Grumpy Posted May 6, 2014 Author Posted May 6, 2014 For my kinda money at the moment I think I might 'plumb' for one of those 'PLUM' units. What do you think? 1
betty boop Posted May 6, 2014 Posted May 6, 2014 For my kinda money at the moment I think I might 'plumb' for one of those 'PLUM' units. What do you think? I dont think you can beat it for the money especially if can get it for price firefly quoted on ebay ! heres a couple of more pics, it even comes with remote control ! you'll be pleased as punch I reckon as per HC, I'd suggest dont listen to the naysayers.. your going to be amazed at the sheer amount of range of stations to listen to.. and yep both the stations I listen to have no ADDs either ps do check the reception chart though...make sure you can receive dab+. on the plum as can probably see on the pics, I didnt even unroll the plug in cord antenna it comes wiht. the bonus wiht the plum is you can T off your TV antenna if want to improve reception. good thing with digital is you either have reception or you dont...sound quality doesnt vary depending on stength of signal 1
Grumpy Posted May 6, 2014 Author Posted May 6, 2014 Thanks again for all the feedback Now I just have to pry the money out of my shut tight wallet and buy the PLUM
Art Vandelay Posted May 6, 2014 Posted May 6, 2014 now ART sorry your welcome to your opinion of things, and I simply dont care at all what you might trawl up on the net. Since I know very well for myself in real world conditions what our FM quality is vs DAB+ I listen to. I can tell you FM is nothing like remotely pristine in our country and it is far far from being perfect. hardly some gold standard to be held up for comparison. Atleast with digital its either there or not. but with FM the quality you will receive is anything from OK in my opinion to pure rubbish in this country....it is very variable ! The standard of broadcasting (generally) in this country is something that we can definitely both agree on. But this being a community for the more discerning listeners, I also feel obliged to point out some relevant technical facts. 1
betty boop Posted May 6, 2014 Posted May 6, 2014 Thanks again for all the feedback Now I just have to pry the money out of my shut tight wallet and buy the PLUM that can always be a stumbling block
surprisetech Posted May 6, 2014 Posted May 6, 2014 For my kinda money at the moment I think I might 'plumb' for one of those 'PLUM' units. What do you think? I bought one of these recently to supply the 'music on hold' for our PABX. It's installed in our Server room (certainly not ideal!!) and only using a "rabbit ears" antenna from a discount shop that is sitting on top of one of the server racks. It's working fine, even under those conditions, so no complaints here.
EV Cali Posted May 6, 2014 Posted May 6, 2014 (edited) I found a Philips AE5230/12 at a Garage sale on Saturday (small mono portable) but with a stereo head phone out and have plugged it in to my component system.The sound is acceptable to me .I have been tempted to look at Digital radio ,now that Double J has started.I normally listen to triple j but have found lately that they are filling time with people endlessly phoning in to share inane parts of their life ,how I fell a sleep at my desk after Groove in the moo etc, Double J is a big improvement with mainly just the music. . I think the Plum unit would be an excellent introduction for any one to test the water. The advice from Puur and the others has been extremely useful and now I have established I need digital radio I am tempted to upgrade to a component part.it has been mentioned that you can pause and replay but I would assume you would need a unit with a hard drive to do this and none of the units I have seen have one is this the situation? Edited May 7, 2014 by EVcali
DAMO 1147 Posted May 7, 2014 Posted May 7, 2014 Check the coverage maps to see what sort of signal strength to expect. http://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1003 In my case, in Melbourne Eastern suburbs ("Very Good Reception") my Philips portable gets all the stations on its internal antenna, but is useless at home out in the hills. At home ("NO reception"), my NexttWave DAB-390 connected to the TV antenna gets all the stations on 2 of the 3 multicast frequencies. If you're in an area with borderline reception, generally speaking, models with no Wifi capability are a little more sensitive than the models with Wifi (for Internet radio), so would probably give a better result. Any TV antenna that covers VHF Channel 9 should give very good results, but can be improved by orienting it vertically instead of horizontally. There's a couple of SNA threads that have some recommendations: http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/54088-best-dab-radio/?hl=sangean#entry905688 http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/39471-digital-or-analogue/?hl=sangean#entry778911 It does not look like the coverage will be any good on the Gold coast - i might wee if i can hook one up to the home tv antenna but channel 9 curenmlty on the blink up here. No double J for me - doh!
