There is a letter about the change of bitrates for R3 DAB in the 'Radio
Times' cover-dated 29 July - 4 August. It is on page 137, and may be of
interest to some people. It is in the "You ask us" box.

You might wish to email comments about it to

I can quote two 'interesting' passages in the reply (to an email from
Christopher Wilkins)

re the change in bitrate from 192 to 160 kb/s

"However, we do not believe this has led to reduced sound quality..."

And they cite having changed their 'encoding' equipment, the argument being
that this has allowed a drop in bitrate with no change in the sound.

If you find that the sound quality *has* deteriorated you might like to
tell them they are mistaken. :-)

"A number of tests agreed that the coders would not have any adverse
effects on Radio Three sound quality."

If you feel like it, you could ask them to give the details of these
"tests" on the basis that:

A) The wording is unclear - were the 'coders' in these tests using 160
kb/s, compared with the 'old' ones at 192? Or did these 'tests' compare
them all at the same rate? Makes me wonder if the statement is playing
games with the wording, so as to mislead people.

B) The conclusions the BBC have drawn from these 'tests' seem simply to be
false in practice, since the sound quality has audibly reduced.

Slainte,

Jim

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