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Does anyone else like FM?

In general I like FM and have several tuners. Unfortunately since years they try to cut FM and promote DABplus. This has reduced sound quality due to low sample rates and is data reduced. Have no DABplus receiver and cannot compare. Eventually FM will die here in Germany. For car radio FM is useful for traffic and wheather information. For home the audio signal is somewhat compressed and with high level. Compared the music tunes to my CDs this is not good for enjoying. Weak FM signal causes the tuner to switch to mono which happens occasionally.
The situation with FM where I am in the US seems better than in Europe. Whenever I listen to free sub 160Kb digi music streaming, the best way to describe it is it sounds like poorly studio recorded music of the 1960s. With FM it sounds like a better more modern studio recording of the 1970s onward.

It'd be very interesting if someone with expertise could compare the audio signal of a FM tuner to audio out of say a Wii pro streaming free low bit signal and tell us what signals look like :) .
 
One of the great things about my Kenwood Supreme 600T (besides the 8-gang tuning cap) is its deviation meter. On virtually all commercial stations, it stays pegged at max. On the NPR classical and jazz stations, it deviates a lot, showing that they are not dynamically compressing the stream. Kenwood produced radios for many different markets, including amateur radio, so were quite good at designing and building them.

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I don't even own an FM radio outside of the one that comes with the car, and I don't listen to any radio while driving. When FM got commercialized, out went the tuner. Too bad.
 
Re. processing in radio, some time ago the topic came about on another forum, so I captured "Luka / Solitude Standing / Suzanne Vega" from the internet stream of polish Radio357 and compared it to Spotify's stream and my own CD. Here's spectrum of 5 seconds from 0:30, 1:40 and 2:30. CD and Spotify are essentially the same and Radio375 has big boost below 150 Hz and reduction above 2k:

View attachment 420567

There was also a link to an example of audio processor that can be used in radios:
That was already mentioned in other similar threads:
Nice info thanks. I see that was streaming radio, but I do believe FM broadcasters are also EQing and probably compressing the sound which I do not like. I notice a bass and treble boost on FM in the car but don't notice it on my home system, maybe bad room acoustics? I also seem to notice at times on some FM channels that seem EQ boosted high frequency/treble distortion in the car, but not so much on home system so that might be audio system differences and not be FM signal, not sure.
 
Nice info thanks. I see that was streaming radio, but I do believe FM broadcasters are also EQing and probably compressing the sound which I do not like. I notice a bass and treble boost on FM in the car but don't notice it on my home system, maybe bad room acoustics? I also seem to notice at times on some FM channels that seem EQ boosted high frequency/treble distortion in the car, but not so much on home system so that might be audio system differences and not be FM signal, not sure.

FM is broadcast which sort of confused me initially in this thread. On the internet it's not being frequency modulated (FM) I'd think but don't know, altho I somewhat understand why they are still "FM stations". I'd think the station is still in control whether they are broadcasting or using the net, tho. Differences between a car and home system are probably simply more about the basic audio system differences.

Can't answer your questions about the spotify stream bitrates, best to ask spotify.
 
FM is broadcast which sort of confused me initially in this thread. On the internet it's not being frequency modulated (FM) I'd think but don't know, altho I somewhat understand why they are still "FM stations". I'd think the station is still in control whether they are broadcasting or using the net, tho. Differences between a car and home system are probably simply more about the basic audio system differences.

Can't answer your questions about the spotify stream bitrates, best to ask spotify.
Agree FM stations streamed on the internet aren't FM modulated, but they are often compressed to a low bitrate that I think is below FM broadcast sound quality.

The post I was quoting showed that a Polish FM station's internet stream was EQ'd, probably similar to how they EQ their FM broadcast. Which sucks either way but is understandable to have the channel's same "signature" broadcast sound when streamed (which probably is altered again anyway by low bit compression lol).

Agree, differences between the car and home sound are mostly audio system difference and maybe room acoustics, but with streaming Spotify and SXM etc they like to vary your bit rate when streaming on mobile cellular as opposed to landline. Anyway, I'm probably dealing with too many variables to conclude for certain whether FM sounds better than say Spotify 160Kb. I can say though I dislike using the Spotify app compared to FM tuning.

