Radio Sound Quality Options

[Edjecadetje]

Hi all,
when i listen to mp3 the sound quality is far better then when i listen to a radio station.
I have the original speakers.

Are there more people that hears quality difference between mp3 and radio?

[i10er]

Hi all,
when i listen to mp3 the sound quality is far better then when i listen to a radio station.
I have the original speakers.

Are there more people that hears quality difference between mp3 and radio?

yes, listening to the radio is poor while mp3(cd) or aux is far better

[BlackFox78]

Radio One is OK on mine, most other channels are poor, CD/Aux is fine.

[Edjecadetje]

Thanks for the reply.
Now i know it's not alone my radio.
I'll try better speakers, maybe that will sound a little bit nicer.

[rjacobson11]

I've replaced the speakers in mine, & the radio is still cr4p compared to CD/AUX. It was an improvement though.

[Ben1971]

Sound quality in mine is poor, even Radio 1 is crackly when getting near Towns, only station it seems happy with is Radio 4 which I don't listen too!!

[Matt.C]

I agree with the other posters, in my opinion when playing mp3 cd etc the speakers sound great but when listening to the radio it sounds muffled .I think this is a quality issue with the radio components and not the speakers. I think for the price of the car compared to others at similar value the overall stereo package is very good.

[i10]

Is it not the case that when you are listening to mp3's it is digital sound and when you are listening to the radio it is analog sound? Could it not be this that makes the difference is sound? its not a DAB radio.

[Learn with Mike]

there seems to be an issue with the reception of the radio signals. there was another thread about the LO/DX function

[trident_barclay]

As someone said, radio is FM waves transitted through the air so all types of interferance (infa red, micro wave etc) can knock the signal. AUX/CD is recieveing the signal straight from the source so there's no interferance.
Unless you get DAB then the radio will always sound different. But make sure you're tuned into the right frequency. I listen to Radio 2 and they have a range of 88-91 fm, so re-tuning your radio could make it sound better.

[techsmedders]

Is it not the case that when you are listening to mp3's it is digital sound and when you are listening to the radio it is analog sound? Could it not be this that makes the difference is sound? its not a DAB radio.

Digital has nothing to do with it. If you have a search through google you will find that most people find DAB has lower sound quality than FM. And remember that the AUX connection on the radio unit is actually an anologue connector - the source might be digital but it is converted to an analogue audio signal.

And my wife being a sound engineer, I reliably have been informed that any digital signal is never as good as a analogue one as when a digital signal is created, some information from the analogue source is lost, meaning that digital is worse than analogue, though if the digital signal is encoded well, most people would not tell the difference.

As someone said, radio is FM waves transitted through the air so all types of interferance (infa red, micro wave etc) can knock the signal. AUX/CD is recieveing the signal straight from the source so there's no interferance.
Unless you get DAB then the radio will always sound different. But make sure you're tuned into the right frequency. I listen to Radio 2 and they have a range of 88-91 fm, so re-tuning your radio could make it sound better.

Infra-red and microwaves do not tend to have an interferance on FM as FM is 88.8-107.9MHz and microwaves are 300MHz - 300000MHz (300GHz). Infra-red is actually in the light spectrum so even further away. As I have said, DAB can be considered the same or inferior sound quality to FM and it suffers the same ammount of interferance - the only difference being DAB has a certain ammount of error correction to remove some interefence which is why with DAB you either get no interfence, burbleing sound or nothing. There is no gradual build up in between the stages. Tuning into the best available FM signal should remove crackling problems but the design of the i10 radio means that the FM sound quality is poorer than it should be.



In conclusion, the poorer sound on the radio tuner is down to the design of the tuner itself and unless crackling, is nothing to do with signals and never is abything to do with digital signals.

This post has been edited by techsmedders: Oct 31 2009, 07:01 PM

[Learn with Mike]

the process of converting music from analog to digital and back again can be done without the human ear detecting any change. but with the process being done with enough resolution and a high enough sample rate then the diffence between the original analog signal and converted analog signal would be slight.

the main point to the listener is the lower levels of unwanted noise with the music and the compression, you can get more songs on your ipod / mp3 player.

take a conversion to mp3 for example. if you drop the sample rate below 96kHz then you will notice reduced sound quality as you take the sample rate lower. but can you tell the difference as you take the sample rate higher?

the poor radio quality is down to the set up of the aerial and tuner in the i10, it seems like some corners have been cut. one thing to try would be replacing the aerial, getting a better signal to the radio. this would be chaeper than replacing the radio. Aerial at Halfords

