BBC Radio 3 lossless (FLAC) broadcast tests

[diablo]

Don't suppose many people are interested in this but I only found out about these trials yesterday. They still have a week to run while the proms are on Radio 3.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/taster/projects/ra ... side-story

Listening to Haydn at the moment but looking forward to Mahler's 4th at 8.15.

Using Firefox on laptop going via Sabre DAC to my usual amp and speakers. Sounds fine, though maybe a little too 'smooth'.?? Will have to listen to 320 kbps versions on radio iPlayer afterwards to see if I can spot any difference.

BBC introduced the 320 kbps AAC broadcasts as trials in the proms and they are now standard on iPlayer. Maybe lossless FLAC will go the same way?

You used to be lucky to get a 56 kbps MP3 at one time.

[Resonance]

The BBC want to sort out their other stations. R5 and R5LSX are both still broadcasting in mono online. 320k mono What a waste of bandwidth. Most local stations were doing the same not long ago, although they have now been upgraded to stereo.

[phild05]

[diablo]

Radio 5 online has got where it is by chance really. It was never planned to be in stereo, being on MW and a tiny bandwidth on DAB. I suppose they'd need to spend some money to change it.

I doubt if the Radio 3 experiment has cost much. A bit of coding, a few extra wires and a server.

I'm quite impressed with the sound of the experimental channel, I prefer it. Hope they make it permanent. I doubt they'll incorporate the new codecs into iPlayer just yet, as that might cost a few quid.

I did my best to compare the live broadcast of Mahler's 4th last night with the iPlayer version . Now I'm as prone to expectation bias as anybody. I thought it sounded much better - but there were a couple of points where the AAC compressed version actually sounded better to me. The short stabbing type sounds during the song at the end sounded very harsh indeed on the live version, fair shocked me they did. The same on the AAC version seemed much more pleasant. So I'm convinced there are genuinely audible differences.

[Channel Hopper]

The BBC want to sort out their other stations. R5 and R5LSX are both still broadcasting in mono online. 320k mono What a waste of bandwidth. Most local stations were doing the same not long ago, although they have now been upgraded to stereo.

The UK wants to ditch DAB/DAB+ before the public end up in a quality vacuum.

DVBT2 lite is out there and provides 'better than FM' audio without the great unwashed paying for new transmitters up and down the country.

Works with both static and vehicle /mobile audio systems and has far better real time info and UI interaction than the shite you have to live with currently.

[Resonance]

The BBC want to sort out their other stations. R5 and R5LSX are both still broadcasting in mono online. 320k mono What a waste of bandwidth. Most local stations were doing the same not long ago, although they have now been upgraded to stereo.

The UK wants to ditch DAB/DAB+ before the public end up in a quality vacuum.

DVBT2 lite is out there and provides 'better than FM' audio without the great unwashed paying for new transmitters up and down the country.

Works with both static and vehicle /mobile audio systems and has far better real time info and UI interaction than the shite you have to live with currently.

I do most of my listening online these days, even in the car. I'm no audiophile, but even my ears are offended by some of the low bit rate mono DAB stations. Plus there's a hell of a lot more choice.

[smeggypants]

I do all my listening online.