Entertainment For Lively Minds
Radio Radio
Posted by Fitter Stoke on 31 March 2010 - 11:30am.
Morning all.
I'd welcome advice on how to access internet radio via the main hifi system. TEAC do a neat little tuner, but it gets mixed reviews. I have read that the Logitech streamers will allow access to internet radio, (digital output connected to yer DAC, and on into the hifi amp), but this is all theory to me - I haven't taken the plunge and networked the house yet....
Reasons for considering it? Potential FM switch off in 2015; rancid quality of DAB; no prospect of Government upgrading to DAB+ in the nick of time.... internet seems the logical alternative. I gather that the sound quality is not as good as FM, but streets ahead of the evil DAB.
Any views? Any advice?
Thanks.
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Sonos
Head into the 21st century, use a NAS drive to access all your music, stream LastFM and Napster and internet radio from anywhere in the world all around the house either hard wired on via a portable unit.
I think it's the best thing since the best thing before sliced bread.
http://www.sonos.com/Default.aspx?rdr=true&LangType=1033
Seconded.
The quality of sound it manages to wring from a 128kbs stream is a thing of wonder.
(Neil.. there's an iPhone Sonos controller app now. Much better than the Sonos controllers, first or second generation)
Thirded
Got one just after Christmas and have had hours of endless amusement since. Doesn't work with Spotify (uness you do various clever things), but has Napster so you can go off and listen to material when you read a review.
Well worth investigating.
For a cheapo option
I bought an €80 internet radio (an IPdio) and plugged the headphone output into my amplifier. Pretty good sound, considering.
Father In Law
Has something similar. Fantastic little piece of kit, and obviously a huge amount of 'stations'.
Will it do what you want?
If you're wanting to get BBC services then don't expect the Internet to be significantly better quality than DAB. The files that I've downloaded from the iplayer which I assume are the same quality as the realtime streams is still only only a 128kbit/s MP3.
Having said that, I've had a Soundbridge for years now and I've done my research and the only sensible upgrade seems to be the Sonos system that I've yet to read a bad review for.
Can anyone see...
The FM switch off actually happening?
If there's a way the Government
(whichever Government) can find a way of generating revenue from selling off freed up VHF and UHF frequencies, then I don't doubt it at all.
I'm sure that the UHF band could be used to carry high-speed internet facilities to every moving vehicle and obscure location in the world, so they'd want a slice of that action.
Ipod touch & Tune In Radio
If you have one (or are needing more reasons to buy one) then you can download the Tune In Radio app for £1.19 and it turns your ipod (or iphone) into an internet radio. Put it in a dock and plug it in your hifi (or stick it in a speaker dock) and you have an internet radio.
We are thinking about getting an iPod touch
to use in a dock as a replacement for Kitchen radio and older iPod. If you have this app, how have you found it in use. Does it need a very strong wifi signal to avoid buffering ?
I use Tune In Radio on an iPad
and it's fine. Seems to cope with any quality of Wi-Fi signal OK.
It's fine
It seems to work better on my ipod touch than it does on my android phone. It's better than a DAB radio as the wifi signal in my house is down to me and not DAB broadcasts which have always been a little weak where I live.
Have to use Interweb radio in my house.
DAB cuts out for a minute or so every time a ferry or a ship goes past. Which, living where we do, is about every fifteen minutes or so. I don't know if it's their radar or just a big metal lump getting in the way of the signal from the Isle Of Wight.
The only way I've found to get good quality Digital Radio
is to wire a compatible freeview tv/radio box to your hifi. I'm no expert and I don't know about sampling/bit rates, but I just feel that it offers me the best fidelity of all the options I've tried (i.e., wiring up a DAB radio, and streaming internet radio).
We've also been doing this at both places
and providing you don't have frequent dropouts my impression is that Freeview is a very adequate radio source-sufficiently good that we haven't bothered to get an FM antenna organised at my partner's place, and I haven't worried about fact that my DAB aerial has stopped working after TV aerial was moved/adjusted. Have had many good listening experiences with Radio 3.
I use a Squeezebox in another room with less revealing speakers, that's also good but actually the best thing about it for me has been the ease of access to iPlayer-however that seems a bit unstable via this route, i.e. doesn't always find the URL. When I plugged it into the hifi it didn't sound to me as good as Freeview radio but it wasn't a very controlled test. One plus of the Squeezebox etc is that they typically have higher output quality connections like coax or digital as options-not always the case for tellies, we take our TV sound out via a simple RCA phono lead. Obviously streaming of your own files can be much higher quality.
I am also interested in Freesat, and would be grateful for other peoples' comments/experiences, one nice aspect of at least one Freesat PVR
http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Humax-Foxsat-HDR/
that some reviews have mentioned is a front panel display, which enables it to act easily as a radio with the TV switched off.
Trouble is that whenever I find a plan forming the market or the tech seems to shift and I am paralysed by indecision ...
Radio 5 Live
Yes its sport again. The only decent way to listen to it is DAB or internet service or Freesat/Freeview. My experience is DAB is superior to Freesat transmission. But there a lot of variables, Freesat is via a digibox not tuned for high audio quality. DAB is via a Pure DAB tuner which tuned for the best DAB can provide. However you can not get thousands of channels unless you use the internet, if you play this through a hi-fi I would have thought it would show up the shortfall in quality?
Tricky the radio game.
DACs
Have discovered that playing internet radio through a good DAC first and then into amp sounds at least as good as TV Freeview tuner to me.
Upgraded a humble USB output on a 7 year old XP laptop with this http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?PID=320 & can now also enjoy Spotify to a very high standard. I think it's the combination of the high quality DAC and the upsampling see:
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/assets/documents/AP239051DacMagicUserManua...
Can now have radio 3 on in morning with TV sound off again and just a picture ---nick of time, as I like to check that world still hasn't blown up but don't want wall to wall election coverage ...
Fascinating....
Many thanks to everyone who responded. Lots to think about...
Just one other thing
at the more expensive end of the market, one piece systems are beginning to have built in internet radio as well as FM &/or DAB and streaming. The example I have heard and was v impressed by was this
http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Humax-Foxsat-HDR/
which Arcam have responded to with an updated Solo
http://uk.cinenow.com/videos/2376-arcam-solo-neo-meets-the-needs-of-the-...
.
I am looking forward to hearing this derivative of the Uniti
http://www.avguide.com/article/ces-naim-unitiqute-wi-fi-enabled-integrat...
A cheaper option
A lead from the audio output on my iMac into my amplifier, which sounds fine to me [although I don't have the best ears in the world].
Cost less than a tenner
I use...
...the ooTunes radio app on my iPhone and stream it via AirPlay to my hi-fi which has an Airport Express receiver plugged into it. Works nicely.