surprisetech Posted May 7, 2014 Posted May 7, 2014 It does not look like the coverage will be any good on the Gold coast - i might wee if i can hook one up to the home tv antenna but channel 9 curenmlty on the blink up here. No double J for me - doh! Australian DAB+ stations all currently transmit on one of 3 frequencies that all lie within the TV Channel 9A band. http://www.acma.gov.au/~/media/Radiocommunications%20Licensing%20and%20Telecommunications%20Deployment/Publication/pdf/TVRadio_Handbook_drb_6%20pdf.pdf Those frequencies were chosen because at the time of the introduction of DAB+ in Australia, Channel 9A was not is use anywhere. So any old VHF TV Antenna (that provides elements for Channel 7 through to Channel 10) should make a good DAB+ antenna, but will perform better when mounted at 90 degrees as the DAB+ transmitters are Vertically polarised. See if you can pick up a 2nd hand VHF antenna, mount it vertically (i.e. with the dipoles all pointing up and down), point it at Brisbane (Mt Coot-tha) and see how you go. 1
Saxon Hall Posted May 7, 2014 Posted May 7, 2014 I found a Philips AE5230/12 at a Garage sale on Saturday (small mono portable) but with a stereo head phone out and have plugged it in to my component system.The sound is acceptable to me .I have been tempted to look at Digital radio ,now that Double J has started.I normally listen to triple j but have found lately that they are filling time with people endlessly phoning in to share inane parts of their life ,how I fell a sleep at my desk after Groove in the moo etc, Double J is a big improvement with mainly just the music. . I think the Plum unit would be an excellent introduction for any one to test the water. The advice from Puur and the others has been extremely useful and now I have established I need digital radio I am tempted to upgrade to a component part.it has been mentioned that you can pause and replay but I would assume you would need a unit with a hard drive to do this and none of the units I have seen have one is this the situation? Even some of the better Portable DAB+ radios such as Sangean,Roberts, Pure have the replay function and they achieve this by having an SD card port so you do not need a hard drive 1
colclarke Posted May 9, 2014 Posted May 9, 2014 I've found the digitalview DDR-103 able to pick up most digital channels in the western burbs of melbourne. And the sq is pretty darn good..mind you after seeing some of the cocky crap thrown around the insides of some units I'm keen to have a perve of the digitalview to see where it sits in build quality. 1
david j Posted May 9, 2014 Posted May 9, 2014 Hi Al Interesting pictures of the inside of the components The audiolab 8200 tuner is a great performer on dab around the $1000 also I have gone to the trouble of installing a dab external ariel from radio parts with some quality coax ect and getting great results David 1
betty boop Posted May 9, 2014 Posted May 9, 2014 Hi Al Interesting pictures of the inside of the components The audiolab 8200 tuner is a great performer on dab around the $1000 also I have gone to the trouble of installing a dab external ariel from radio parts with some quality coax ect and getting great results David good to hear on the audiolab there DAvid, good that another very good viable option by the sounds. in similar ilk to the cambridge and arcam unit I would presume. another what looks like a nice looking unit is the rotel DAB+/FM tuner, http://www.rotel.com/UK/products/ProductDetails.htm?Id=507 and looks affordably priced going here at $355 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/161288963733?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=107
david j Posted May 10, 2014 Posted May 10, 2014 Hi Al Looks like no digital out on the rotel one? David 1
betty boop Posted May 10, 2014 Posted May 10, 2014 Hi Al Looks like no digital out on the rotel one? David Yeah looks like an affordable tuner option for those looking for analog outs
Gruffnutz Posted May 10, 2014 Posted May 10, 2014 (edited) ...Looks like no digital out on the rotel one? Deal-breaker right there... Given: The ridiculously low broadcast data-rates, The fact that almost all units, regardless of price, 'use off the shelf' RF front ends and decoders, The DAC and analogue stages are where the action is... I reckon the go is to get a cheap unit with digital out and a good quality, sympathetic, DAC. In my office system I'm running the DGTEC unit into a Pro-Ject NOS DAC and it sounds about as good as I've heard DAB+ anywhere. I'd love to do a shoot-out with an ARCAM or something similar with much better build quality. I reckon the differences would be slight. As to all the 'death-trap' comments about the DGTEC; you guys should write for Murdoch. It's a low voltage device, get a grip! Nothing there that will kill you or start a fire. And if you're worried about the lack of stuff in the box; just pretend it's a Naim. P.S. I'm a big fan of DAB+ for day to day listening and have it in both the cars and a portable unit as well as the office system. Radio National is so much more listenable than AM for one thing... Edited May 10, 2014 by Gruffnutz
betty boop Posted May 10, 2014 Posted May 10, 2014 Deal-breaker right there... ~ P.S. I'm a big fan of DAB+ for day to day listening and have it in both the cars and a portable unit as well as the office system. Radio National is so much more listenable than AM for one thing... maybe deal breaker for you, but as I indicated am sure it is an option for those actually looking for a unit with analog outs. which can be the case for many, as doesn't then need to run to a separate dac etc. I for one for instance do infact run this way with my cambridge hooked up over analog to my 2ch setup. if people are wanting digital out as well, as mentioned there is both the cambridge for $50 more, or even cheaper sangean which is a unit also with a good rep, and all 100s of dollars we aren't talking 1000s for getting what are quality units. as far as the dgtec, well they don't call them Dodgytech for nothing and there are fortunately for us plenty of online reviews declaring them as exactly the units they are for anyone considering am sure the rotel indicated is no "death trap" and looks like rotel has a rt12 as well, which you do seem to get a bit in the box for your money definitely a fan of DAB+ here as well !
