Reflections on our HD radio
Actually, I’m pretty happy with our HD radio, although I’ve only had it tuned to Dubya-Hex-Hex-Hi, and only to their regular FM classical-music feed.
Dubya-Hex-Hex-Hi broadcasts two other HD channels, but I’ve listened to neither.
Their HD classical music feed is slightly out of synch (behind I think) with their regular FM broadcast, but I only notice that if I have our old PAL FM radio on in the kitchen, and the HD on in our bedroom.
You can only hear this in our laundry room.
The sound is better from the HD radio.
I’m sure part of that is the way the radio is engineered.
They got the base from those tiny speakers boosted clear to smithereens — I had to back it off.
But the HD radio is also broadcasting everything — including the quiet hum that underlies everything.
I remember years ago when I got my hi-fi; back in the days of vinyl discs.
“What’s all that hum?” I asked the clerk at the hi-fi store.
“Oh, that’s surface-noise: the sound of the needle tracking the groove, and the turntable motor.”
Tapes relayed tape-hiss. Dolby® was an effort to offset that.
And older recording technology imprinted amplifier hum. What sense was there getting a Pink Floyd CD if it was just relaying the same amplifier hum that was on a vinyl disc? (I got a CD player.)
Dubya-Hex-Hex-Hi’s HD signal seems to have also been a little erratic. Sometimes there’s no signal — which is why I never gave away my second PAL radio, and it’s in the bedroom.
But it runs nearly all the time, and is better.
But the PAL is portable, and the HD ain’t.
Dubya-Hex-Hex-Hi broadcasts two other HD channels, but I’ve listened to neither.
Their HD classical music feed is slightly out of synch (behind I think) with their regular FM broadcast, but I only notice that if I have our old PAL FM radio on in the kitchen, and the HD on in our bedroom.
You can only hear this in our laundry room.
The sound is better from the HD radio.
I’m sure part of that is the way the radio is engineered.
They got the base from those tiny speakers boosted clear to smithereens — I had to back it off.
But the HD radio is also broadcasting everything — including the quiet hum that underlies everything.
I remember years ago when I got my hi-fi; back in the days of vinyl discs.
“What’s all that hum?” I asked the clerk at the hi-fi store.
“Oh, that’s surface-noise: the sound of the needle tracking the groove, and the turntable motor.”
Tapes relayed tape-hiss. Dolby® was an effort to offset that.
And older recording technology imprinted amplifier hum. What sense was there getting a Pink Floyd CD if it was just relaying the same amplifier hum that was on a vinyl disc? (I got a CD player.)
Dubya-Hex-Hex-Hi’s HD signal seems to have also been a little erratic. Sometimes there’s no signal — which is why I never gave away my second PAL radio, and it’s in the bedroom.
But it runs nearly all the time, and is better.
But the PAL is portable, and the HD ain’t.
posted by BobbaLew at 5:59 AM
1 Comments:
HD Radio HD/IBOC jams our broadcast bands, especially on AM. There is almost zero consumer interest in this farce:
http://hdradiofarce.blogspot.com/
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