[Sonnova]

On Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:23:36 -0700, Arny Krueger wrote
(in article ):

"DManzaluni" wrote in message

On Mar 29, 10:21 am, Steve
wrote:
Slightly off topic but if we are talking about FM and
webcasts;

1) Is the bitrate of an MP3 streaming webcast the same
as the bitrate of an MP3 file.

That all depends on which streaming webcast, and which MP3 file. They can be
whatever their designers want them to be within a wide range.

2) What bitrate is equivalent to FM quality?

Probably about 192 kb

I am asking this because I am listening to WGBH FM
Boston via the internet and my Squeezebox says it is 24
bit CBR MP3 and it sounds surprisingly good!

I agree and wonder why all supposed "best tuner" lists
all seem to comprise pretty much exclusively the analogue
ones such as the 10b, Sequerra and the MR71 Does anyone
now think that this much vaunted digital synthesizer
tuning which everyone says gives such precise tuning that
panoramic scanner are no longer necessary, produces
incrementally superior quality?

Given the low cost, of the XDR-F1HD, all it has to do is be equal. I have 2
friends with them, but neither have owned a 10b, a Sequerra, or a MR71. So a
side-by-side comparison is impossible. They describe the little Sony
XDR-F1HD as being "Flawless" and "Incredible".

The not-so hidden agenda is that the chips that power the XDR-F1HD are a
Philips chipset that is destined for automotive FM receivers. In a year or
two, the next new car you buy may have an entertainment center based on this
chipset.

Sorry to be a bit of a luddite but my old fashioned view
is that those older tuners which people still seem to be
using to play, yes, their favourite FM stations, do
actually produce such better sound that sooner or later,
someone is going to start making those tuners much as
people have started making valve amplifiers again (even
though they dont really pan out on the figures).

Just as surely as tubed amplifiers have zero sonic advantages but instead
have numerous disadvantages, neither do tubed tuners.

I'll certainly agree with the latter. As I said in another post, I used to
know a Stanford PHD who re-furbished Marantz 10 Bs as a hobby. He brought one
over to my pad one evening that he had re-tubed and "re-aligned" for a client
... We pitted it against my then-new frequency synthesized solid-state Yamaha
T-85 (with its FOUR ceramic-filter IF strips, giving different bandwidths
from ultra-narrow to ultra-wide). My Yamaha outperformed the 10 B every way
that you can think of. It had better selectivity, better sensitivity,
exhibited less multipath, had far better stereo separation and even sounded
better. So much for 1966 state-of-the-art. BTW, I still have that tuner
(20-some years later) and still use it and it is still a dynamite tuner. Too
bad there's nothing on FM in this area to listen to.....