Anybody got dab working on a c+c ? Thanks Ian
Dab ariel
- Thread starter Persianblue
- Start date
- Status
Aftermarket? I'm using an adapter like this (on a Kenwood DAB head unit)...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eightwood-...erial+adapter&qid=1560246876&s=gateway&sr=8-4
...and I barely have any issues. I sometimes lose signal in some areas, but I found this also happens when a dedicated DAB antenna is installed.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eightwood-...erial+adapter&qid=1560246876&s=gateway&sr=8-4
...and I barely have any issues. I sometimes lose signal in some areas, but I found this also happens when a dedicated DAB antenna is installed.
I have to agree with John here. DAB, unless you're in a great reception area is a pain. Being digital radio, if you get a weak signal, it drops out altogether, whereas analogue FM radio just gets a bit hissy.
A decent antenna (the longer one off the later Micras) and FM kicks DAB's arse. DAB is a rip off. It's just a way of cramming more into a less space to profit broadcasters. The bit rate is often really poor on most multiplexes as well. I've seen as low as 96kb/sec FFS!
Ditch the DAB.
A decent antenna (the longer one off the later Micras) and FM kicks DAB's arse. DAB is a rip off. It's just a way of cramming more into a less space to profit broadcasters. The bit rate is often really poor on most multiplexes as well. I've seen as low as 96kb/sec FFS!
Ditch the DAB.
Like many things, DAB vs AM/FM will be down to practicality and thus personal preference. I guess if you live in the *** end of nowhere, it's going to be a non-starter.
Can't speak from experience in a C+C but I had a very nice Alpine unit with integral DAB tuner and windscreen mounted active antennae in the K11, which proved to be very nice and a significant upgrade over a previous AM/FM unit.
Can't speak from experience in a C+C but I had a very nice Alpine unit with integral DAB tuner and windscreen mounted active antennae in the K11, which proved to be very nice and a significant upgrade over a previous AM/FM unit.
Not so much as where you live but more down to if you want decent reception as you drive around the country......If you live in a metropolis and never stray more than a few miles from home then great.....
Not so much as where you live but more down to if you want decent reception as you drive around the country......If you live in a metropolis and never stray more than a few miles from home then great.....
I drive around England all the time on business and haven't experienced any issues. Not in my K11 or my current Skoda which has DAB from the factory.
So none of your travels take you to "the **** end of nowhere" then?
All my business travel used to be from large town to large town by motorway type routes and I suppose DAB would have worked OK under those circumstances, though the trip across from Warrington to Sheffield might have been the exception....
These days I tend to drive to more 'off the beaten track' places. Visiting my brother in coastal Norfolk, I find that tracking the FM regional BBC local radio stations works quite well, 'Three Counties' is replaced by 'Radio Cambridge' then 'Radio Norfolk' kicks in about Newmarket on the A11 and the rest of the time the radio is tuned on AM to either 'Five Live' on 909, or 'Talk Sport' on 1089..........
Same here... in rural areas, or in hilly areas, it's crap.
Fitted this and tbh other then a valley with trees not had a problem yet tbh ,
Sent from my moto g(6) using Micra Sports Club mobile app
Sent from my moto g(6) using Micra Sports Club mobile app
MikeHP
Site Supporter
My partner's 2017 Yaris has factory DAB and it's clever enough to seamlessly switch between DAB and FM depending on which has the stronger signal (on stations where both are available, obviously). So seamless that we didn't realise it was doing it for over a year of ownership.
Now I'm aware of it I'm able to discern a cleaner signal with greater dynamic range when the DAB icon is showing - which is the majority of the time on our routes (south east England, motorway and cross-country).
There's no doubt that it's the future of radio (if any broadcast media has a future, that is) and once its coverage is as good as analogue we'll get a 'big switchover' like we had with TV.
I'll fit aftermarket DAB to my K11 soon and take my chances. It's good to see that the aerial install is so simple, thanks nissan boy.
