DAB digital head units. Are they worth it?

[Lankytim]

I'm thinking of getting a new CD player for the Multipla, as the existing one is shite. I've noticed digital radios are getting quite cheap but are they any good? I've read that you need to get a new aerial for it to work, or get an adaptor for the existing one, or even get a stick on aeriel that goes on the back window.

 

Has anyone got any experience of these? I'f I can get one in and working it would deffo put me in the wife;s good books fora while.

[Keymaster]

deffo worth it. ive got a jvc one in my camper & a kenwood one in my mr2... cant live without radio 6 on my travels! Both cheapo ex display units & fitted using the supplied windscreen mounted film aerial - its fairly discreet & only took 10 mins to remove the trim & route the cable up the a pillar & behind the dashboard. Nether one has any reception problems - conversely her indoors has a 13 plate c-max which struggles for a DAB signal from its factory fitted job... go figure. Ive also got a Pure digital Move 2500 I use in my company car & plugs into the aux socket which works great.

 

[HillmanImp]

I would like it for Radio 6 alone. interested on other peep opinions as need to fit a radio to the Visa. 

[Station]

Would love one - if it was plain black and wasn't covered in LEDs flashing like Cream on New Year's Eve.

[MrDuke]

I've heard that there are still a lot of rural 'blackspots' for digital coverage (although that's supposed to be impossible ) however if you don't often venture out into the badlands that wouldn't be an issue.

[dugong]

To be honest, if you've got a basic AUX \ line in connection on your head unit and a fairly decent phone, just get Radio 6 \ KEXP (really, do) via that TuneIn App you can get for nowt on Android \ iEstateAgent. It'll be a 32 or 128kb stream but you're in a car so the acoustics are shash anyway. 

[Richard]

I've had a Blaupunkt DAB52 in my cars since 2005 and I couldn't be without it. DAB is a bit like digital TV in that it is 95% shit but worth having for the couple of channels you might want to listen to- mostly 6 Music and 4 Extra for me.

 

I soldered a wire between the two aerial sockets and have always run it on the car's own FM aerial. For the two Xantias I had to fit the long version of the 80s/90s French aerial, which I got from the outgoing Renaults.That arrangement worked very well. The Volvo's glass aerial wasn't so good, but it was too thirsty for me to drive anyway, and the C5 needed a modification to its aerial.

 

 

 

I drive a lot of miles in the van (with a Pure Highway) and don't find many places where I don't get DAB reception, in general it tends to be the same places where you don't get FM.

[saucedoctor]

I've had 3 cars with factory fit DAB systems, and they've all bee gash. The TuneIn+AUX solution Dugong mentioned is FTW, and I also have a wee DAB pocket radio wired up in the same fashion for the Rover which works bob on.

[Paul Dupart]

I've got a Pure Highway add on unit, with an inside windscreen mount aerial.  Picked it up second hand on ebay a couple of years ago for less than £40.  Not the prettiest unit, but it hides in the glovebox.  I use it to listen to 6 music and it works really well.

[Vin]

I've got a DAB head unit in the Marea. I too can't be without 6music and a clear 5live on a saturday afternoon.

 

I originally intended to get a pure highway as my Dad had one in his S80 and it was spot on. But when I got the Marea the CD changer was still in it's box in the boot and had never been connected. I couldn't get the changer to work properly with the built in head unit even though they were all correct...

 

I decided instead to buy a new CD player and it was then I realised that I may as well get a DAB as they had come down in price. I got a Kenwood unit. I needed to get a surround in order for it to fit in the dashboard for starters.

 

I had to get an Autoleads ISO adapter harness and I also had to get an Autoleads adapter/harness specifically for Fiat Marea/Kenwood so I could use my steering wheel controls. I then needed an aerial adaptor to convert it to pick up DAB. I also got a longer aerial.

 

Using the internets as a guide it all went together OK. I only needed 1 scotch  clip, rest was all 'plug & play' and it all sits behind the head unit.

 

The coverage so far on my travels is great. The only blindspot I've found is on Mortal Ash Hill in Scunthorpe but you only lose it for a few seconds.

