Digital Radio Buying Guide

Clear signal

DAB gives you crystal clear audio without any hiss or interference. Whereas FM reception can be good, average, poor, very poor or anything in between, the digital signal is either present or absent. If you lose the signal, you get a few seconds of burbling as it breaks up and then it's gone. As long as you've got a signal, however, the audio is always good.

Most music stations are broadcast at 128Kbps, making the audio quality comparable to a standard MP3 file. Talk radio stations may broadcast at the lower bit rate, because speech requires less data. Classical music requires more, so BBC Radio 3 broadcasts at 192Kbps.

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More stations

Digital stations are broadcast in groups known as ensembles or multiplexes. There are two national multiplexes, BBC Digital Radio, with 12 stations, and Digital One, with eight commercial stations. Most areas also have one or two local multiplexes broadcasting additional stations (London has three). Depending on your location, you may be able to receive up to 60 stations, including some that are only available on digital radio.

Digital One provides coverage to more than 85 per cent of the UK population, and the BBC reaches about 75 per cent. To find out which stations are available in your area, use the following postcode checkers:

• BBC Postcode checker
• ukdigitalradio Postcode checker

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Easy setup and tuning

Digital radios are self-tuning: when you turn them on, they automatically find all the digital stations in your area. You select stations by name, rather than frequency, and most radios automatically sort the list of station names into alphabetical order. Many digital radios also have preset buttons that let you go straight to your favourite stations.

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Extra information

In addition to music and speech, digital radio stations can also broadcast additional text that is displayed on a small screen. Depending on the station, this text may include programme titles, song names, artist information and/or contact details for competitions or phoning in.

The BBC is currently testing an electronic programme guide (EPG).

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Recording

The compressed nature of the digital signal makes it easy to add recording features to digital radios.

Pause/rewind radios hold 10-20 minutes of the current broadcast in their memory, enabling you to hit Rewind and listen to a news item or competition again. If the phone rings or the doorbell chimes, you can also press Pause to interrupt the broadcast for the same period of time. When you return, you can pick up listening where you left off.

Recording radios take this further, enabling you to record broadcasts on to a memory card or an external device such as a MiniDisc player. This enables you to listen to your favourite programmes at your convenience, or in locations where you can't get a DAB signal, such as London's Underground.

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