Now I'm aware of it I'm able to discern a cleaner signal with greater dynamic range when the DAB icon is showing - which is the majority of the time on our routes (south east England, motorway and cross-country).
There's no doubt that it's the future of radio (if any broadcast media has a future, that is) and once its coverage is as good as analogue we'll get a 'big switchover' like we had with TV.
I'll fit aftermarket DAB to my K11 soon and take my chances. It's good to see that the aerial install is so simple, thanks nissan boy.
"Now I'm aware of it I'm able to discern a cleaner signal with greater dynamic range when the DAB icon is showing "
Get your ears checked. DAB is terrible. It's MP2, with most stations using a 112kb/sec bitrate. Absolute 80s for example is 80kb/sec.. in MONO!! This is becoming more and more common, as stations are being split up. What used to be Virgin Radio now has it's multiplex bandwidth split into three stations, all at 80kb/sec each. Also, many local radio stations are priced out of the DAB game, meaning they aren't on DAB.
"Fitted this and tbh other then a valley with trees not had a problem yet tbh , "
And if that's where you happen to live? LOL Ever been to Wales? Lake District? Places around north Derbyshire? Drive around Hyde, or Glossop with a DAB radio and see how long it is before you pull over, rip it out of your dash and repeatedly drive over the damned thing.
Sorry, but do side by side comparisons, and the difference is shocking.
DAB is a race to the bottom, with more and more stations clamouring for limited space, resulting in 80kb/sec being common. Even the rare 128kb/sec stations sound rubbish. Stations in mono... 80kb/sec?.... Nuts to that. I mean, who decided on MP2? What kind of monumental idiot thought that was a great idea? On a system that was bound to be fighting for space, let's use the least efficient codec out there. LOL DAB is fundamentally at conflict with itself. Every time you add a station, something somewhere has to give. It's supposed to offer better quality and more stations, but the more it does the latter, the less it can deliver the former. This is why Radio 4 has ended up with 64/kb/sec! I know it's mainly speech, but it's TERRIBLE to listen to these days.
DAB+ is better, as that uses AAC encoding, but guess what? The UK has no plans to switch to DAB+ any time soon unlike most other civilised countries. Denmark has already switched from DAB to DAB+. The problem THERE is, is because the sound quality is better, guess what they've done? Yep!... you guessed it... reduced bandwidth even further to allow even MORE stations... and 32kb/sec is common there now. So DAB+ sounds just as **** as DAB.
Race to the bottom.
Who needs hundreds of radio stations? It's getting like freeview TV where there'a re hundreds of channels... all full of ****e, with terrible picture quality.
I'll be with FM until the bitter end. I'm all for digital broadcasting, but DAB got it wrong, and it's set to only get worse as more stations are added, reducing overall bitrates and quality year on year. Unless ALL stations on a multiplex can have 128kb/sec MINIMUM, I'm not interested.
I've not even begun to have a go at the patchy coverage yet...
It sucks.
Too many people, especially in car communities, are only interested in volume and bass... and listen to crap music, that's the problem. As an experiment I once re-encoded two classic albums at 80kb/sec - Pearl by Janis Joplin, and Amused to Death by Roger Waters. I let my 17 year old daughter listen to both, and she could clearly tell the "DAB" quality files, and said they were, in her own words... "A load of gash", but she listens to stuff on DAB and thought it was OK. Once you've heard the side by side comparisons, you'll not look at your DAB radio in the same way ever again.
Raise your standards people. If you accept crap... they'll keep feeding you crap.
Boycott DAB.
Rant over.
Get your ears checked. DAB is terrible. It's MP2, with most stations using a 112kb/sec bitrate. Absolute 80s for example is 80kb/sec.. in MONO!! This is becoming more and more common, as stations are being split up. What used to be Virgin Radio now has it's multiplex bandwidth split into three stations, all at 80kb/sec each. Also, many local radio stations are priced out of the DAB game, meaning they aren't on DAB.
