portable digital radio for headphone use?
 

My partners wants a digital radio for use
in her workplace office.

Small size would be helpful, since
her (private) office is very small,
and desk space at a premium.

Listening will be done 95% of the
time with an ear piece or head phones,
so box construction and loud speaker
quality are not key issues.

Good, sensitive reception, and sound
quality are the key criteria, which
is why I'm asking here.

Does anybody have a personal
recommendations?

My tendancy would be to
play safe and go with Roberts,
but I'm open to input.

BugBear

portable digital radio for headphone use?
 

"bugbear" wrote in message
...
My partners wants a digital radio for use
in her workplace office.

Small size would be helpful, since
her (private) office is very small,
and desk space at a premium.

Listening will be done 95% of the
time with an ear piece or head phones,
so box construction and loud speaker
quality are not key issues.

Good, sensitive reception, and sound
quality are the key criteria, which
is why I'm asking here.

Does anybody have a personal
recommendations?

My tendancy would be to
play safe and go with Roberts,
but I'm open to input.

BugBear

I would definitely ask to hear the radio working in the shop, no matter
which one you choose, as sensitivity is most definitely an issue with DAB
radio. Some dual band types that have come across my bench, have been so
poor in these terms, that they did not even compare with a Binatone out of a
cracker ...

A friend of mine who sells this kind of stuff in a proper shop, actually
stopped selling some models, because of poor sensitivity complaints.

Also, if your partner is going to need to run it from batteries, make sure
that any model you pick can actually run from batteries. With the digital
circuitry in them, these things are very power hungry, and you will find
that a lot of them don't even have battery capability because of this.

Arfa

portable digital radio for headphone use?
 

Arfa Daily wrote:

I would definitely ask to hear the radio working in the shop, no matter
which one you choose, as sensitivity is most definitely an issue with DAB
radio.

Indeed. Which is why I was asking for people's experiences.
I'm hoping to be able to pre-eliminate some
duff models, and save myself some time.

Fully evaluating every model myself is (of course)
ideal, but might be time consuming.

Some dual band types that have come across my bench, have been so
poor in these terms, that they did not even compare with a Binatone out of a
cracker ...

Nasty.


A friend of mine who sells this kind of stuff in a proper shop, actually
stopped selling some models, because of poor sensitivity complaints.

Care to name names?


Also, if your partner is going to need to run it from batteries, make sure
that any model you pick can actually run from batteries. With the digital
circuitry in them, these things are very power hungry, and you will find
that a lot of them don't even have battery capability because of this.

That's good info. AFAIK it can be mains powered.

BugBear

portable digital radio for headphone use?
 

In article ,
bugbear
wrote:
Arfa Daily wrote:

I would definitely ask to hear the radio working in the shop, no
matter which one you choose, as sensitivity is most definitely an
issue with DAB radio.

Indeed. Which is why I was asking for people's experiences. I'm hoping
to be able to pre-eliminate some duff models, and save myself some time.

I'd also be interested to have any specific info on this, and how it was
assessed.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

portable digital radio for headphone use?
 

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

these things are very power hungry, and you will find
that a lot of them don't even have battery capability because of this.

Arfa

Is this likely to be a long term problem? i.e. I assume that cmos is
already being used?
I'd certainly like a portable, but everything I've seen is about 5 times the
volume of a 25 year old and perfectly satisfactory 4-band "City Boy 100"
portable from Grundig. Runs nearly forever off 4 AA cells.

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm

portable digital radio for headphone use?
 

"Malcolm Stewart" wrote in
message ...
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

these things are very power hungry, and you will find
that a lot of them don't even have battery capability because of this.

Arfa

Is this likely to be a long term problem? i.e. I assume that cmos is
already being used?
I'd certainly like a portable, but everything I've seen is about 5 times
the
volume of a 25 year old and perfectly satisfactory 4-band "City Boy 100"
portable from Grundig. Runs nearly forever off 4 AA cells.

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm


Is it a longterm ' problem ' that PC CPUs still draw amps ? The thing is
with digital circuitry, as it gets faster, the circuitry gets more and more
power hungry, in order to maintain the slew rates required. Look how the
size of coolers on CPUs has increased over the years. Also, on video
processor ICs. Certainly, all the peripheral stuff is fabricated in CMOS,
but as to whether that's fast enough for the core, I don't know.

I have a portable GPS unit, which has a dedicated Li-ion battery, and that's
only good for a couple of hours on a good day with the wind behind it. The
digital receiver for the sats is only small, but it must gobble power, as if
you are only using the unit as a pocket PC, with the GPS turned off. the
battery life is much better.

