Crap streaming radio quality

[Oldphrt]

FM wins hands down over any other way of listening to radio. Hope they never turn it off.

No it doesn't. It's noisy and rolls off at 15khz. AM subcarrier thanks to the yanks.

Sounds better to me than any streaming service whatever the technology

Try Radio Paradise.

 

[nopiano]

FM wins hands down over any other way of listening to radio. Hope they never turn it off.

No it doesn't. It's noisy and rolls off at 15khz. AM subcarrier thanks to the yanks.

Sounds better to me than any streaming service whatever the technology

I'm with you on this one, nick! But maybe my tuner is better than my streamer!

 

[insider9]

Seen the link posted on the wam and thought of this thread

http://www.bbc.co.uk/taster/projects/radio-3-concert-sound

 

[insider9]

Seen the link posted on the wam and thought of this thread

http://www.bbc.co.uk/taster/projects/radio-3-concert-sound

 

[chelstondave]

+1 For Radio Paradise Also I find the Audiophile streams from Greece are worth listening to, plus the Linn stream, Naim radio and the McIntosh player which is the only way I will ever get to afford the little blue VU meter.

 

[drummerman]

The beauty about the tuner is that I dont need my laptop to be on. Switch on ... voila.

I use a chromecast so streaming from/over my phone would be the next best thing. The issue with the BBC High Res test stream is that it currently only works on Firefox. Again, seems a bit of faffing around.

Perhaps I am mistaken here but the 'all 320kbp' streams as posted kindly by chebby are not available over the BBCiplayer (only Radio 3?) I read that I had to install a media player such as VLC to get the benefit of this? This then in turn poses the issue with streaming to the CCA.

Any clarification gratefully received.

 

[emperor's new clothes]

Hi old phart (me too!)

Quote:AM subcarrier thanks to the yanks.

The carrier wave is amplitude modulated? thought just a sine wave, but confess took my avionics and coms exams 42 years ago.

Hi Nopiano,

Do you use the SBT dac or spdif to the marantz?

 

[MajorFubar]

FM wins hands down over any other way of listening to radio. Hope they never turn it off.

No it doesn't. It's noisy and rolls off at 15khz. AM subcarrier thanks to the yanks.

Hearing sounds above 15kHz is a vague memory for most people over 30, and there's nothing up there of interest anyway. Fair play FM will never be as quiet as a digital transmission, but I don't find it distractingly noisy. But then again I invested in a good tuner and aerial, while most people judge it by the reception quality from a piece of wire pinned up the wall.

 

[Pedro2]

Is also at 320kbs. If you're into mainly classical, it has some unusual stuff that's usually very well produced and recorded. The sound quality is consistently good.

 

[drummerman]

Perhaps the limited channel separation and higher noise floor is what makes FM sound 'better' to some? Perhaps it is knitting things together into a more coherent 'whole'? Perhaps the brain has to do less deciphering leading to more relaxation?

Not too different from vinyl and tape.

Another example perhaps of accuracy being potentially distracting for some?

I'm sure it's not the same for everyone.

 

[MajorFubar]

IMO the most common limiting factor is the SQ of the broadcast, not the medium it's delivered on (FM, streamed MP3, FLAC, and so on). If your main appetite is Radio 3 you're fully sorted for E's and whizz: it's consistently good across all delivery mediums, but if that's not your style it can be really hit 'n' miss. The regional ILRs and community ILRs sound dire, pretty much universally, no matter what delivery medium you listen to them on. Smooth Radio is passable on FM, that's the best I can say of it, but sounds worse as a digital stream, either via TuneIn or anything else. Classic FM has the potential to be good, but they have an aggressive compressor which destroys dynamics, and to add insult to injury, it's poorly adjusted, allowing transients to run into momentary distortion before the compressor pulls them down. Radio 1: consistently dire; didn't used to be the case but they're irreversibly down the path of competing with the regional ILRs and community ILRs for loudness and decrepidity. Radio 2 is hit 'n' miss depending on what you're listening to: mass-appeal daytime shows seem to sound worse than their more specialised night time shows like FNIMN, which usually sound superb. Jazz FM *was* once my go-to to demonstrate high SQ on FM, but it's ( a ) ironically no longer on FM, and (b) the DAB and digital stream sound awful (was even mono for a while). For what it's worth, Radio 4 sounds great, like that makes sod-all difference to most people, being a channel which is 99% spoken word.

 

[drummerman]

The spoken word ie. discussions are quite an important part of radio for me.

Music I can get everywhere else too. Thats not to say I don't like well recorded concerts etc.

 

[Vladimir]

Perhaps the limited channel separation and higher noise floor is what makes FM sound 'better' to some? Perhaps it is knitting things together into a more coherent 'whole'? Perhaps the brain has to do less deciphering leading to more relaxation?

Not too different from vinyl and tape.

Another example perhaps of accuracy being potentially distracting for some?

I'm sure it's not the same for everyone.

It's simple. The game is called loudness. As Major explained brilliantly, the louder station in a poor reception equipment and noisy environment stops the finger from pushing the Next button. Even the Beebs has to compete to stay in the game.

