Digital Radios

This one on Amazon looks v nice and it is £88 I think.

There was a little feature on some others in the Observer Music Monthly today, I notice. Cheapest there was £120, and it had an alarm clock function.

You're not much of an audiophile, are you Jerry? I imagine you should just get the one you like the look of.

I tell you what, your world is a happier place with a digital radio in it. The following are the pluc points:

1) I now get to listen to Waking up With Money on Radio 5 Live in thr mornings without the annoying crackle of AM, which is fantastic. Same goes for footie.

2) 6 Music is the unheralded music station in the country - its what you would like Radio 1 to be.

3) You can tell the alamr to only go off on weekdays - the number of times I have been woken up at some ungodly hour on Saturday . . .

All in all, U&K. Can't recommend highly enough etc etc.

Other euphemisms:

"Pound is up against the dollar."
"Checking the FTSE."

*where "best" = one most likely to play music i like, but then i am their demographic, which is basically "too old for xfm, too young for radio 2"

Jerry, I've got my eye on the slightly bigger PURE one, because it's got a plughole for you to ram your minidisc lead in it, thus enabling the listener to tape stuff digitally.

I can't speak for digital radios in general, but mine has worked perfcetly the day I switched it on and realised I couldn't get XFM in my area. *strum fingers*

Legge's EMI, with its American affiliate Angel, has long had a reissue program that, though unflashy, is artistically the richest of all. It's early trademark 'The Sign of the Recording Angel' was abandoned in 1909 and revived much later for the US operation. That first emblem, a winged cherub sprawled on a record and using a quill to engrave it, suggests that the company's business was to determine what each musician's afterlife shall be. EMI's present logo, which it shares with American RCA Victor, is the one derived from Francis Barraud's famous painting 'His Master's Voice'. Although folksy, the image has a certain weirdness. Look at it and imagine: What if the poor dog's master is dead?

2) Did you get one, Nipper?

3) What happens if Mrs Carsmile is watching Emmerdale Farm?

2) and 3) are optional makeweights.

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/azurpix/dab500_800.jpg

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/classicseries/dab500.html

"It also embraces NCT (Natural Contour Technology) which allows the listener to subtly adjust a performance’s timbre, via a three-stage control on the back panel. While Cambridge Audio would always recommend the neutral setting, users may wish to employ the time domain compensation system to balance out particularly processed broadcasts. The Lo setting adds weight and warmth to a performance, while Hi will give a fuller, bolder delivery."

Ha ha! This is the most superior copywriting I've ever read.

N. - by clutching your radio tightly to your forehead beneath the bedclothes could you form the TV images too?

NCT sounds like fancy EQ with a bit of harmonic distortion chucked in to me. If it makes it sounds nice, fairynuff. I'm not terribly interested in DAB cos the bitrates are worse than Freeview (same as digital satellite/cable for radio) and the wealth of extra channel choice seems, well, a bit duff. But being able to listen to the radio without interrupting the telly - obviously a good thing.

Does it work with an indoor aerial????? Quite a good one; my general reception is fine. Shop assistants say tthey're not at liberty to comment.

That looks really nice, Dave. You're such a top-ender.

I am thinking of applying for the job of World, Jazz and Folk in-store expert. Hopefully I will think about it for so long it will be gone.

There's another Evoke one that costs 399 pounds or something and looks really rather special. Couldn't see it on that website. A bit like a wurlitzer jukebox or a wooden car radiator.

That is the nicest thing you have ever said about me, N.

Bang go my space age batchelor credentials.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000006AZE.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Innate sense of timing? Meaning it's got a clock in it as well as on it (I should flaming well 'ope so - digital, innit?)

Bang go my space age batchelor credentials.

Do not drape over (beige, elliptical) storage heater!

I want to buy a portable stereo that I can plug my iPod into, so that I can listen to music up on my swingingbatchelorpadroof. Can you recommend one? None I have seen seem to have analogue audio inputs.

There are also some Passive Speakers, but I think you want Massive Speakers.

Bass Reflex Technology?