"Fitted this and tbh other then a valley with trees not had a problem yet tbh , "
And if that's where you happen to live? LOL Ever been to Wales? Lake District? Places around north Derbyshire? Drive around Hyde, or Glossop with a DAB radio and see how long it is before you pull over, rip it out of your dash and repeatedly drive over the damned thing.
Sorry, but do side by side comparisons, and the difference is shocking.
Audio Quality comparison of PCM, DAB, DAB+, FM and AM
Audio quality comparison by Associated Broadcast Consultants including audio samples comparing audio quality of PCM, DAB, FM and AM radio.
a-bc.co.uk
DAB is a race to the bottom, with more and more stations clamouring for limited space, resulting in 80kb/sec being common. Even the rare 128kb/sec stations sound rubbish. Stations in mono... 80kb/sec?.... Nuts to that. I mean, who decided on MP2? What kind of monumental idiot thought that was a great idea? On a system that was bound to be fighting for space, let's use the least efficient codec out there. LOL DAB is fundamentally at conflict with itself. Every time you add a station, something somewhere has to give. It's supposed to offer better quality and more stations, but the more it does the latter, the less it can deliver the former. This is why Radio 4 has ended up with 64/kb/sec! I know it's mainly speech, but it's TERRIBLE to listen to these days.
DAB+ is better, as that uses AAC encoding, but guess what? The UK has no plans to switch to DAB+ any time soon unlike most other civilised countries. Denmark has already switched from DAB to DAB+. The problem THERE is, is because the sound quality is better, guess what they've done? Yep!... you guessed it... reduced bandwidth even further to allow even MORE stations... and 32kb/sec is common there now. So DAB+ sounds just as **** as DAB.
Race to the bottom.
Who needs hundreds of radio stations? It's getting like freeview TV where there'a re hundreds of channels... all full of ****e, with terrible picture quality.
I'll be with FM until the bitter end. I'm all for digital broadcasting, but DAB got it wrong, and it's set to only get worse as more stations are added, reducing overall bitrates and quality year on year. Unless ALL stations on a multiplex can have 128kb/sec MINIMUM, I'm not interested.
I've not even begun to have a go at the patchy coverage yet...
It sucks.
Too many people, especially in car communities, are only interested in volume and bass... and listen to crap music, that's the problem. As an experiment I once re-encoded two classic albums at 80kb/sec - Pearl by Janis Joplin, and Amused to Death by Roger Waters. I let my 17 year old daughter listen to both, and she could clearly tell the "DAB" quality files, and said they were, in her own words... "A load of gash", but she listens to stuff on DAB and thought it was OK. Once you've heard the side by side comparisons, you'll not look at your DAB radio in the same way ever again.
Raise your standards people. If you accept crap... they'll keep feeding you crap.
Boycott DAB.
Rant over.
OP
OP
Thanks for reply’s I know DAB is crap,but I want to listen to rock music so am limited to planet rock.I put a aerial amp in and things are much better.
I'm sorry for teh rant, but as an audiophile, being told that a 80kb/sec MP2 stream is the future, makes me fear for the future.
That's ok, I don't listen to any 80kbps mono content, so your experiences are entirely your own on that basis.
If I want to really enjoy good sound I'll do it in a dedicated space that's been configured to support a worthy experience, which isn't in my car. And, what I consider to be an enjoyable listening experience likely will not be what others consider to be pleasant.
MikeHP
Site Supporter
Professional musician here; my ears are not the problem."Now I'm aware of it I'm able to discern a cleaner signal with greater dynamic range when the DAB icon is showing "
Get your ears checked. DAB is terrible. It's MP2, with most stations using a 112kb/sec bitrate. Absolute 80s for example is 80kb/sec.. in MONO!! This is becoming more and more common, as stations are being split up. What used to be Virgin Radio now has it's multiplex bandwidth split into three stations, all at 80kb/sec each. Also, many local radio stations are priced out of the DAB game, meaning they aren't on DAB.
