I have a question about the extent to which the DAB stereo image can be
sacrified in order to reduce the sound distortion.

If I simply add the two analgue channels together (after decoding) to
give a monaural sigal would this reduce the distortion or would I need
something more elaborate and 'digital' to achieve it? Perhaps the
answer is different for "true stereo" channels, such as Radio 3, and
the more numerous "joint stereo" channels.

A related question is: Would Radio 3 give less distortion if it used
joint stereo instead of 'full' stereo? That is, could the BBC choose
to reduce distortion at the cost of a poorer stero image?

thank you to anyone who cares to respond,

Robert