In article , tony sayer

wrote:
In article , Jim Lesurf jcgl@st-
and.demon.co.uk writes
I'm currently exploiting the 'proms' to do some comparions between:

1) prom broadcasts on BBCTV4 DTTV

2) proms on BBC R3 DTTV

3) proms on BBC R3 FM

Bin there dun that and R3 FM wins!. Far more open and natural and easier
on the ear.

My initial reactions some time ago were as the above. :-)

However having started to re-compare at length, and recording items to be
able to repeatedly compare, I am finding my reactions are less clear-cut.

In part, I have the impression that I am hearing two factors when I compare
(2) with (3).

One is that the FM seems at times to show peak compression which DTTV does
not. I've measured this with DAB versus FM, and it showed that FM on the
example I had squashed the top 6dB or so. This may add some 'warmth' as it
lifts the sustain of notes compared with the peaks. I'd like to do a
similar comparison of the measured dynamics of FM versus DTTV to see if
they show something similar to see if this *is* the case.

The other is that FM has background noise at a level which becomes clearly
audible if I try listening to the FM recordings at the same peak/max level
as DTTV recordings. Indeed, this noise seems to be at a higher level than
the 'modulation noise effect' I sometimes think I hear on DTTV R3. This
makes comparison difficult as it becomes a matter of "On one hand, this, on
the other hand, that".

Overall, I'd say the FM was more 'reliable' in terms of sound quality,
albiet with the background noise. The noise being low enough that in
general it isn't really much of a problem, or even audible. But I also have
the impression that at times the R3 DTTV sound can be really excellent.

FWIW I found the sound (and performance) of the VW London symphony truly
superb on BBCTV4, but am less happy with some of the quieter sections on
DTTV R3. Alas I didn't get an FM recording of this as the amplifier gave
problems and I abandoned the attempt to get a recording that day for
'safety' or 'panic' reasons. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

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