Someone posted a link to Spotify's webpage with bitrates, and as I recall without explanation only their web player bitrate was lower than what's available with their app.
 
Agree FM stations streamed on the internet aren't FM modulated, but they are often compressed to a low bitrate that I think is below FM broadcast sound quality.

The post I was quoting showed that a Polish FM station's internet stream was EQ'd, probably similar to how they EQ their FM broadcast. Which sucks either way but is understandable to have the channel's same "signature" broadcast sound when streamed (which probably is altered again anyway by low bit compression lol).

Agree, differences between the car and home sound are mostly audio system difference and maybe room acoustics, but with streaming Spotify and SXM etc they like to vary your bit rate when streaming on mobile cellular as opposed to landline. Anyway, I'm probably dealing with too many variables to conclude for certain whether FM sounds better than say Spotify 160Kb. I can say though I dislike using the Spotify app compared to FM tuning.

Someone posted a link to Spotify's webpage with bitrates, and as I recall without explanation only their web player bitrate was lower than what's available with their app.
It’s probably hard to make any valid comparison, one can not know if the track is the same master or eq and loudness compressed by the FM station or streaming service like xm ? It’s not even Apples and Oranges we have potatoes to :D
 
Do I think FM OTA sounds better? No, not really.
Do I like it (better)? Heck, yes.
 
It’s probably hard to make any valid comparison, one can not know if the track is the same master or eq and loudness compressed by the FM station or streaming service like xm ? It’s not even Apples and Oranges we have potatoes to :D
Agree, oftentimes one isn't even comparing the same track which might be the most significant variable, leave alone the same master and FM station or streaming service EQing and loudness compression :p. Probably hard to make exact sound quality comparisons.
 
Agree FM stations streamed on the internet aren't FM modulated, but they are often compressed to a low bitrate that I think is below FM broadcast sound quality.

The post I was quoting showed that a Polish FM station's internet stream was EQ'd, probably similar to how they EQ their FM broadcast. Which sucks either way but is understandable to have the channel's same "signature" broadcast sound when streamed (which probably is altered again anyway by low bit compression lol).

Agree, differences between the car and home sound are mostly audio system difference and maybe room acoustics, but with streaming Spotify and SXM etc they like to vary your bit rate when streaming on mobile cellular as opposed to landline. Anyway, I'm probably dealing with too many variables to conclude for certain whether FM sounds better than say Spotify 160Kb. I can say though I dislike using the Spotify app compared to FM tuning.

Someone posted a link to Spotify's webpage with bitrates, and as I recall without explanation only their web player bitrate was lower than what's available with their app.
I've never tried streaming in the car, our internet isn't that good or is nonexistent on the longer drives going away from town where I might be interested (I'm out in the boonies). Plus I tend not to use a phone on these drives anyways, have a thumb drive with 128gb of 320kbps mp3 from my library. You are using both FM broadcast and via internet in your car?

When I have perused various radio station content over the net, those using the very lowest bitrates I didn't particularly consider. Why a station would use such I assume is for financial reasons but don't know how that works.

I posted that spotify page, as it does cause some confusion whether you buy a subscription, use free, or on what type of device....personally have had a subscription for a long time but for use at home.
 
It must depend on where you live and work , i need to connect a phone to the car to be able to use handsfree otherwise i can not take work calls ( or any call as it is a legal requirement ) , and reception is surprisingly good in most parts of Sweden , i can use Spotify on most roads even rural ones ( far north in Sweden may be an exception ) :)
 
I've never tried streaming in the car, our internet isn't that good or is nonexistent on the longer drives going away from town where I might be interested (I'm out in the boonies). Plus I tend not to use a phone on these drives anyways, have a thumb drive with 128gb of 320kbps mp3 from my library. You are using both FM broadcast and via internet in your car?

When I have perused various radio station content over the net, those using the very lowest bitrates I didn't particularly consider. Why a station would use such I assume is for financial reasons but don't know how that works.

