Forester wrote:
In article ,
"DAB sounds worse than FM" wrote:

Forester wrote:

If I do buy a new one, I would prefer to have phono out because I
have no plans to upgrade my amplifier for the sake of the TV box.
Are there differences between the boxes? I'm thinking of getting
another Philips, but only if the sound quality is better.


The Philips DTR1500 (£70):

http://www.unbeatable.co.uk/CatalogueItem_14143.html

came out top in one of the hi-fi mag's Freeview receivers test, and
it has both digital and phono analogue outputs. But if you want the
best audio quality then you're best using the digital output, as
other people have said, because this avoids the analogue phono
outputs. Probably best just to get one of the above Philips boxes
and see if you think it's good enough via the phonos. If it's not
then you're virtually guaranteed to improve the audio quality if you
send the digital output to a DAC or a decent AV amp.

The other point you were asking about was the different quality of
the stations on Freeview. This is primarily down to the bit rate
level they're transmitted at, see this table to compa

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/in...bit_rate_table

Thanks for the advice.


No problem.


I think I'll have a look at the Philips box (it
seems better built than the competition).


The Freeview boxes made by Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Netgem, Nokia (221T,
not 121T) and Humax always seem to have good reviews, and I don't think
there's much between them in terms of general usage.


Unfortunately I'm not
prepared to buy a new AV amp for digital and my Tuner is a good one.


Fair enough.


The area we're going to has great TV and radio reception, so I may be
able to watch and listen through analogue broadcasting if the phono
stage on the digital box isn't up to it.


If you'll have strong FM reception then depending on which stations you
want to listen to FM is well worth a try. Radio 3 for example is better
on FM than on Freeview. Some of the other stations depend on your
opinion of audio processing (dynamic range compression) that the radio
stations apply to most of the music stations.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

DAB sounds worse than FM, Freeview, digital satellite, cable and
broadband internet radio