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Why Doesn't Radio Give Good Bass?

JeeTeeEss25Tee

By JeeTeeEss25Tee,
in Car Audio & Electrical

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Archie@ Experienced

Archie@

Posted
Posted

Thank you for yet another informative answer there dezz.

As krzysiu said. FM is generally decent transmition but it's no where near as good as a digital transmition or direct conection. So you will never get as good quality which is unfortunate cause i also enjoy just listening to the radio a fair bit.

Abo Bob Grand Master

Abo Bob

Posted
Posted

FM radio is about 2/3 of the quality of normal cd audio. The first thing you lose is the depth of the bass when you transmit in this manner. Basically the transmission leaves out bits.

All you have to do is increase the bass on your eq or whatever you use for that. Some head units can have different settings for radio and cd.

RANDY Veteran

RANDY

Posted
Posted

I was about to suggest that... all the head units i've come across require you to set the bass/mid/treble for radio and CD independantly.

Funnily enough, i've always found radio to be bassier than CD's!! The new HU in my Skyline is the same... just like my last car. Weird!

dangerous_daveo Grand Master

dangerous_daveo

Posted
Posted

I think you will find its a bit like mp3, just more so. Mp3 compresses the data you cant hear, or your stereo cant produce. Radio is the same, just they keep going in to what you can here.

Technically mp3 still isnt as good as a cd, but it all comes down to the orginal recording anyway, and how good the system is at reproducing the sound.

RANDY Veteran

RANDY

Posted
Posted

JTS25T: Dunno man... my new Kenwood does it, and my old Kenwood in my Commodore did it. Kinda handy, cause FM radio has always been more bassier to me. (not as bad as AM radio though)

If FM radio is Frequency-Modulated, and high-pitch is in the upper range, and bass is in the lower... maybe the upper is being cut out a bit by the radio stations?

siddr20 Grand Master

siddr20

Posted
Posted

Also listening to music on air is free, and hence music quailty is also low!! Wont be your typical 128kbs..

Also since the waves travel further, the frequencies may also decrease in quailty.. not 2 sure on that..

  • 4 weeks later...
lordsnipe Community Regular

lordsnipe

Posted
Posted

something that i remember from uni in regards to wireless transmission.

sound (music) is a whole spectrum of frequencies. bass is the lower range frequencies, treble is high.

Frequency modulation (or AM for that matter) allows transmission of this spectrum of frequencies over a single frequency (ie what you tune your radio to).

However to transmit the whole spectrum requires infinite power (not possible) so a compromise takes place. Hence why FM doesn't sound as good as CD.

  • 2 weeks later...
predator Grand Master

predator

Posted
Posted

radio is up to 22khz range, whereas CD is 44khz.. which allows much more frequencies to be accurately transmitted in the spectrum. Usually that would mean that its the higher frequencies that you'd lose, so I guess there must be other explanations why you lose bass frequency... probably to do with bass requiring more power to send the lower wavelengths long distances??

Radio plays crap usually repeditive music anyhow :mellow:

They were talking about digital radio which would improve the quality, but they've been talking about that for 10 years and not much has advanced in that area.

Crimpage Community Regular

Crimpage

Posted
Posted

I think some head units will try to recreate some of the bass lost in radio transmissions, which is why some headunits make the radio bassier than others... My alpine is a lot bassier on the radio than a cd, but so much so that it sounds like crap.

I also know, that all the Brisbane radio stations are shit too... especially the new morning crew on all B105, Triple M and Nova... All of them like to share with you every morning how ignorant they are and how cool it is to be a dumbshit...

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