DAB Radio in a Car: Worth It?

DPinBucks · 30-10-2009, 8:53 AM

I'm wondering whether to specify DAB for a new car. It's about £200 extra, so not going to break the bank, but is it worthwhile? We have it at home, and it's fine, but I'm not sure about on the move: I've heard there are are lots of signal quality issues. Does it retune automatically, like RDS?

My feeling is that there's little to lose: there's always FM to fall back on, and it's future-proofed if it does take off in the next few years.

Advice??

Decadence · 30-10-2009, 9:39 AM

I think you answered your own question...it's a shame Birdsong is no longer available though as it would have made for a more pleasant journey.

*Wild Weasel* · 30-10-2009, 12:20 PM

It does retune seamlessly and signal coverage is very good in my experience.

I generally listen to Radio 5 and Talk Sport, which are both only on MW. Compared to DAB, the quality of MW is appalling.

wyze · 30-10-2009, 4:29 PM

It depends where you live, DAB reception was pretty dire in our area but they brought some new transmitters online and I don't have a problem with reception.

We have an early JVC DAB but make sure you have a DAB ariel fitted and don't use the silly stick on windscreen ariels.

It's worth it for BBC7 and 6music and amazing radio alone. If you are into rock then Planet Rock would be an essential must listen.

DVD-Man · 30-10-2009, 7:49 PM

Does DAB come through at the same quality as a CD would?

Meaning there should be no discernable difference when a song is playing?

Liam

*Wild Weasel* · 31-10-2009, 12:56 AM

No, it's nowhere near CD quality; The bandwidth they allocate is too low. They went for more channels over greater quality unfortunately. A decent home FM tuner (with a good aerial) will almost certainly sound better than the same channel on DAB. I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference with the average car stereo though.

Speech channels are the lowest quality. Talk Sport is only 64kbps mono, Radio 5 is 80kbps mono. Still better than crappy MW in my opinion, as I've already mentioned.

Radio 4 is 128kbps stereo at least. Music channels like Planet Rock, Galaxy and Radio 1 are generally 128kbps stereo too. Radio 3 is probably the best at 192 kbps, although they do lower this a bit when the likes of Radio 5 Xtra are broadcasting.

DAB uses oldskool MPEG2 to encode the sound, which is not as efficient as MPEG3 (MP3) or the newer AAC.

DAB+ replaces MPEG2 with AAC (like Itunes) and includes various other improvements. Unfortunately, you'll almost certainly need a new radio to get that. If you're thinking of buying a DAB radio now, make sure it supports DAB+ for when it arrives in the UK. It may just need a firmware update to do that, depending on the model.

Ned Senior · 04-11-2009, 5:00 AM

I had one in a golf between 2002 and 2006 and found that only really bbc channels were good for a whole country drive without them dissappearing on you after 30 miles or so it was great on a tuesday night after midnight driving to folkestone or dover from Liverpool listening to the r&b show on 1xtra

hopefully it may have all improved since then and at least you will have more choice of stations than soleley fm radio with mw lw

mcyates · 07-11-2009, 4:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by protector

I had one in a golf between 2002 and 2006 and found that only really bbc channels were good for a whole country drive without them dissappearing on you after 30 miles or so it was great on a tuesday night after midnight driving to folkestone or dover from Liverpool listening to the r&b show on 1xtra

hopefully it may have all improved since then and at least you will have more choice of stations than soleley fm radio with mw lw

Hello,

I've had dab since 2002, having the Blaupunkt DAB 52, then moving onto the DAB 54 for the past 4 years. Signal quality varies alot, in Middlesbrough its excellent, I travel from Middlesbrough to Portsmouth most weekends as i'm in the Navy. There are blind spots like on the M18 half way from the M1 and the A1 it loses signal for about 10 seconds every time i travel there. Also on the A38 near the M4 I lose it for a little bit. But other than that its great. Much better than FM IMO.

I've tried listening to FM on my car radio but its pathetic and tinny compared to DAB. I know DAB is not better than FM when you have a decent Aerial but its better on my Radio and thats all I care about :D.

DPinBucks · 07-11-2009, 4:15 PM

Thanks for all the responses, guys.

After due consideration, I've ordered the car without DAB, but with an integrated iPod interface instead of a 6-CD changer.

Call us Mr & Mrs Ordinary, but we only listen to Radio4 plus the occasional 2 and 3, plus lots of recorded music, so it just didn't seem worth it, despite the low cost. Anyway, it's too late to change it now.