"Fitted this and tbh other then a valley with trees not had a problem yet tbh , "
And if that's where you happen to live? LOL Ever been to Wales? Lake District? Places around north Derbyshire? Drive around Hyde, or Glossop with a DAB radio and see how long it is before you pull over, rip it out of your dash and repeatedly drive over the damned thing.
Sorry, but do side by side comparisons, and the difference is shocking.
Audio Quality comparison of PCM, DAB, DAB+, FM and AM
Audio quality comparison by Associated Broadcast Consultants including audio samples comparing audio quality of PCM, DAB, FM and AM radio.a-bc.co.uk
DAB is a race to the bottom, with more and more stations clamouring for limited space, resulting in 80kb/sec being common. Even the rare 128kb/sec stations sound rubbish. Stations in mono... 80kb/sec?.... Nuts to that. I mean, who decided on MP2? What kind of monumental idiot thought that was a great idea? On a system that was bound to be fighting for space, let's use the least efficient codec out there. LOL DAB is fundamentally at conflict with itself. Every time you add a station, something somewhere has to give. It's supposed to offer better quality and more stations, but the more it does the latter, the less it can deliver the former. This is why Radio 4 has ended up with 64/kb/sec! I know it's mainly speech, but it's TERRIBLE to listen to these days.
DAB+ is better, as that uses AAC encoding, but guess what? The UK has no plans to switch to DAB+ any time soon unlike most other civilised countries. Denmark has already switched from DAB to DAB+. The problem THERE is, is because the sound quality is better, guess what they've done? Yep!... you guessed it... reduced bandwidth even further to allow even MORE stations... and 32kb/sec is common there now. So DAB+ sounds just as #### as DAB.
Race to the bottom.
Who needs hundreds of radio stations? It's getting like freeview TV where there'a re hundreds of channels... all full of ####e, with terrible picture quality.
I'll be with FM until the bitter end. I'm all for digital broadcasting, but DAB got it wrong, and it's set to only get worse as more stations are added, reducing overall bitrates and quality year on year. Unless ALL stations on a multiplex can have 128kb/sec MINIMUM, I'm not interested.
I've not even begun to have a go at the patchy coverage yet...
It sucks.
Too many people, especially in car communities, are only interested in volume and bass... and listen to crap music, that's the problem. As an experiment I once re-encoded two classic albums at 80kb/sec - Pearl by Janis Joplin, and Amused to Death by Roger Waters. I let my 17 year old daughter listen to both, and she could clearly tell the "DAB" quality files, and said they were, in her own words... "A load of gash", but she listens to stuff on DAB and thought it was OK. Once you've heard the side by side comparisons, you'll not look at your DAB radio in the same way ever again.
Raise your standards people. If you accept crap... they'll keep feeding you crap.
Boycott DAB.
Rant over.
Road and wind noise make audiophile concerns irrelevant re music while driving. On the routes I travel, in my vehicle, on the stations that I listen to I notice an improvement using the blended DAB and FM, even if that's only down to a reduction in background interference. In the name of science though I'll switch my car's radio to FM only for a week and report my findings, if you like.
In every other situation I stream my music on demand over the internet, which I believe is the future of listening. I choose the music, I choose how to balance bandwidth vs quality, I don't have to endure presenters or adverts. Win, win, win. Investment in broadcast technology is probably chilled by the fact that online services have the capability (or at least show the potential) to be the best at everything. Sweeping statement I know; perhaps someone can show me the exception that proves the rule. Perhaps I'm talking out of my ass.
We all shared our experiences (which is literally the entire purpose of a forum) and they happened to differ. Please try not to take that personally or to make personal remarks in response. Life's too short for all that drama.
Beethoven was a professional musician too.
- Status
Similar threads
- Deleted member 47850
- K13 General Discussion
