In article , Dave Plowman (News)
writes
In article ,
Mark wrote:
Yes.. as do quite a few others who are bothered by the noise the MP 2
codec makes when its been used at bitrates it was never intended for.
This was supposed to be the 21st century system that was to replace FM
but in effect is a lot worse than FM. Hopefully they'll see sense and
that a big mistake was made and do what other countries are now looking
to do and that is use a modern codec ACC+ which works much better at the
bitrates that DAB can handle.

This problem seemed to be repeated with other digital broadcast media.
Digital has the potential to be 'better' than analogue, but in
practise, it's all over-compressed to fit in too many channels. This
defeats the whole purpose of using the technology IMHO.

When DAB was introduced with 'better' bit rates it was near totally
ignored by everyone -

Thats a silly way of putting that. It was new and costs of receivers
like all modern tech we're high..

true possibly due to the high cost of the hardware -
but even by enthusiasts happy to pay through the nose for other high end
hardware. It was only when the choice of stations was increased that it
took off - and of course the availability of cheaper hardware. Now those
same audiophiles who didn't bother with it earlier are those who complain
about the quality - the average punter *seems* happy enough.

What a retrograde step. This is the same as saying that we should go
back to 386 processors because they are cheaper or would have cost less
than a 486!..


My view is that for many purposes and casual listening - portable radios
and in car use - it sounds far better than either FM and definitely AM.
Where you want to sit down for some serious listening you still have FM
and of course now Freeview which gives most of the radio services too with
very cheap hardware.

Another odd notion.. DAB is supposed to replace FM so we're replacing
something that does work well very well, with an inferior system!..


For car use I'm sold on DAB - even the pop stations - which is about the
only time I listen to them.

I don't have any problem with Pop stations apart from to over compressed
sound but thats not the fault of the FM system but on DAB with the
screwed codec and bit rates that is a problem!..


The public appear to want choice - even if it's shopping or quiz channels
that many here never watch. They are commercial operations and can't
survive without viewers. If there genuinely was an overall desire for
'quality over quantity' they simply wouldn't exist.


The problem is that DAB, as it has been implemented, was a large mistake
using a codec that is totally wrong for its intended use. MP2 is fine at
high i.e. over 256 K rates but nowhere near as good as AAC + at low
rates. Other countries have seen that and are to introduce AAC services
with the UK being left out and behind!.

And you Dave as a sound "professional" should realise that!...
--
Tony Sayer