Sound quality of the Swiss DAB service criticized
With regard to DAB digital radio, the SRG is not keeping its promise that this technology would enable a wider range of programming. This is what the NZZ am Sonntag reports in its latest issue.
With regard to DAB digital radio, the SRG is not keeping its promise that this technology will make it possible to offer a wider range of programs. This is what the NZZ am Sonntag writes in its current issue. At present, only eleven stations can be received in German-speaking Switzerland, all from the SRG family of stations. Private stations will only be given a chance on a second DAB platform: in July, the federal government appointed eight new licensees. The NZZ am Sonntag also complains that the sound quality of DAB transmission in Switzerland is not convincing. With a data rate of just 128 kilobits per second in most cases, the quality of the Swiss DAB offering is among the worst in international comparison. "To achieve anything approaching CD quality, a data rate of at least 192 kilobits per second is required," Matthias Rose, press spokesman for the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) in Erlangen, told the NZZ am Sonntag.
According to Bernhard Bürki, press spokesman for the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom), 128 kilobits per second is more than enough for a voice program, but this data rate can be tight for classical music. On its DAB information page on the Internet, Bakom also takes the view that "192 to 256 kbit/s are necessary for a stereo music program in sufficient quality". However, the federal government has not issued a corresponding regulation in the so-called SRG license.
There will be more broadcasters in Switzerland when the eight private licensees selected in July are expected to go on air in autumn 2008. The federal government could then set a minimum data rate for the first time. According to Bakom spokesperson Bürki, it has not yet been decided how high this will be.
According to Bernhard Bürki, press spokesman for the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom), 128 kilobits per second is more than enough for a voice program, but this data rate can be tight for classical music. On its DAB information page on the Internet, Bakom also takes the view that "192 to 256 kbit/s are necessary for a stereo music program in sufficient quality". However, the federal government has not issued a corresponding regulation in the so-called SRG license.
There will be more broadcasters in Switzerland when the eight private licensees selected in July are expected to go on air in autumn 2008. The federal government could then set a minimum data rate for the first time. According to Bakom spokesperson Bürki, it has not yet been decided how high this will be.
