Free Radio Forum: Re: Swiss DAB Flops

Caroline and Caroline Flashback use 48kpbs DAB+ on most of the multiplexes they are on, Caroline 64kpbs on Newry and Hastings, 32kbs on Brighton, London North and Portsmouth. Can receive the Cambridge multipex in a couple of rooms in my flat which has Caroline and Flashback, sound quality fine, much better than most of the commercial broadcasters on DAB+ apart from Classic FM on 64kbps. Boom Radio on SDL national use 24kpbs mono.

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I never thought I would say this but I find that now I only ever use Internet streaming apps for all my radio listening as it's just so much better and has unrivalled station choice. The sound quality is better than even DAB+. A country like Switzerland has good availability of high speed Internet via either fixed line or mobile cellular services so it's not really surprising that people are using these rather than DAB+ or just sticking with FM. European DAB+ services are of way higher quality than here in the UK using bitrates of 76K or slightly higher but streaming services still leave those cold in many cases. Sound quality on DAB and DAB+ in the UK is a joke with many stations using 32k in Plus mode or 112k in legacy mode (Including BBC national networks). Smart speakers are increasingly popular everywhere as well so eroding traditional over the air listening.