Sydney DAB change
WSFM and WSFM 80s now GOLD 1017 and GOLD 80s in line with the FM refresh.
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Goodbye WS FM
I have a soft spot for the old 2WS… their catchy “1224 2WS” jingles from the early 80s were one of my earliest memories of radio.
So it’s kind of sad to see the name go.
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Do any of the stations use DRC?
Sound quality of DAB is starting to kill it for me (at home at least).
Having recently gotten a pair of the top of range Bose QC700s headphones, streaming any digital station from PC/Android via Bluetooth on those is way ahead of DAB sound quality wise.
Also that even 2UE, once as high as 128 kbps on DAB, but is now 48 kbps, that is becoming a factor too.
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Yeah, I can really only enjoy DAB when it’s on proper speakers - I have two different models of Sony receiver - one clock radio and one CD unit, and they can make 32kbps stations sound okay when listening across the room - but any time I’ve got headphones on the harshness is just too much.
Yeah - I still don’t get whey they’ve gone to EEP-2A. They could be running the stations at much higher audio quality without removing any stations just going back to the standard 3A. I kinda get it for 3AW/2GB - where they have always had strong AM reach with lots of fringe listeners, but for the music stations they need the audio quality, especially to compete with the FM options.
I’d do:
3AW/2GB/4BC - 64kbps EEP-1A (96CU)
Magic/2UE/4BH - 88kbps EEP-3A (66CU)
NTS - 40kbps (mono) EEP-3A (30CU)
I reckon 64kbps sounds excellent for predominately speech content - it gets you beyond the sibilance issues that low bitrate talk has, bringing some of the ‘warmth’ that strong AM signals have.
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4BH is currently at 96k.
I agree about the speaker/system setup making a big difference to listening enjoyment.
I find Hot Tomato and HT Gold sound good at 48k.
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How you finding listnr for 2ue? It sounds a bit low res to my ears. I felt it was better before. Might be my ears.
It didn’t sound too bad - it was a bit slow to start playing on Listnr though. Better sound than DAB at least, but that could just be my headphones. As they are better than any corded pair that I can use on my DAB radio.
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Funny you mention that, I had 4BH on in the car today and was still getting annoyed at the “digital” sound of it despite the fairly generous bitrate.
They even had a plug for listening to them in “stereo DAB+” while I was listening. I’d personally just rather they turned the stereo exciter on again on 1116AM and let me listen in stereo that way…
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Yeah I find it doesn’t sound as good as it used to
Not sure why they don’t, the new TX they brought a few years ago would have built in AM Stereo
Tho I do believe they swapped be audio processors around and the unit on 1116 is only mono capable, but then again not hard to swap they processors back around for a stereo capable unit
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They probably don’t see any point, since consumer grade AM stereo receivers haven’t been sold in any form in retail stores since probably the 1990s.
Would love to see if make a comeback somehow on stations like 2UE, 3MP, Magic, 4BH, 4AK, Cruise, 6iX and the regional Triple M AMs that could benefit from it meaningfully. Now wouldn’t that be wonderful!
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Great for Switzerland to go to 5G Broadcast.
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Interesting situation. DRM+ would’ve been far cheaper and provided better coverage, especially considering the Swiss topography.
This comment was the best:
Jim Woodgur
21 Jan 2025 - 10:16 am
How embarrassing, that anyone would trust a survey of any kind run by people who have got it so wrong for so long.
Correct Jim.
@TheStyles83 Switzerland went DAB+, not solely 5G broadcast.
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It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it, not as we know it.
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Whats the bit rate for DAB to send pictures? I was in the car last night after replacing the antenna (the missus took it off a few months ago with the garage door) and it seemed quite slow to bring down the pics from both vision and newsradio
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I bet when 5G Broadcast Technology comes to Australia, a Game Changer will occur.
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Well here in Melbourne we lost KZ FM almost as soon as it launched 
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How long after the FM conversion did KZFM flip to Gold?
WSFM hung on for 31.5 years then! (which somewhat ironically is almost how many millions 3KZ paid to move!).
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