I posted that spotify page, as it does cause some confusion whether you buy a subscription, use free, or on what type of device....personally have had a subscription for a long time but for use at home.
That's another problem with streaming while mobile, my FM reception has more reliable overage than my cellular. No I didn't compare FM air to the same station's streaming in the car. I probably should have to make a more valid comparison. It's such a pain to stream to my car. I mostly compared streaming XM and Spotify to FM air and thought streaming didn't sound as good as FM air in the car. It's my home stereo FM that really blows away anything sound quality wise I can get streaming to my car or other bluetooth and wifi sound devices. I know, I'm not making apples and apples comparisons lol.

I know it, why do all these subscription free online streaming sources use such a low bitrate under 160Kbp and with paid subscription often still below 320k in this day and age.

I thought you posted the Spotify page, but my memory isn't always so sharp nowadays :p.
 
It must depend on where you live and work , i need to connect a phone to the car to be able to use handsfree otherwise i can not take work calls ( or any call as it is a legal requirement ) , and reception is surprisingly good in most parts of Sweden , i can use Spotify on most roads even rural ones ( far north in Sweden may be an exception ) :)
That's another knock against streaming cell phone user in cars are a hazard to us motorcyclists :p. I wonder if car touch screen are much better in regard to distracted drivers. It's illegal to use a cellphone not hands free in a car here to. I think one needs Android Audio or CarPlay to really make cell phone integration in your car very workable. Anyway, I listen to FM at home, SXM in the car. FM is probably a better situation here than in many other countries.
 
That's another problem with streaming while mobile, my FM reception has more reliable overage than my cellular. No I didn't compare FM air to the same station's streaming in the car. I probably should have to make a more valid comparison. It's such a pain to stream to my car. I mostly compared streaming XM and Spotify to FM air and thought streaming didn't sound as good as FM air in the car. It's my home stereo FM that really blows away anything sound quality wise I can get streaming to my car or other bluetooth and wifi sound devices. I know, I'm not making apples and apples comparisons lol.

I know it, why do all these subscription free online streaming sources use such a low bitrate under 160Kbp and with paid subscription often still below 320k in this day and age.

I thought you posted the Spotify page, but my memory isn't always so sharp nowadays :p.
Wouldn't surprise me FM reception better than internet unless perhaps in a large city. As to using spotify in the car I have used a cord to plug into the aux on my head unit, using saved spotify downloads, but just is more work than its worth really. Not about quality but convenience/ease of use. I never had Sirius or other sat services but comments about such kept me away plus the limited use I'd have for such (just don't drive as much as I used to). OTOH most of my FM experience was with real dj's spinning vinyl over the air....
 
I still listen to FM a lot where I live, in France, close to the border with Belgium.

In France, and generally in Europe, there are good radio stations, without ads or to much of them, and which are broadcasting classical music (I think of the public radio station France Musique or the local radio station Accent 4 in Alsace, where I used to live, and Klara and Musiq3 in Belgium) and great legacy pop music (Classic 21 is the best, broadcasted from Belgium).
 
I still listen to FM a lot where I live, in France, close to the border with Belgium.

In France, and generally in Europe, there are good radio stations, without ads or to much of them, and which are broadcasting classical music (I think of the public radio station France Musique or the local radio station Accent 4 in Alsace, where I used to live, and Klara and Musiq3 in Belgium) and great legacy pop music (Classic 21 is the best, broadcasted from Belgium).
Is it still FM particularly vs DAB?
 
I am a sucker for the magic of radio -- transmission and reception.
I have... far too many tuners. :facepalm:



(just a couple-three, for illustrative porpoises purposes)
 
I am a sucker for the magic of radio -- transmission and reception.
I have... far too many tuners. :facepalm:



(just a couple-three, for illustrative porpoises purposes)
Curious, where do you live where you get so much choice to listen to that way?
 
Is it still FM particularly vs DAB?
FM. I have not yet found an interesting DAB+ appliance.

DAB+ being the broadcast standard in France and a different technique than DAB.

DAB+ broadcasts are not compatible with a DAB tuner.

Typical French (or European) annoyance.
 
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