From: Fred Maxwell <rockbox_at_anti-spam.org>
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2004 19:48:22 -0400

Richard Klein wrote:

> I'm not an audiophile and don't think I have a particularly discerning
> ear, but I've been disappointed with the sound quality of the FM
> transmitters. Still, I use them. I suppose they're worth $5 or so.

FM, even in its best form, is very poor compared to CD. Take a Magnum
Dynalab MD-108, an FM tuner which sells for almost $6,000 and compare it
to a cheap ($99.95 list price) CDP-CE275 Sony CD player:

Frequency Response:
Tuner: 15Hz-17Khz ±1.0 dB
CD: 2Hz-20kHz ±0.5 dB

Total Harmonic Distortion:
Tuner: 0.10%
CD: 0.0045%

S/N ratio:
Tuner: 80db
CD: 102db

Now, if that's what a $6,000 tuner does, imagine how bad the typical FM
tuner in a car is. Now think about how horrible a $5 FM transmitter is.
  It's no wonder that most of us find the sound less than compelling.

Regards,
   Fred Maxwell


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Received on 2004-06-03