I'm thinking of putting a DAB headunit into the beater.

http://www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/woodstock_dab54.asp

Firstly is digital radio that much better ? ( I've never heard it in a car)

and secondly, there appears to be 3 types of aerial

1) Internal glass mount

2) External glass mount

3) Roof mount chavvy beesting (Its for a Merc )

anyone got any experience of which is better ?

 

DAB is brilliant. Quality is much better than FM, and the variety of stations out there is far superior. Oh, and you get access to all the extra BBC stations too, including 5live in decent sound quality!

Now the downsides. Depending on where you go, reception varies incredibly - in the same way that digital tv / satellite goes all pixelly when it loses the signal, DAB does the same - there's no gradual drop-off as with FM.

Because of this I would recommend getting the best possible aerial you can, and for me that would be the roof mounted job - I've had two different windscreen aerials now and I get lots of drop outs in areas that I would expect there to be a signal - motorways, major connurbations etc. (That said, I've not tried an external glass mount yet - I suppose that's like an old 'carphone' aerial?)

The Woodstock is the unit I have and I have to say it's very good - the sound quality from DAB, CD and MP3s is brilliant - works really well.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend DAB to anybody who is considering it

 

Like Alex, I had a Woodstock DAB54 in the S. The clarity of the radio is certainly noticeable, but it perhaps depends on what you usually listen to. I'm a Five Live fan and as this is otherwise only broadcast on AM, listening to it via DAB makes a massive difference.

I went with an internal aerial (stuck to the inside of the screen) but it took two attempts to find one that looked okay. If I had the S back and had a bit more dosh, I think I'd probably fit a dual DAB/FM aerial in place of the OEM bee sting.

Take a look at my original thread (which includes pics) on the subject ...

 

I've got a DAB 54 as they're standard fit in the 111R. I think the sound quality is pretty good, CD quality I suppose, but I never had a problem with FM to begin with.

The really good thing is being able to listen to one station if you're on a long journey. Stations like KISS are broadcast nationwide now, so it's nice to not have to tune in all your stations just because you've gone from say Glasgow to Edinburgh. And some of the stations which were only MW or SW before can now be heard in glorious digital.

I couldn't tell you where my aeriel is though. It's not outside, so I quess it's in the windscreen. It's definitely at the front of the car, but no idea exactly where.

 

Gaz ... are you using an SD card in the head unit? Stick a 1 or 2 GB card in it loaded with MP3s for hours of tunes ...

 

I just use a CD with MP3's on it. I can then put a fair few albums on each disc. Cheaper than an SD.

 

Exactly the same here.

 

Brilliant

Thanks all - The Merc already has a Blaupunkt in it so its a simple switch for the headunit.

The external glass mount aerial is identical to a carphone one. I suspect a roof mount one would be stronger so I'll look into that.


Shiskine, thanks for the thread.

 

[QUOTE=Bada Bing!,Mar 4 2007, 11:01 AM] I just use a CD with MP3's on it.

 

You'd be surprised how nice the ride is actually. Although on barely legal tyres it was beginning to slowly shake the life out of me.