Internet Radio What Is Minmum 64K/ What Speakers?

[THAIPHUKET]

I love internet radio because of it's variety, I can enjoy unusual sounds as much as Gregorian Chants.

1. what is the minimum in kb that is needed for an acceptable sound?

2. what speakers to use? ( available here )

3. I like http://www.live365.com very much. Any other suggestions perhaps for the unexpected sound? Don't know what I mean by that but..........

[Darrel]

I love internet radio.

If the station you are listening to streams in MP3 I would prefer 96k and above. Preferably above. 256 or 320k is very good but there arent many stations streaming at this rate and in Thailand your connection may not keep up with it either. For AAC+ or Ogg you can say 48k as a minimum for similar sound quality to 96k MP3. The higher the better, of course. Quite a few stations stream in several different bitrates so check the station's website.

The best speakers for you are the ones that you like. Go and listen to some. If you already have a good hifi then you can just connect your PC soundcard line output to your amp using RCA leads (or your PC's HDMI or SPDIF socket to the HDMI or SPDIF socket on your digital amp if you are so blessed, as I am - this is REALLY good sound).

Shoutcast, Icecast, Radiotime, Reciva all have BIG lists of stations. And Google is your pal.

Edited February 3, 2011 by Darrel

[THAIPHUKET]

Thanks very helpful, not that I understand many of the terms but I'll find someone who does.

My TOT line seems to download at about 1.5 MB/s on average, test this moment 1.76MB/s with Boston.

and yet there are sometimes short interruptions in the transmission. What is the cause? Is it possible to have a buffer so that there is no interruption? Layman talking

365 seems to have more advertising than before, do you have a preference in that respect?

[Darrel]

yet there are sometimes short interruptions in the transmission. What is the cause? Is it possible to have a buffer so that there is no interruption?

A buffer is built into whatever player you are using. Some players (like VLC) allow you to adjust the buffer settings and this may be of help. Another solution is to favour Ogg or ACC+ streams as they need less bandwidth than MP3 streams for the same quality. Prefer cable connections over wifi, if possible. But this is Thailand and my connection just sort of dies from time to time as well, even though the DSL link remains solid.

365 seems to have more advertising than before, do you have a preference in that respect?

I just listen to the stations that play the things I like. I dont use any particular channel groups. Many stations seem to play no ads at all.

[bangkockney]

As for speakers, if you're only listening to lo-fi streams, don't even bother to buy anything more expensive than a regular high-street system.

[badsign]

I too listen to a lot of internet radio here in Pattaya and all the advice that I can give you is based

on my experiences here.

regarding you speakers, get the best setup that you can afford. whether it's for your computer or

home stereo system, if you have "crap" speakers, you will hear "crap" sound. nothing worse than

trying to save a few baht and then have "buyers remorse" a couple of weeks after your purchase

and wish you had bought more wisely. don't know a lot about most of the speaker brands here but

you usually can't go wrong with the name brands. do a little research at sites such as http://www.cnet.com/

or http://desktopspeakers.org/best-stereo-speakers/ or similar sites.

Darrel also had a lot of great advice too and a couple of internet sites that I wasn't aware of and will

be checking out shortly.....thanks Darrel......

my favourite mp3 player is Winamp. you can download it free at http://www.winamp.com/ but it's all

about personal taste of course. with Winamp, you can go to the Preference section and program the

player to allow for the constant buffering you get with the usual poor Thai internet service such as I'm now

having while writing this. if you decide to go the Winamp route, leave a note here and I will be glad to

"walk you through" the proper settings to elimate some of the buffering. another thing that I like about

Winamp is that you can change the appearance of the player by changing the "skin" which is available

at their website.

found a lot of great radio stations at http://www.shoutcast.com/ ......sadly, since they have been taken

over by AOL, they don't feature as many independent radio stations as the old shoutcast program did.

I gave up on 365radio a long time ago due to all the commercials that were being played and the best

stations wanted you to pay a monthly fee.

spend a little time checking out your options on the internet with Google before you lay out your hard

earned money on anything and be sure to keep a notepad handy to keep track of the good and bad reviews

on the various speaker brands and models......so that when you go into the store, you know exactly what

you want and what you are getting and what the fair market value of everything is.

I hope that I was some help to you.

[bangkockney]

regarding you speakers, get the best setup that you can afford. whether it's for your computer or

home stereo system, if you have "crap" speakers, you will hear "crap" sound. nothing worse than

trying to save a few baht and then have "buyers remorse" a couple of weeks after your purchase

and wish you had bought more wisely.

"Crap" source + "best", shiniest, most expensive speakers = "crap" sound.