DAB in the U.S.

Freedomsounds posted:

I have found near 0 info on DAB being implemented in the U.S. Probably because the system here is still stuck on the FM Signal. 

Lucky you!!!

I'm no expert on this, so there might be a few others on here that might know better, but DAB here in the UK uses old lossy streaming technology that doesn't do the  SQ any favours. FM should still sound better if you have a good reception. Or there is always internet radio, if you can find your station streaming in, at least, 320kb.

Thanks that's a big help.

I thought DAB in USA was agreed to be a non-starter years ago & that the nation-wide broadcast service would be Sirius satellite radio.    As I understand it,  because DAB system transmitters & cells are small & the numbers - cells & costs - to cover the land area,  even in area's with reasonable populations, & also serve the main highway routes,  would be huge.   That together with the local nature & ownership of the huge number of radio services in USA make the concept doubly difficult.

I would stick to iRadio & FM,  best of both worlds

On a slightly more constructive note than my previous post! DAB in the UK is fairly widely available, but far from universal. Sound quality is, to my ears, the worst of any radio broadcast medium, with the possible exception of some very low bitrate internet radio streams. I'm led to believe that DAB+ is better than regular DAB, but in the UK that is a not an option for most of us.

Given that Naim streamers all have iRadio, personally, I would never bother with DAB. I have yet to come across a radio station in any medium that did not also broadcast online.

Doesn’t US have Sirius digital radio instead of DAB?

ChrisSU posted:

 I'm led to believe that DAB+ is better than regular DAB, but in the UK that is a not an option for most of us.

I have a few DAB+ stations on my transmitter,  and yes its got the potential to give better SQ compared to DAB kbs for kbs,  the problem with my servies is they've reduced the kbs to what someone has been deemed as similar to FM   e.g. published "blurb" = DAB with MPEG 1 Layer II has similar to FM quality with 160-192 kbps.     DAB+ aacPlus v2 has similar to FM quality with 40-64 kbps.  (OK I guess we all agree they are way wrong with DAB)   but I can tell you the've got it very very wrong the Jazz FM on DAB+ at 32 kbps.   

Compare that crap to the high bit rate DAB+ stations around europe & IMO they - including BBC - are missing a very juicy trick.     

Adam Zielinski posted:

Doesn’t US have Sirius digital radio instead of DAB?

That's what I said in my post Adam, yes they do.  Next question is regarding Naim with Sirius on their US/Canada area products  ???  .   

Indeed Mike - you wrote that. I missed your post.

Thanks mike-b, your comments explain why there is very little on the subject online over here. I did not know anything about DAB until I became interested in the Nova, so I figured I would post here to find out. So now I know. Thanks

Yes, no DAB here in NA.

and anyway, Nova with the tuner module won’t be available before a while...

Thanks Manu✌️

There's no DAB in the United States.  We have HD Radio (which stands for hybrid digital).  Most FM stations have HD Radio channels but Naim does not support HD Radio.  I compared HD Radio to the FM tuner in my UnitiQute2 and found the Naim tuner to be superior.  But HD Radio has its benefits with much better reception in certain areas.  Many new cars have HD radio tuners. 

Very well put Chris. Thank you !