There is now a space-age radio called The Bug. It has digital 'out' and much, much more.

http://www.radio-now.co.uk/images/m_thebug2.jpg

Sideline: John Lewis warranty depends on the type of equipment and doesn't seem to cover portable stuff like iPods. You'd have to check though. Staff much smarter than Dixons.

!!!

http://www.radio-now.co.uk/welcome.htm

Also, if you have a closing down Dixons nearby you might get lucky (although they'd been pretty emptied earlier in the week).

Gaydar radio lasted about two minutes before the banging techno got on my nerves. Current top stations = 5 live, 5 live sports extra, BBCLondon and strangely last night we were listening to Capital Gold (good proper 60s stuff), also Radio 2 got a look in until Maconie went all prog, he played two tracks and I thought it was all one long noodle

There is a nice demo station too, the birdsong occasionally interrupted by gunfire!!

Pausing live radio is a natty trick, not sure when I'll use it, but being able to record to an SD card is ver ver good

My bug is lovely, and looks great next to the bed

I bought a JVC UXHB4 (from Electrical Discount) after the AM radio finally stopped working on my fifteen year old stereo with one working speaker, broken turntable and two busted tape decks.

The new thing is pretty good. Though I can't pick up Xfm or LBC through DAB for some reason, and the clock, which is set via RDS, seems to think that it's Saturday and I have no idea how to change it. And the silly bugger who designed it saw fit to put the AUX output on the front, not that I currently have any use for it.

i still have the prob that digital broadcasts (at least when i listen to them on my PC) are compressed at a lower quality (and since national coverage isn’t yet total) so FM is still the audiophile option... or maybe i just miss that FM sound and hate the clinical sterile dAB sound.

you have a DAB tuner in your PC?

i listen to radio from (bbc/lbc etc) websites.

are DAB radios able to access stuff that you would get online, like last weeks show of such and such DJ for example?

No. There are some expensive ones that let you tune into internet streamed radio though.

no, they're just radios; they receive signals over the airwaves, but the signals are digital - it's basically freeview, but on the radio

xpost

i see.

im going to get this one -
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Panasonic_RFD3__6491694

its cheap on ebay.

for anyone interested, this site might be handy -

http://www.radio-now.co.uk

as well as the panasonic, they recommend this one (which i did consider but it looks really cheap) - http://www.radio-now.co.uk/pure_one_dab_radio_review.htm

Streaming radio doesn't have anything to do with DAB, Titchy. I just tried Late Junction on R3's Listen Again facility and it was running at about 90k - sounded fairly terrible. I think R3 DAB still broadcasts at 192k MP2 (not fantastic but better than online).

the pure DABs are nicely made and feel very solid. i have one.

woops not that one, though. i have this one, which looks like it's available at half price from morgan's - http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?ProductID=3691&CategoryID=201&SubCategoryID=215&adnetwork=af

This is the kind of expensive box that can play streamed radio. Didn't realise it can also do Listen Again stuff.

what i worry about with things like that is that as streams change, and tech changes, this thing will be left behind. with something like a radio i like to at least pretend to myself that it's possibly a purchase for life.

> Streaming radio doesn't have anything to do with DAB, Titchy.

otm

> I just tried Late Junction on R3's Listen Again facility and it was running at about 90k - sounded fairly terrible.

luxury. the other bbc streams, radio1 and 2 certainly, are roughly 32kbps. but these are realaudio 10 (aac with sbr? ps? dunno) and so are several times better that mp3.

that said, it's fine, i listen to it all day and it doesn't bother me.

this can record shows too but its about 90.00-100.00 -
http://www.radio-now.co.uk/evoke_3.htm

one thing i dont like too much about the pure radios made from wood is that theyre trying to look like old traditional radios. i much prefer that 100% plastic look when it comes to DABs.

plus they are mono. so 1960s.

what i worry about with things like that is that as streams change, and tech changes, this thing will be left behind. with something like a radio i like to at least pretend to myself that it's possibly a purchase for life.

Yeah, me too, but remember some things can get firmware updates. Not sure if that applies to the AE box.