[techsmedders]

the process of converting music from analog to digital and back again can be done without the human ear detecting any change. but with the process being done with enough resolution and a high enough sample rate then the diffence between the original analog signal and converted analog signal would be slight.

the main point to the listener is the lower levels of unwanted noise with the music and the compression, you can get more songs on your ipod / mp3 player.

take a conversion to mp3 for example. if you drop the sample rate below 96kHz then you will notice reduced sound quality as you take the sample rate lower. but can you tell the difference as you take the sample rate higher?

the poor radio quality is down to the set up of the aerial and tuner in the i10, it seems like some corners have been cut. one thing to try would be replacing the aerial, getting a better signal to the radio. this would be chaeper than replacing the radio. Aerial at Halfords

Replacing the aerial or moving the current one to a more 45 degree angle may help remove noise and crackling, etc... but the radio tuner, as you say, does seem to have been built to a price

[mobile]

what would be the best areal to get to make the signal better?, any particular material or design?

[uncletony]

what would be the best areal to get to make the signal better?, any particular material or design?

In my opinion an amplified (or active) aerial/antenna would be best - the bee-sting type seen on Vauxhalls, Opels, Seat, VW are amplified, and look kind of stylish into the bargain. These usually have an electronic circuit board fitted on a short cable connected to the aerial mount/base plus an extra wire for powering the amp.

Having had a lot of difficulty in getting good radio reception I have spent months trying to improve it. I am now at the point of contemplating fitting a new amplified bee-sting antenna at the rear end of the car roof, but haven't plucked up the courage to do it - yet!

The difficult job is the actual business of fitting a new aerial. The amplifier needs 12v power, so one new wire has to be installed within the car body going up to the aerial base and connected to the aerial power wire (12v can be tapped into from the ISO connctor at the back of the Head Unit). The coaxial wire from the Head Unit will have to be connected to the amplified coaxial wire from the aerial. This is going to be a REALLY fiddly job as you will be working inside the head lining (ie roof covering fabric) between the front windscreen and the interior light unit....! If the new aerial is going else where a new power wire AND coaxial cable will be needed - problem there is the aerial connector on the rear of the Head Unit is totally non-standard!

Have a read through this thread http://www.hyundai-forums.com/t35617-pa710rds-radio.htm

This post has been edited by uncletony: Nov 3 2009, 11:13 AM

[tooden]

tony hi would it be possible to amplify the existing aerial at the rear of head unit ?
i have a tv in my old cav its rubbish on the move but after i had fitted a12v coaxil amp stationary reception improved somewhat

[mobile]

In my opinion an amplified (or active) aerial/antenna would be best - the bee-sting type seen on Vauxhalls, Opels, Seat, VW are amplified, and look kind of stylish into the bargain. These usually have an electronic circuit board fitted on a short cable connected to the aerial mount/base plus an extra wire for powering the amp.

Having had a lot of difficulty in getting good radio reception I have spent months trying to improve it. I am now at the point of contemplating fitting a new amplified bee-sting antenna at the rear end of the car roof, but haven't plucked up the courage to do it - yet!

The difficult job is the actual business of fitting a new aerial. The amplifier needs 12v power, so one new wire has to be installed within the car body going up to the aerial base and connected to the aerial power wire (12v can be tapped into from the ISO connctor at the back of the Head Unit). The coaxial wire from the Head Unit will have to be connected to the amplified coaxial wire from the aerial. This is going to be a REALLY fiddly job as you will be working inside the head lining (ie roof covering fabric) between the front windscreen and the interior light unit....! If the new aerial is going else where a new power wire AND coaxial cable will be needed - problem there is the aerial connector on the rear of the Head Unit is totally non-standard!

Have a read through this thread http://www.hyundai-forums.com/t35617-pa710rds-radio.htm

Thanks for the info!

[sandydog]

I'm glad we're discussing the radio reception - it's blooming awful! Most of the time I can't even pick up my very local radio station, only the BBC's and Classic FM.

[mobile]

Got my i10 today and no problems with radio... ok its not a state of the art sound but works fine...

I get a perfect signal for the stations I listen to and the CDs can be cranked up and sound fine...

I w2ould only update it if I was to really put something good in.

[AnitaA]

I found that, quite apart from noise or interference (which I find not a problem), FM reception does sound somewhat muffled compared to playing a CD.
Apparently, the lowpass filtering in the receiver bit is a bit much - not enough highs being passed on to the amplifier.

This would be a design issue and not easily fixed by the average user. I just turned up the Treble setting - mind you, it makes my CD's sound a bit sharp, but I don't plan to play them so often. When I do, I can always turn the Treble down again, I suppose.