HiBit Classical Music Internet Radio

[Labarum]

For the past week or so I have been listening to the "AVRO Light Classical High Definition" Internet radio station using my Squeezebox. It declares 320Kb/s at MP3.

 

Can anyone recommend other HiBit Classical stations?

 

[shenzi]

I'd like to second this. Having only just got into internet radio via iTunes, I'd like to see links to any recommended stations/sites.

 

Chris, how about a permanent page of recommendations from yourself and members? (Covering classical and other music.)

 

[Labarum]

IMHO the best sounding classical radio is Radio Swiss Classic. Be sure to listen to their aacPlus stream (www.radioswissclassic.ch/live/aacp.m3u).

 

You have to install the aacPlus plugin to be able to listen to it. Have a look at http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?p=272774.

 

Concerning sound quality another very good station is Bartok Radio Budapest, but it is not classical only. Their 320kb/s stream is at http://212.92.28.75:2008/

Reply With Quote

 

[Labarum]

For AVRO I have

 

http://www.shoutcast.com/sbin/tunein-station.pls?id=596594&filename=playlist.pls

 

320Kb/s

 

No commentary. No adverts.

 

[shenzi]

Here is a new internet radio search facility I've come across. Looks good so far ...

 

http://www.radiobeta.com/

 

[Labarum]

A few weeks ago I asked on the Squeezebox forum about HiBit streams of classical stations. I learned about Bartok Radio, but someone has posted a list of quite excellent streams - I am quite taken with the quality of the OGG streams.

 

 

Bartók Rádió (Hungary)

http://212.92.28.75:2008/

MP3 at 320kbps

 

D-dur (Czech Republic)

http://www.rozhlas.cz/audio/download/ddur_maxogg.m3u

OGG at 224kbps

 

Vltava (Czech Republic)

http://radio.cesnet.cz/cgi-bin/cro3-256-ogg.pls

OGG at 224kbps

 

Devín (Slovakia)

http://live.slovakradio.sk:8000/Devin_256.ogg

OGG at 256kbps

 

NRK Alltid Klassisk (Norway)

http://media.hiof.no/streams/m3u/nrk...sk-172.ogg.m3u

OGG at 172kbps

 

Radio 4 (Netherlands)

http://shoutcast.omroep.nl:8106/listen.pls

MP3 at 192kbps

 

Radio Swiss Classic (Switzerland)

http://stream-1.ssatr.ch/rsc/aacp

AAC+ at 64kbps (sounds like MP3 at 160-192kbps)

 

Play Classical (UK)

http://audio3.playradiouk.com:8060/

AAC+ at 64kbps (sounds like MP3 at 160-192kbps)

 

[bugstone]

Here is a Seattle radio station that is streaming at 1.4Mbps.

 

http://kexp.org/programming/programming.asp

 

Bugs

 

[Labarum]

Here is a Seattle radio station that is streaming at 1.4Mbps.

 

http://kexp.org/programming/programming.asp

 

-------

 

If I load this page in Firefox I see the 1.4M clicky, but it doesn't work.

 

If I load the page in Internet Explorer I don't see the 1.4M clicky.

 

I think the URL for the stream is

 

http://kexp.org/audio/kexp-uncomp.asx

 

I cannot run it in Foobar either

 

Edit:

 

Now working in Foobar

 

The D-Dur FLAC stream works a treat in Foobar

 

http://radio.cesnet.cz:8000/cro-d-dur.flac

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Cool, this works on my Mac with Safari.

 

[switch]

www.radioswissclassic.ch/live/aacp.m3u (German Language)

 

www.radiosuisseclassique.ch/live/aacp.m3u (French Language)

 

www.radiosvizzeraclassica.ch/live/aacp.m3u (Italian Language)

 

Please note all three are broadcasting different classical music / classical albums at the same time. In other words they are NOT identical in their music broadcasting.

 

Enjoy!

 

[Labarum]

I listen to the German Station all the time on my Squeezebox, but had not noticed that the three stations have different run lists. I presumed them the same and chose German because that I can follow most easily.

 

Thanks. I will put the others in my favourites too.

 

Only 128kb/s but very clear - lack of dynamic compression, maybe?

 

WDR3 and the Dutch Avro Stations are also among my favourites.

 

[switch]

The Dutch AVRO stations broadcast in MP3, but the Swiss Stations in AAC or AAC+. I guess the AAC and AAC+ formats should be better quality streams, isn't? Appreciate to learn from you what you're opinion is on this subject. I am a complete newbee in this area, so my questions may be pretty non-expert.

 

I also noticed that some stations broadcast in mp3PRO. Does JRiver Media Center support mp3PRO? Any idea?

 

In addition I noticed that I am able to listen to OGG file format streams, but I have been unable to listen to FLAC file format streams in JRiver Media Center. I receive errors. Do you think this is supported in JRiver Media Center?

 

Look forward to hearing from you.

 

[Labarum]

AAC is supposed to be a little better at the same bitrate as MP3.

 

Once above 128kb/s in any format I think the quality has more to do how much dynamic compression has been applied before transmission, than with bitrate of format. A LOUD station using a lot of dynamic compression to suit those listening in cars and on portables will sound poor on a good system.

 

I have only tried the D-Dur FLAC stream, and I have only found it to play in Foobar (PC only) or VLC (all platforms). Many media players will not handle "FLAC in an OGG container".

 

The difference between the 256 D-Dur OGG stream and the FLAC stream I do not think big enough for the extra fuss and bandwidth.

 

WDR3 at 256 kb/s MP3 and BBC Radio 3 HD at 320 kb/s AAC are excellent - try the live concerts.

 

Try also Linn Radio

 

http://radio.linnrecords.com/index2.html

 

320kb/s MP3

 

Don't know about MP3 Pro

 

 

 

 

 

[MJM]

When working in my office, I often listen to "SKY.FM Nature." It has an enchanting 3D quality to the sound and a better sound stage than any CD. You don't need a subscription to test it: http://www.sky.fm/. Click "Listen Now", then scroll down to "Nature."

Also the same goes for other channels I have tried, "Romantica" and "Relaxation".

 

Can anyone tell me what they are doing to produce this clearly superior sound? I don't think it's the sample rate and bit depth. It's a question that would also fit in a lot of other CA threads as well.

 

Safari -> Mac -> Audioquest Carbon FW -> Mytek Stereo192 DAC -> Audioengine A5+ & Sennheiser HD800.

 

Note: Part of the answer is I'm using a great DAC (internal setting = 192 upsampling)