Mark Levinson Stereo..dab Sound Quality Worse Than Fm

ganzoom · March 2, 2015

So have been playing with the various features on the IS Premier with the Mark Levison stereo.

One thing I have noticed is that FM stations sound much better in terms of sound staging, clarity of vocals, and general balance of the sound compared to the same station on DAB. This is regardless of what setting I choose.

I know DAB is compressed, but haven't noticed this much difference before. But than again the only other time I listen to DAB is in my BMW, which has a much worse sound system. So I suspect it may just be the fact the Mark Levison setup is good enough to show up flaws in the original audio source, rather than anything a miss with my IS.....In which case, the question has to be asked 'What on earth is the point of DAB is sound quality is worse than FM stereo'

Any one else notice the same??

Keefey56 · March 2, 2015

I have a BMW, and to be honest pretty happy with the sound system, but by chance I have found the same FM quality is far better than DAB, and I always thought that it was the other way around.

Steve44 · March 2, 2015

I prefer the DAB sound over FM in my car (no ML), though maybe I'm just used to it.

For me, FM sounds woolly, strangled, muffled and almost mono in nature, whereas DAB is clearer, crisper, more open sound, with good balance ad stereo staging.

Go figure, maybe more about the user and preferences than the system?

stevet · March 2, 2015

I prefer the DAB. When the signal is weak and the FM kicks in it sounds tinny

polish · March 2, 2015

hi folks' this is my first time on the blog. I too have had poor reception with dab [not M.L] but I find the further south I go the better

the dab reception . Here in Yorkshire the dab seams very intermittent, may be the hills are blocking the signal ? but when in Manchester with the grandkids its fine ,or is it my old ears that's playing up .

Keefey56 · March 2, 2015

I can only speak of my own set up and preferences, but with same parameters FM is I would say clearer than same parameters in DAB, to me the BMW system sounds comparable with a ML system I tested in a GS, but maybe that is just me.

rayaans · March 2, 2015

My DAB is fine - works great and sounds slightly better than the FM but not by much. The bass is definitely crisper, apart from that not really a huge difference anyway.

Have you checked the settings on each source? Because you have to manually set each and every source to your preferred settings.

Ive found that DVD Audio sounds the best and then USB next.

ganzoom · March 3, 2015

The DAD receptions is fine, it's just for the same station same sound options, FM sounds a lot better...

Someone else posted about this on another thread I started by accident, and mentioned bit-rates, so I thought I looked into it...

Apparently most DAB stations in the UK at less than 128 Kbps, some as low as 64 Kbps in MP2 codec!!...and quite a few in mono!! WTF have we just gone back to the 1990's before MP3 was widely used and 128MB of storage seemed excessive!! :(....This explains the poor sound staging, and narrow range of the sound (compressed) I'm hearing from the ML setup when using DAB radio.

It's funny I have never noticed this before, but I think it's because the ML stereo is good enough quality to show up the flaws in the sound source compared to other stereos I've used with DAB....It's similar with the HiFi system I have at home, it's nothing fancy but speaker are THX certified and driven by the most powerful Denon AVR you can buy (No power amp though). You need to feed it a really good source, otherwise the system shows up all the flaws in th source material, so downloaded YouTube clips sound fine on the laptop speakers, but awful on the HiFi.

For a few hours yesterday I was getting worried I had wasted £££ on getting the ML setup, but after I plugged in my iPod (320kbps) the music quality was much better, even ended up just siting on drive to finish listening to the song, cannot wait to hear how good the system is once it's had a few more hours of use :). This is what prompted me to look into the sound quality of DAB.

Oh well looks like I'll be sticking to FM, just hope no one switched FM off anytime soon, or I'll be switching to Internet radio!! Good thing the IS300H supports so many sound inputs :)

http://www.techradar.com/news/car-tech/why-dab-radio-in-the-uk-is-broken-and-how-to-fix-it-1217586

splatty · March 3, 2015

Interesting topic.

My A5 has Bang & Olufsen sound and sounds great. DAB is much clearer.............but reception is rubbish.Don't know if that is the car or the area, but currently I would never pay extra for DAB. If i'm not listening to MP3s I'm generally listening to talksport so I don't suppose it matters too much

capese21 · March 3, 2015

DAB is digital like an Mp3 and only at around 128k. Imagine ripping a
CD at 128k. You would need 256k or imho 320k to keep the quality and
detail of the original.

DAB will be either on or off so no fading or hiss. FM probably will

sound better if the signal strength is very strong but will fade and
suffer from background hiss when the signal strength drops.

I find the DAB in my car sounds better because there is no background

hiss whereas the FM fades in and out a little. I would say it depends
where you are in relation to the transmitter.

Ed

ganzoom · March 3, 2015

For things like Radio 5, DAB is great, and better than MW. But I tried some of the music DAB channels again...its as rubbish as it was yesterday, I guess my local DAB transmitter must be extra tight on bandwidth.

Not a big deal, I'm quite happy using my iPod and Iphone for streaming etc...Just a shame about sound quality of DAB stations...In a way I blame Lexus, it;s their fault they have made the IS300H so refined, it the interior had some more road/engine noise it will have all sounded the same :D

ganzoom · March 3, 2015

Some one at another forum pointed me to this...

http://www.transmissionzero.co.uk/radio/london-dab-radio/

So it looks like apart from major BBC stations, most national DAB channels are broad cast in 64-80kbps and MONO

At least I now know my ears aren't going mad.....

DJP · March 3, 2015

Really interesting stuff, I never realised the DAB bit rate was so lame. Mind you, as pointed out doesn't really affect Five 5! If I listen to music it's normally streaming Deezer to the phone and then via Bluetooth. That seesm good enough for me, but I wonder what the bit rate is for that?

So much refinement makes us so demanding.

Steve44 · March 3, 2015

Ganzoom,have you checked the sound settings on Dab and FM? Checked mine today and FM did not have surround mode turned on. Once on, things sounded much better.

Turning off surround on dab shows up the mono reception, as it all comes from the Center speaker.

ganzoom · March 4, 2015

It's not a problem with the ML set up, it's the poor audio quality of DAB.

From what I understand of audio/HiFi set ups the better the system, the closer the sound is to what the recording sounded like at time of recording.

So half decent system like the ML setup will reproduce the sound quality of the audio spruce bette than a cheaper sound system....The problem is, when the audio source is been broadcast at 64kbps and in Mono, no amount of post processing will make it better.

I suppose it's like when you take a photo on your smart phone. On a small screen it looks great....But when you import it to your laptop and see the picture in full resolution you realise it's not in focus/poorly exposed etc.

Greenfield · March 4, 2015

I don't use DAB as in 6 months of ownership it has not broadcast any local (TP) traffic news and yes I do have it selected!! FM transmits TP many times in my daily commute,