 

Love it.

[brickwall]

Can't get any DAB here

[Keymaster]

Would love one - if it was plain black and wasn't covered in LEDs flashing like Cream on New Year's Eve.

 

These ones are plain black & dont look too bad as far as the light show goes and at £50 you cant really go wrong http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clarity-ICS201DAB-DAB-DAB-Car-stereo-USB-AUX-input-Radio-tuner-4-x-40-watts-/111185823847?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item19e3310867#ht_500wt_892

[beko1987]

I keep meaning to buy a nice JVC DAB+ headunit, with the JVC Bluetooth add-on, and roof aerial. About £180 worth of kit which I would move from car to car.

 

However I havent been able to afford it for the last 6 months its been on my ebay watch list so keep plodding on with my tape to aux lead and LBC on the FM. However I have to turn my mobile data off as the XM picks up loads of interferance.

 

Maybe next year, I really want it, but for Planet Rock rather than 6 music

[Pillock]

I'm regretting getting the "upgrade" head unit in my Focus, which ditched DAB for a touchscreen satnav. The satnav is shite, and I reckon the digital radio would have been much better if only for Planet Rock. Only option seems to be an autoDab which links in to the FM tuner, is controlled by the steering wheel remote, and will cost £149.

 

Be careful using Tunein if you're on PAYG or a low-data contract. I used to slurp loads of data on my unlimited tariff doing it that way, 128Kbps is 16KBps which is around a megabyte per minute. If you're in the car for two hours a day five days a week, that could cost ya.

[Shep Shepherd]

I have a Pure Highway which the Volvos share. The reception (using an aftermarket mini mag-mount aerial) is fine and the choice of stations is superb

[himoverthere]

I had a DAB52 which I stupidly left in one of my cars when I sold it.

 

I had an extra aerial but it was never fitted properly - the cable ran from the back of the unit, round the dash, along the sills, under the back seat, up the D pillar and across the top of the rear window - there was a little box thing that was supposed to stick to the glass with the aerial part on the other side, but I lost the glue and just left if hanging for two years. This is autoshite after all.

 

I drove that car to both east and west coasts and the north coast at the top of Scotland. Only went as far south as that London, mind you - but the reception was fine. I used to get a bit of a black-spot on the M1 north of Leicester, and you couldn't get much in the far north, but the same was true of FM there.

 

I keep meaning to get another.

[MikeKnight]

I've got a super fancy expensive Sony DAB unit in the Honda Prelude.. but for some reason the reception is utter crap and most of the time picks up nothing. It has a window mounted antenna.

 

I'm not sure why this is as it was wired in correctly (I even took it back out to check), but I think it may be because it uses the normal antenna as a booster (and indeed does not work without both antennae plugged in) and the normal antenna on a Prelude is massive but utterly crap at picking up anything past a five mile radius.

 

Most of the time I listen to my USB stick anyway as the head unit itself is pretty amazing.

[STUNO]

No DAB in Dorset

[Dave_Q]

I've got a DAB head unit which is an ex-display JVC I got from Halfords for £50. £20 for a stick on aerial on top of that.

 

Have had coverage everywhere I've been. 

 

Except France.

[Lankytim]

They sound pretty good overall. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for any bargains!

[londonm]

No DAB in Dorset

Yes there is, stop being silly.

[Micrashed]

 

SHITE DAB Radio...

 

The pink thing

[rainagain]

I had a Pure highway which struggled in more rural areas with the windscreen antenna. I replaced it with a Kenwood KDC-DAB41U which has the same look/display as a head unit from the 90's but even using the included windscreen antenna the reception is excellent. Driving the OH's megane right now until it's sold and I'm really missing absolute 80's

[CortinaDave]

They are alright. I had a DAB52 and enjoyed it. Mine had a stick on the window aerial which worked fine.The sound quality is piss poor on a lot of stations though, not nearly as good as FM... This is because most stations are streaming at ridiculously low bitrates so they can squeeze more onto the multiplex.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I'm really missing absolute 80's

 

Absolute Radio destroyed an Allegro. Wanted for crimes against shite. 

 

NEVER FORGET