Classic FM arrives

In article:

ChrisK says...

No, both 64kbps mono.

Good grief! I'd assumed it would be at a decent better than DAB quality
level; having got over the excitement and actually listened to it, yes
it's mono:-(


--
Ken O'Meara

List of UK hi-fi & audio dealers:
http://unsteadyken.esy.es/

On 03/02/2015 19:29, UnsteadyKen wrote:

In article:

ChrisK says...

No, both 64kbps mono.

Good grief! I'd assumed it would be at a decent better than DAB quality
level; having got over the excitement and actually listened to it, yes
it's mono:-(

On DAB it's a positively luxurious 128k stereo


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

UnsteadyKen wrote:

In article:

ChrisK says...

No, both 64kbps mono.

Good grief! I'd assumed it would be at a decent better than DAB quality
level; having got over the excitement and actually listened to it, yes
it's mono:-(



Looks like it's the same on FreeSat as well.

ChrisK

"Geoff Pearson" wrote in message
...

"UnsteadyKen" wrote in message
...

Classic FM popped up in the Freeview channel list this morning,
from Sandy Heath in the Com5 mux, UHF channel 52 with an LCN of 731

About time.

http://www.a516digital.com/2015/02/g...ic-fm-and-lbc-
on.html

--
Ken O'Meara

List of UK hi-fi & audio dealers:
http://unsteadyken.esy.es/

Is it as compressed as on FM? The sound quality is really poor -
made for listening in noisy cars.


It's interesting to listen to Classic on DAB and on Sky through a
decent audio system and compare them against FM. They run DAB at 160K
24/7 so it should sound better than all BBC stations except Radio 3
(outside the rush hour,) and it most certainly sounds better on Sky.

The interesting bit is that, to my ears anyway, it is only the studio
speech that sounds horribly compressed on both DAB and Sky, the music
is as clear as a bell. I can only conclude from this that most of
their awful sound on FM is due to a heavily set Optimod at the Tx
sites but that they also overdrive studio audio to give more 'speech
power' to car listeners.

I sometimes wonder if they realise how much they spoil the final
result for their listeners. It's not often you can say DAB sounds
better than FM but in this case it most certainly does, to me at
least.


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

"Woody" wrote in message
...

It's interesting to listen to Classic on DAB and on Sky through a decent
audio system and compare them against FM. They run DAB at 160K 24/7 so it
should sound better than all BBC stations except Radio 3 (outside the rush
hour,) and it most certainly sounds better on Sky.

The interesting bit is that, to my ears anyway, it is only the studio
speech that sounds horribly compressed on both DAB and Sky, the music is
as clear as a bell. I can only conclude from this that most of their awful
sound on FM is due to a heavily set Optimod at the Tx sites but that they
also overdrive studio audio to give more 'speech power' to car listeners.

I sometimes wonder if they realise how much they spoil the final result
for their listeners. It's not often you can say DAB sounds better than FM
but in this case it most certainly does, to me at least.

I've just retuned my Windows Media Centre and it's picked up Classic FM so I
made a test recording. Guess what? A poxy 64 kbps in mono :-( That's no
better that speech-based Radio 4 which can manage with lower bit rates and
mono (though a decent 192 or 256 kbit stereo is what all radio deserves).

On 03/02/2015 12:33, UnsteadyKen wrote:

Classic FM popped up in the Freeview channel list this morning,
from Sandy Heath in the Com5 mux, UHF channel 52 with an LCN of 731

About time.

http://www.a516digital.com/2015/02/g...ic-fm-and-lbc-
on.html

I have just looked and I can't yet see it on Mendip.
I will try a retune tomorrow to see if it comes in.

Jim

On 03/02/2015 20:14, Woody wrote:
It's interesting to listen to Classic on DAB and on Sky through a
decent audio system and compare them against FM. They run DAB at 160K
24/7 so it should sound better than all BBC stations except Radio 3
(outside the rush hour,) and it most certainly sounds better on Sky.

I'm pretty sure Classic FM on DAB has dropped down to 128Kb/s now.

--

Brian Gregory (in the UK).
To email me please remove all the letter vee from my email address.

On 04/02/2015 00:55, Brian Gregory wrote:
On 03/02/2015 20:14, Woody wrote:
It's interesting to listen to Classic on DAB and on Sky through a
decent audio system and compare them against FM. They run DAB at 160K
24/7 so it should sound better than all BBC stations except Radio 3
(outside the rush hour,) and it most certainly sounds better on Sky.

I'm pretty sure Classic FM on DAB has dropped down to 128Kb/s now.

Yep, Wohnort is your friend:-

http://www.wohnort.org/DAB/uknat.html



--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
On 04/02/2015 00:55, Brian Gregory wrote:
On 03/02/2015 20:14, Woody wrote:
It's interesting to listen to Classic on DAB and on Sky through a
decent audio system and compare them against FM. They run DAB at
160K
24/7 so it should sound better than all BBC stations except Radio
3
(outside the rush hour,) and it most certainly sounds better on
Sky.

I'm pretty sure Classic FM on DAB has dropped down to 128Kb/s now.

Yep, Wohnort is your friend:-

http://www.wohnort.org/DAB/uknat.html



I thought Classic ran at 160Kb all the time. When did it change?


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

Damn, its bloody flat sounding and in mono LBC also. What is the matter with
these people, do thy reallythink all people with tvs and boxes run them
through tiny speakers? Smooth should be stereo and those awful stations
called The hits or whatever should be gotten rid of as I have yet to find
anyone who listens. So lets have all music stations in Stereo please.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"UnsteadyKen" wrote in message
...

Classic FM popped up in the Freeview channel list this morning,
from Sandy Heath in the Com5 mux, UHF channel 52 with an LCN of 731

About time.

http://www.a516digital.com/2015/02/g...ic-fm-and-lbc-
on.html

--
Ken O'Meara

List of UK hi-fi & audio dealers:
http://unsteadyken.esy.es/