Heard it all before

Whats the craic
Are the cheaper ones any good
wanted one for the office
Please share your experiances

SJ_Skyline

I have one in the kitchen, does what it says on the tin and the volume goes up to 11

No complaints with it so far - but then I'm not quite the audiophile some people are.

pslewis

Whats the benefit of them?

Ray_li

if i buy a DAB can i receive my local radio station if I travel up north?

hail-hail

I have a 'Pure' 80 odd quid from currys iirc, sounds fine in the kitchen.

Élan RV40 - Intro

Heard it all before

I just want to get the extra stations i.e 5live extra

Matteeboy

We have two.

A Pure Evoke 2 for the lounge,EVOKE-2XT - Intro

a Pure One for the kitchen.

ONE - Intro

CD quality sound, some excellent extra stations and loads of extra information.
Couldn't live without DAB now!

SJ_Skyline

Well, it's one louder than 10 isn't it

Buckwheat

Loads of extra stations.

The main drawback is a sound quality actually inferior to FM due to an outdated MP2 codec which will only be any good if the stations use a 192 kbs bit rate, which few do.

OK for portable use.

More info. Digital Radio Information - DAB, Freeview and digital satellite

Matteeboy

Buckwheat - Both my DAB radios do FM or DAB and DAB sounds better on both by a fair margin.

Buckwheat

With FM much depends on signal strength, a digital signal is more durable. However, if everything else is equal, FM offers better audio quality though this is unlikely to be discernable through a portable radio.

DAB vs FM sound quality

speedking

Cheaper brand with a decent reputation is Roberts. We have been very pleased with the RD49 at £60 from Currys. It charges the batteries while plugged into the mains.

Ray_li, it depends whether your local station is on Digital or not. For example our local station = Wire FM which is not on digital. But the Roberts radio also receives FM so we have lost no functionality.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

I've tried DAB twice now - with an expensive hi-fi receiver in the early days, and then with a £99 portable a couple of years ago.

In both cases my experience was similar. Both really struggled to receive a good enough signal, especially indoors, and the bit rate on the stations I actually wanted to listen to was so low that the sound was unlistenable. Think MP3 at 64k, or maybe 96k, and you're getting the idea.

I took both radios back to the shop, and gave up on DAB completely.

I now have a Squeezebox instead and listen to internet radio over broadband - much wider choice of music, and the quality is way better too.

Heard it all before

Ok I have grabbed a elan RV40 off fleabay for £60 with next day delivery
Will let you know what I think tomorrow

Matteeboy

Hmmm - We are in Cornwall and DAB wins hands down. The Evoke 2 is actually quite powerful and loud enough to be "discernable" (especially when used through my Hi Fi unit) - I still say it sounds better.
We also get a massive range of channels with 90% or better reception.


Unless our FM signal is just crap.