Gruffnutz Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 (edited) Yep; the Dodgytech sounds craptacular through the analogue outputs, but surprisingly good through the digital output. The Rotel is the current best value 'one box' solution to be sure. Edited May 11, 2014 by Gruffnutz
firefly0071 Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 (edited) DAB Radio Sound Quality Inferior to FM http://digitalradioinsider.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/dab-radio-sound-quality-inferior-to-fm.html Requirement of high data rate bad news for DAB proponents The digital radio system DAB+ , needs to transmit high data rate, otherwise there is a risk of poor sound quality. It is one of the conclusions of a research project where Luleå University collaborated with the Swedish public service radio (SR). The results are published in the latest issue of the "Journal of the Audio Engineering Society" and has also been submitted to the British Departement of Culture and Media which is expected in mid-December to announce a switch-off year for FM for major broadcasters. The digital solution, DAB +, is comparable to the existing FM system in the radio down to 160 kilobits / second. During the speed, the performance noticeably. The project that has been ongoing for two years, and in which five people worked, several tests have been done where experienced listeners participated. They have assessed the sound quality according to international recommendations. The tests show that one should select data rates close to the maximum that is possible to get out of DAB +. - If you want to compete with a really good FM system should be run DAB + at maximum 192 kilobits / second in order to be able to maintain the quality of typical sounds that occur frequently in radio, says Jan Berg. I have just received my Arcam T32 DAB+ radio. In my area DAB+ radio that I have is marginally better than FM. It is only marginal because I have an excellent radio (retails for over $1k).that makes a slight difference. However, the Arcam improves radio (FM and DAB+) and hence I am very satisfied with my purchase!!!!! Edited June 1, 2014 by firefly0071 2
A9X Posted June 2, 2014 Posted June 2, 2014 And if you're worried about the lack of stuff in the box; just pretend it's a Naim. I LOL'd at that. I bought a new DGTEC off ebay for $30. Lasted an hour but I suspect it was the plug pack. Haven't bothered to test further. I'm still on the fence about DAB as the few other stations I've tried haven't impressed me, but I didn't get through all that many.
firefly0071 Posted June 2, 2014 Posted June 2, 2014 My first Arcam T32 was from Ebay. Did not work and cost me $180 to get my money back from Ebay (transport and a service person to check it did not work).
Gruffnutz Posted June 2, 2014 Posted June 2, 2014 My first Arcam T32 was from Ebay. Did not work and cost me $180 to get my money back from Ebay (transport and a service person to check it did not work). But at least it wasn't a "death-trap". 1
firefly0071 Posted June 7, 2014 Posted June 7, 2014 But at least it wasn't a "death-trap". No it was not but I did lose money but Paypal did get a refund for me after my expenses. Arcam is a reputable brand and there is no question of safety issues.
Grumpy Posted August 1, 2015 Author Posted August 1, 2015 anyways enoughs enough art, am not going to argue this with you since this thread is about what DAB+ tuner to buy, not a debate on the pros and cons on DAB+ vs other radio formats that perhaps belongs else where. geting back to grumpys original question. Grumps if willing to only want to spend $70-80 sorry I cant think of anything in that price bracket sorry. that sort of money doesnt really buy much in the way of a hifi component. if happy enough with a hand held portable unit. the sangean DPR34+ is a decent thing http://www.sangean.com.au/images/PDF/digital_flyers/DPR-34.pdf if must have a component style unit with analog outs. the only can think off is the plum unit http://www.msml.com.au/msml/Plum_Audio.html its also inside not the death trap other cheapo units can be ! could pickup either on ebay under $100 and good for what they do, having owned both can say over analog can do a lot better than either, but might be good for a dip in the water It's been awhile, but does anyone know if this is still available from this company ? Bout time I bought one
betty boop Posted August 1, 2015 Posted August 1, 2015 It's been awhile, but does anyone know if this is still available from this company ? Bout time I bought one the link in my post you quoted ...still works
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