I have a confession to make!

[systemaddict]

Over the weekend I bought a DAB radio I know it's not keeping up with the boombox tradition, and it does nothing to help postpone the digital switchover, but what the hell. I have kind of been lusting after one for some time now, the main reason being I can access absolute 80's (my fave radio station). I listen to quiet a lot of radio and I am sick of hearing crap every time I switch on analogue FM. So.....what is my verdict? well to be honest I wasn't expecting much atall, but it turns out I am blown away by the clarity of digital radio, not to mention the myriad of stations available.

It's the Pure brand and is made very well, only small but sounds very good with seperate bass and treble controls. Don't get me wrong it has nothing on the old skool boxes, but offers way more in terms of variety. I certainly won't be taking it outside lol, but it fits the job perfect for what I wanted it for. Overall I am very happy with it and it was a nice feeling to buy something modern for a change

 

[Terry]

I loved mine (we have DAB+ here in Oz), but the mother-in-law stole it off me, I've been keeping an eye out for another one.

Pro tip: Plug the headphone out into a boombox with line in, radio sounds much better through a decent boombox.

Link to mine, but I never had an issue with it. http://www.productreview.com.au/p/sony-xdr-s56dbp-dab.html

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

I bought a tiny DAB+ digital radio a while back that I hook up to my Boombox line ins + my DIY boxes - works very well! It has a telescopic antenna built in but uses the headphone jack as an antenna whilst in that mode.
View attachment 19134View attachment 19135

 

[systemaddict]

Thanks for the heads up guys, It never crossed my mind to try that

 

[Reli]

DAB sounds cool, but surely you guys have something similar to Pandora?

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

DAB sounds cool, but surely you guys have something similar to Pandora?

Pandora along with other streaming audio is in a lower bit rate than DAB, so the sound might not be as good.

Besides, if sound quality was all you were after, you wouldn't be messing with this old junk.

Best to go full DAB and send your old useless blasters to me!

 

[systemaddict]

DAB sounds cool, but surely you guys have something similar to Pandora?

Never heard of pandora Reli

Pandora along with other streaming audio is in a lower bit rate than DAB, so the sound might not be as good.

Besides, if sound quality was all you were after, you wouldn't be messing with this old junk.

Best to go full DAB and send your old useless blasters to me!

Lol.....the Sony outlets over here had that idea a few years back they was advertising for people to bring in their old fm radios at no charge. The idea was to encourage people to go digital, or was there something more sinister going on

 

[Northerner]

I've had dab in the past and they're good if you get good reception. I'm using a wifi radio these days that streams thousands of stations from around the world and I plug it into a boombox...best of both worlds

 

[systemaddict]

I've had dab in the past and they're good if you get good reception. I'm using a wifi radio these days that streams thousands of stations from around the world and I plug it into a boombox...best of both worlds

I have just googled wifi radio as I had never heard of it until now I am so behind times it's unreal lol I have just learn't something new, cheers Si

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Never heard of pandora Reli

Lol.....the Sony outlets over here had that idea a few years back they was advertising for people to bring in their old fm radios at no charge. The idea was to encourage people to go digital, or was there something more sinister going on

Anytime they are giving you something for free, means they are getting something on the back end. Probably advertising revenue or tracking your listening habits to better market you. Damn evil corporations :devil: :grim: :annoyed:

 

[Terry]

Pandora, Spotify, RDIO and now the new Apple streaming Beats 1, all stream at lowish quality. That's fine if you don't have data limited internet. Yes it's the way most people under 30 listen to their music, but it's lower quality and chews through data. Especially on LTE (4G).

DAB and DAB+ is like HD radio in the USA, except it has a few interesting features, data can be streamed alongside the signal, like weather reports, traffic, news, song titles etc. These details scroll across the screen while the music is playing. It works "over the air" like normal radio, and signals propagate like normal radio.

One thing though, signal never gets degraded, when you are out of range, the signal just dies. Digital cliff they call it, one minute there's perfect stereo quality sound, next minute you're out of range with dead silence.