Digital Radio

[Pseudo]

Do we have any afficionadoes of digital radio here? How well do you rate the quality, the programming, the extra bells and whistles compared to analogue radio? Can you recommend a good receiver for casual listening?

[dedja]

I've got it in the car, so those with fixed radios you may notice different results.

Sound is much clearer and there's a reasonable range of of the usual stations with some extra specialty (especially) music stations.

The main downside for me, especially as I live in the foothills, is that reception dies within a km or 2 from home, which is the nature of digital reception, you either get a perfect signal or none at all.

So for me I have to switch to standard FM when the digital signal is lost, so this may or may not be an issue depending where you are.

Details of Adelaide stations here ... http://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/inde ... l=stations

You can time shift which is a novelty.

The other downside is that the digital radio receivers are quite expensive, so generally I wouldn't consider them value for money. The only reason i've got it in the car is that I wanted to change the head unit and the model I chose happened to have digital radio, so I didn't spend more to get it.

Faarked if I know if any of this helps ...

[RustyCage]

I have a Pure One Flow or something like that, and it's great. Crystal clear reception an extra channels are the main benefits, but also comes with internet radio so using my router I can use it to listen to any radio station in the world, both commercial radio stations and little back room internet radio stations that seem to keep getting shut down every few weeks

[Psyber]

I haven't even considered it up in the hills. I had to get an extension to elevate my antenna to get digital TV so I'm unlikely to pick up digital radio without similar special provision. I rarely use a car radio unless I'm out in the country with no traffic to be concerned about being distracted from.

[mighty_tiger_79]

I use a sangean digital radio for work as it sits comfortably in my pocket and use headphones.

I like the abc grandstand station plus a couple of the others.

But it did cost $150

[zipzap]

They've come down in price a lot. Target sells a few no name brands for under $50...was thinking of getting one

[bennymacca]

still cant work out why they are so expensive, other than that there is not many people buying them and hence low competition.

I have one at work and as other posters have said, it works great when you get reception, but like digital TV, you either get perfect reception or none. No graceful degradation. It is nice listening to ABC grandstand and 5AA in perfect clarity, it almost sounds weird compared to the ever present buzz of the AM band.

[cennals05]

If you want to check whether you can get digital radio in your area you can check on this site http://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/inde ... ge_id=1003

I wouldn't get one if you wanted to use it to listen to the football while at a game. Unlike analogue radio there is a latency with digital which means it will always be about 3 seconds behind the play.

[Pseudo]

With Dick Smith going belly-up I finally got around to buying a cheap DAB+ receiver.

Spent most of the day grooving to the dedicated 80s channel and am now vegging out to SBS chill.

I could get used to this....

[Booney]

I've won two in recent times in a couple of competitions, both are around the Boon household on Triple J Unearthed, 90's classics, Triple M Classic Rock and roll through various other programs.

Both get used extensively, both get changed by all 4 Boon family members. We quite like them.

[Reddeer]

They are useless if you want to listen to live action, about 6 seconds behind the event!!!!