrasive than the hiss of loss of FM. On VAG cars at least it will pick up the FM equivalent if available ans flick back to DAB when the signal comes back which is quite useful.

Its funny though, got about 4Gb of music sat on an SD card and find now I have DAB I hardly ever listen to it.

Love DAB, slightly  better quality, but more importanly loads of additional stations. Radio 5 is so much better than on woolly AM that I listen to it, which I refused to do in my last vRS

I would happily sacrifice sound quality for more station choice - I can only get the BBC stations on DAB where I live. So now I'm too old for Radio 1 find myself listening to 1 Xtra. Bizarre!

On longer journeys its great as I'm exploring all sorts - maybe too much, to the point that its tempting to try the next station and invariably that's when a small pothole strikes.

I don't get the quality hangup that some folk have since a car is an imperfect environment. But maybe I'm losing some definition since I find 64k WMA and 128k MP3 perfectly acceptable for ripping my own CDs and playing through Sonos. Unfortunately my VAG hard drive only allows for 3000 tracks and I can't be bothered to find 3000 to rip at a higher bitrate when I can plug in my own hard drive with 20,000 on.

My only real gripe with DAB is that the BBC can badge a station e.g. "Wimbledon" and then not transmit anything on it even during Wimbledon fortnight. Perhaps all talk stations should be at a lower bitrate anyway?

If it's not working well in the UK I have no chance in France.

 

Still hopefully it will come in use within the 4 year life of the car.

 

Otherwise I will have to travel to Germany - as they are a civilized country with good coverage 

DAB is a much clearer signal and you can hear the difference compared to FM, almost like the difference between a CD and a good quality tape (remember them?)

 

BUT, when driving if the signal drops out then it switches to FM, then it'll switch back again after a bit, then it drops out and switches again with 2-3 seconds of naff all while switching.

DAB is a much clearer signal and you can hear the difference compared to FM, almost like the difference between a CD and a good quality tape (remember them?)

 

BUT, when driving if the signal drops out then it switches to FM, then it'll switch back again after a bit, then it drops out and switches again with 2-3 seconds of naff all while switching.

thanks, glad I payed the extra 135 EUR for that, 150 - 10% discount.

I have virtually no lapse between DAB and FM, so little that I often spot it by the time lag between the standard FM signal and DAB. Haven't experienced a gap in reception. So little to spot that it often takes a glance at the screen to see that it has changed, usually following wondering why it doesn't quite sound the same. If on a DAB only station then there is a gap while the radio seeks a similar FM, but if both exist no real gap.

I don't know how you can compare a CD with its very high bitrate to DAB and its incredibly low bitrate. The sooner the existing UK DAB system is abandoned, the better things will be.

With even music stations running at 64kbps MP2, Mono (that's one channel, so on Stereo both speakers play the same audio) the sound quality reminds me of early realplayer media streams over a modem.

The UK needs to scrap the outdated MP2, change the codec to AAC+ and increase the bitrate. In the early days of DAB it WAS fantastic, very few stations but all were very good quality with most being 256kbps Stereo but as with Freeview its all gone down hill.

I had DAB in my old 2001 MK1 Octy vRS (Blaupunkt Woodstock DAB52) and it was great until the bitrate dropped, so I took it out and have never missed it.

I love my DAB. I listen to talk sport a lot, and with all the miles i do, I can now enjoy it more.

Love DAB in my car. All the sport and Planet Rock.

I love it, I can have the choice of Gold or Radio 2, Absolute 80s & so on.

I enjoy my DAB, not necessarily for the quality sound which is good on the big bbc stations but the choice of stations/music is better.

Not sure if it was not in the car when I bought it that I would bother upgrading at the sort of additional cost involved.

I don't go with the whole sound quality argument Just because FM has the potential to be better quality it doesn't mean that it is - some of the stations that broadcast on both DAB and FM broadcast low quality compressed sound on both -take Absolute Radio for example, the audio quality on FM is pretty ropey and limited to London, it's clearly optimised for digital and sounds better on DAB, granted it's not as good as say Radio 2. Classic FM is a station that doesn't seem to matter where you try and listen to it, it's always full of pops crackle and other noises and can get very annoying - on DAB none of that. 

in 2002 virtually all the DAB stations were operating at 160kbps Stereo, and the classical stations were operating at 256kbps. At the time these were deemed the minimum required to obtain a good sound quality.

 

Move forward to day, and the main BBC music stations are operating at 128kbps Stereo whilst Talksport, 5 live, Radio 4 are all in glorious mono at 64kbps. Classic FM recently reduced their bitrate from 160kbps Stereo to 128kbps. Absolute 80s and 90s both broadcast at 64kbps mono, along with Absolute 90s, a far cry from the 160kbps Stereo they used to transmit at. 

 

Where I live we have excellent FM and DAB reception, and the difference when listened to on quality equipment is very obvious with FM sounding almost perfect, and the DAB lacking bass and high frequencies. In a car this may not be apparent, same on the portable units like the Pure systems and others that only have a single speaker, but at home DAB is terrible.

 

I am glad the government have seen sense and said there is going to be no switch over for many years yet. Even if they did, there would be plenty of radios and airspace for the pirate radio operators to setup and transmit in.

 

In my car I can listen to FM all day long crackle and pop free.

I always find when it drops to FM from DAB, FM sounds very tinny and poor by comparison