And how do you treat DAB+ instead of FM radio

[VintageDutch]

Hello to you all,

I could not find a topic about it (did not show up in search) so.... I was wandering... How do you all treat DAB+ in stead of Analog FM Radio.

Here is my reason why i'am asking:
In the old country (Europe, specific The Netherlands) They plan and work hard to Stop regular Analog FM Transmissions in 2030/32
Reason they claim is crowded band, obsolete technologie, Digital has beter sound quality...and so on...
Be aware this is not my opinion but the reasons the DAB crowd claim to be true...

But I don't get it... We have the Luxemburg act in place witch deals with Frequenties for any European country prohibiting over crowding... Yes we do have radio piracy... But come on... That might be a few hundred watts instead of tens of thousands of Kw that official radio uses....

If you have "the blessing" of cable radio You notice that the FM radio band is heavy distorted due to Wrong use of the cable compagnie. If you Pick up the same station by Open air frequency it is clean as a whistle, But we are not allowed roof antennas....

And then by all means... those DAB Receivers are SO UGLY ((IMHO) Just a metal (if you are in luck) with a display....or a even uglier plastic casing witch does not match quality gear like our vintage gear...

Then the sound quality... Some say that 192 Kbps is HQ.. and due extra compression of data it lives up to 320 Kbps...That might be true or not... It's is not CD Quality

I admit ... for day to day use during Vacuum cleaning the house it might be OK isch... but not for HQ radio...

SO... My first question:... Do you adapt to DAB+ or don't you adapt?

And my second question: Is there a DAB+ tuner with the charming looks of a "real" tuner? SO no direct display to read from but a kind Of personal preset dail with a nice old style needle "tuning" option...just to fill in the "real radio" look an feel?

and Thirt: Wat is your opinion: is there a future for DAB+ or do we switch to Streaming radio and collect HQ stations ourself?

 

[59volvo]

I think this is called HD for Hybrid Digital in the states. It seems to be pretty dead and only comes in car radios these days.

 

[SledRider]

Right. I have HD radio in my truck, and I find there are several such stations that have very different (non-mainstream) programming that I enjoy a lot. The range of the broadcast is not all that great. However, I do wish I had an option to listen to some of these HD stations while at home doing errands. I had hoped that there would be an internet radio option to receive some of these stations, but I have not found any available online. The other nice thing about these stations (at least the ones I listen to) is there are no commercials... wonder how they stay on the air....

 

[audiofun_21]

I think this is called HD for Hybrid Digital in the states. It seems to be pretty dead and only comes in car radios these days.

“Pretty dead”?

Far from it. HD Radio is the whole reason I got excited about terrestrial broadcast radio and the McIntosh MR88 in particular to begin with. Instead of being stuck with the standard range of FM stations in my town, it literally opens up at least DOUBLE the options for listening including a fantastic 24 hour HD2 Jazz stream, 2 or 3 classic rock options, classical, and so on. What’s even more remarkable, is that even when the regular FM signal has a hint of drift or noise, the tuner can often still lock on to the HD sub channels and give you crystal clear digital audio while the standard station might not be optimal.

The enjoyable part of FM radio to me at all, is the “passive listening” aspect of just kicking back with a remote and having programming “always there”. Sure, you can fiddle with internet radio streams of equal or higher quality as well. But nothing has the simplicity of just flipping it on and having instant programming, relevant to your local market, like a FM tuner does. And HD by extension, gives you a much more well rounded set of choices in many communities. Not all, but many.