I guess that there probably will be improvements in power consumption with
these DAB radios, but I wouldn't hold my breath as to how quickly. They've
been around for a while now, and I don't see any neat little ' Walkman '
style ones about.

The other thing that I've found with the ones that have crossed my path, is
that they suffer very much from go / no go syndrome, a bit like digital TV.
Reception can be perfect, as you would expect, but move the antenna a gnat's
bollock, and it's gone. This begs the question as to whether the
manufacturers are deliberately not developing these things into truly
portable units, because people will then try to carry them around with them,
and the system is just not robust enough to provide error free reception
under these conditions.

I'm actually not even sure just what the advantage of DAB is over
conventional FM, from a user's point of view. Yes, agreed that you can
receive lots of different programmes, but how many people never move their
car radio off their favourite local or BBC programme ? If the OP's partner
just wants some background music whilst at work, I would have thought that a
little FM radio would have been just fine. I really don't think that you
will tell the quality difference between DAB and FM, unless using very high
quality 'phones or earbuds, and is that the point anyway ?

I will telephone my shop chum tomorrow, and ask which ones he stopped
stocking, and what he now considers to be a good buy. Bear with me, and look
out for the next installment ...

Arfa

portable digital radio for headphone use?
 

Arfa Daily wrote:

I'm actually not even sure just what the advantage of DAB is over
conventional FM, from a user's point of view. Yes, agreed that you can
receive lots of different programmes, but how many people never move
their car radio off their favourite local or BBC programme ? If the
OP's partner just wants some background music whilst at work, I would
have thought that a little FM radio would have been just fine. I
really don't think that you will tell the quality difference between
DAB and FM, unless using very high quality 'phones or earbuds, and is
that the point anyway ?


I'd have thought the headphones would have to be really bad not to be
able to hear the difference between DAB and FM, because the vast
majority of DAB stations simply sound crap.



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

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab_radios.htm

portable digital radio for headphone use?
 

In article ,
Arfa Daily wrote:
I guess that there probably will be improvements in power consumption
with these DAB radios, but I wouldn't hold my breath as to how quickly.
They've been around for a while now, and I don't see any neat little '
Walkman ' style ones about.

There certainly is - a mate bought one to listen to the cricket in the
autumn.

--
*Prepositions are not words to end sentences with *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

portable digital radio for headphone use?
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Arfa Daily wrote:
I guess that there probably will be improvements in power consumption
with these DAB radios, but I wouldn't hold my breath as to how quickly.
They've been around for a while now, and I don't see any neat little '
Walkman ' style ones about.

There certainly is - a mate bought one to listen to the cricket in the
autumn.

--
*Prepositions are not words to end sentences with *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Fairy Nuff !! I haven't seen one to date, either across my bench, or in any
of the shops that I do work for, so wasn't aware that they'd managed it. Is
it any good, do you know ? Guess this could be just what the OP is looking
for. More info please Dave !

Arfa

portable digital radio for headphone use?
 

In article , Arfa Daily
wrote:


Is it a longterm ' problem ' that PC CPUs still draw amps ?

Depends in part on your views on paying your electricity bill, and 'global
warming'... :-)

Also on noting that the failiure rates for semiconductor devices tends to
depend on their operating temperatures.


The thing is with digital circuitry, as it gets faster, the circuitry
gets more and more power hungry, in order to maintain the slew rates
required. Look how the size of coolers on CPUs has increased over the
years.

Oddly enough, the CPUs in the computers I use don't have 'coolers' and
don't even get hot to the touch. ;- But then they are RISC chips with
quite low power consumptions, etc.


I guess that there probably will be improvements in power consumption
with these DAB radios, but I wouldn't hold my breath as to how quickly.
They've been around for a while now, and I don't see any neat little '
Walkman ' style ones about.

Well, I have one of the cheap 'DAB adaptors' that is quite small. However
its wall-wart PSU gets warm with use. Mind you, that seems to be more a
function of transformer inefficiency and size than anything else.

The other thing that I've found with the ones that have crossed my path,
is that they suffer very much from go / no go syndrome, a bit like
digital TV. Reception can be perfect, as you would expect, but move the
antenna a gnat's bollock, and it's gone. This begs the question as to
whether the manufacturers are deliberately not developing these things
into truly portable units, because people will then try to carry them
around with them, and the system is just not robust enough to provide
error free reception under these conditions.

One of the original aims of DAB was portability...

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html