 

[chebby]

For what it's worth, Radio 4 sounds great, like that makes sod-all difference to most people, being a channel which is 99% spoken word.

'Spoken word' is well over 80 percent of my listening content and it's sound quality really matters to me at least as much as with music (maybe more(.

It's why I have hundreds of BBC CDs and only a few BBC downloads from iTunes. The quality of well-recorded drama, comedy, history etc. really comes across better from a CD rip.

If I only had to listen to music then i'd just make do with something a lot cheaper and smaller. (B&W Zeppelin Air would be more than good enough.)

 

[MajorFubar]

The spoken word ie. discussions are quite an important part of radio for me.

yep and a few others here (including Chebby above), and me occasionally too, though I doubt us hifi enthusiasts make up any significant portion of their listenership.

 

[nopiano]

Hi old phart (me too!)

Quote:AM subcarrier thanks to the yanks.

The carrier wave is amplitude modulated? thought just a sine wave, but confess took my avionics and coms exams 42 years ago.

Hi Nopiano,

Do you use the SBT dac or spdif to the marantz?

I've not got around to routing the SBT via the Marantz yet, but it is on the 'to do' list! As is checking what options for output I have, as so far only used its internal DAC and analogue output.

 

[emperor's new clothes]

optical and coax - I use coax. Instant switching and 44.1 lock on the screen. As good as the SBT DAC is, I suspect that you might be impressed.

Re FM, depending on distance to the transmitter, a dedicated VHF/FM aerial is often the answer to noise and hiss. Hard to justify with the demise of Fm. The utter folly of the Labour government in not addapting DAB+ adds to a lasting legacy of dumbing down

Not in the same league as carciogenic diesel - thanks Gordon

 

[nopiano]

optical and coax - I use coax. Instant switching and 44.1 lock on the screen. As good as the SBT DAC is, I suspect that you might be impressed.

Re FM, depending on distance to the transmitter, a dedicated VHF/FM aerial is often the answer to noise and hiss. Hard to justify with the demise of Fm. The utter folly of the Labour government in not addapting DAB+ adds to a lasting legacy of dumbing down

Not in the same league as carciogenic diesel - thanks Gordon

Thanks for that. So, just to check, you run the optical into your SA14S1, thence to the amp? What's the highest resolution you can get? I've played 24/96 from the MacBook to the SBT, but I'm still decoding the Marantz handbook!

 

[emperor's new clothes]

Hi Nopiano,

The SA14 is a digital hub - everything passing through it to the amp. optical, coax, USB - you can plug in your Macbook directly - plus the front usb for memory sticks and iPads etc. Just cycle through inputs witht the source button. plays 24/192 and also DSD files. The blurb says optimised for hi res whatever that means. Sounds superb to my ears. Look forward to your thoughts. CDs/SACD sound so good that I haven't yet listened at length to downloaded files.

 

[nopiano]

Hi Nopiano,

The SA14 is a digital hub - everything passing through it to the amp. optical, coax, USB - you can plug in your Macbook directly - plus the front usb for memory sticks and iPads etc. Just cycle through inputs witht the source button. plays 24/192 and also DSD files. The blurb says optimised for hi res whatever that means. Sounds superb to my ears. Look forward to your thoughts. CDs/SACD sound so good that I haven't yet listened at length to downloaded files.

I did find that my MacBook cannot send above cd quality via USB unless I upgrade from iTunes (which in turn requires double the RAM), whereas I did send 24/96 wirelessly to the SBT! Like you, I'm mostly happy with CD and SACD!

 

[whiskywheels]

I don't understand the problem here. For superb HD quality streaming from the BBC, I run my laptop into the DAC of my Audiolab 8200CD, via, for example, the R3 iplayer site. Many of the live studio performances sound stunning, and mostly much better than my digital FLAC masters, CDs, and vinyl.

 

[drummerman]

Will an app like 'Radioplayer' give me Radio 3 at its full potential or am I better off with the BBC IPLAYER?

Sorry for the stupid questions. Whilst I use streaming services elsewhere this Radio marlaky seems somewhat murky.

Perhaps I just stick to my cyrus tuner

 

[lpv]

bbc app is really nice, you can dowload for

offline listening any of their programmes.. they also have download quality perfect for audiophiles. best radio app I've ever used

 

[chebby]

bbc app is really nice, you can dowload for

offline listening any of their programmes.. they also have download quality perfect for audiophiles. best radio app I've ever used

Yes, since the 2015 upgrade to AAC HLS 320k on all stations.

The only thing missing now is the ability to buy good quality, 320k AAC, BBC Radio downloads (like you can do with purchased television downloads on the BBC Store).

I still have to keep buying the BBC CDs

 

[nopiano]

I don't understand the problem here. For superb HD quality streaming from the BBC, I run my laptop into the DAC of my Audiolab 8200CD, via, for example, the R3 iplayer site. Many of the live studio performances sound stunning, and mostly much better than my digital FLAC masters, CDs, and vinyl.

Hope it wasn't me who confused matters, as I was referring to USB to DAC generally, and specifically hires files. No problem with radio!