All very well adding more and more stations but it would be nice if the the appalling compression and/or processing of the audio on most radio stations could be abolished, or even offered as a switchable user choice, which I believe was discussed around the original DAB specification but it never happened . Even satellite suffers. I never, ever listen to contempary radio, as I find it almost painful, compared to the high quality sound (despite an upper limit of around 15khz) that FM was capable of years ago (I have reel-to-reel recordings to prove it!). I understand the rot set in with the 60's pirates on AM, using an American unit called Optimod in order to try and get the stations sounding punchier. Using it on AM may be OK but I shall never understand why the Radio Authority (as was) allowed something simllar to be sneaked in on FM, the resultant situation now being that most radio stations sound as bad as one another, with their flat-line dynamics. I fondly remember the early Capital Radio FM unique sound that was well-known for being VERY easy on the ear but nowadays that particular station sounds just as rough as all the others.
Thursday 7 July 2016 9:49PM
All very well adding more and more stations but it would be nice if the the appalling compression and/or processing of the audio on most radio stations could be abolished, or even offered as a switchable user choice, which I believe was discussed around the original DAB specification but it never happened . Even satellite suffers. I never, ever listen to contempary radio, as I find it almost painful, compared to the high quality sound (despite an upper limit of around 15khz) that FM was capable of years ago (I have reel-to-reel recordings to prove it!). I understand the rot set in with the 60's pirates on AM, using an American unit called Optimod in order to try and get the stations sounding punchier. Using it on AM may be OK but I shall never understand why the Radio Authority (as was) allowed something simllar to be sneaked in on FM, the resultant situation now being that most radio stations sound as bad as one another, with their flat-line dynamics. I fondly remember the early Capital Radio FM unique sound that was well-known for being VERY easy on the ear but nowadays that particular station sounds just as rough as all the others.