Editing Digital Audio Broadcasting (section)

===Disadvantages of DAB===

====Reception quality====
The reception quality during the early stage of deployment of DAB was poor even for people who live well within the coverage area. The reason for this is that DAB uses weak [[error correction coding]], so that when there are a lot of errors with the received data not enough of the errors can be corrected and a "bubbling mud" sound occurs. In some cases a complete loss of signal can happen. This situation has been improved upon in the newer DAB+ version that uses stronger [[error correction coding]] and as additional transmitters are built.

As with other digital systems, when the signal is weak or suffers severe interference, it will not work at all. DAB reception may also be a problem for receivers when the wanted signal is adjacent to a stronger one. This was a particular issue for early and low cost receivers.

====Audio quality====
Up to the mid-2010s, a common complaint by listeners is that broadcasters 'squeeze in' more stations per ensemble than recommended<ref name=":1" /> by:
*Minimizing the bit-rate, to the lowest level of sound-quality that listeners are willing to tolerate, such as 112&nbsp;kbit/s for stereo and even 48&nbsp;kbit/s for mono speech radio (LBC 1152 and the Voice of Russia are examples).
*Having few digital channels broadcasting in stereo.

====Signal delay====
The nature of a [[single-frequency network]] (SFN) is such that the transmitters in a network must broadcast the same signal at the same time. To achieve synchronization, the broadcaster must counter any differences in propagation time incurred by the different methods and distances involved in carrying the signal from the multiplexer to the different transmitters. This is done by applying a delay to the incoming signal at the transmitter based on a timestamp generated at the multiplexer, created taking into account the maximum likely propagation time, with a generous added margin for safety. Delays in the audio encoder and the receiver due to digital processing (e.g. deinterleaving) add to the overall delay perceived by the listener.<ref name="tech.ebu.ch"/> The signal is delayed, usually by around 1 to 4 seconds and can be considerably longer for DAB+. This has disadvantages:
*DAB radios are out of step with live events, so the experience of listening to live commentaries on events being watched is impaired;
*Listeners using a combination of analogue (AM or FM) and DAB radios (e.g. in different rooms of a house) will hear a mixture when both receivers are within earshot.

[[Time signal]]s, on the contrary, are not a problem in a well-defined network with a fixed delay. The DAB multiplexer adds the proper offset to the distributed time information. The time information is also independent from the (possibly varying) audio decoding delay in receivers since the time is not embedded inside the audio frames. This means that built in clocks in receivers can be precisely correct.

====Transmission costs====
DAB can provide savings for networks of several stations. The original development of DAB was driven by national network operators with a number of channels to transmit from multiple sites. However, for individual stations such as small community or local stations which traditionally operate their own FM transmitter on their own building the cost of DAB transmission will be much higher than analog. Operating a DAB transmitter for a single station is not an efficient use of spectrum or power. With that said, this can be solved to some degree by combining multiple local stations in one DAB/DAB+ mux, similar to what is done on DVB-T/DVB-T2 with local TV stations.

====Coverage====
Household receiver penetration rates. {{As of|2021}}:<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.worlddab.org/public_document/file/1558/WorldDAB_infographic_H2_2021_FINALr1.pdf?1678185075 |title=Archived copy |access-date=1 July 2023 |archive-date=26 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626153617/https://www.worlddab.org/public_document/file/1558/WorldDAB_infographic_H2_2021_FINALr1.pdf?1678185075 |url-status=live }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable collapsible mw-collapsed sortable"
!Country
!Penetration<br />(% of households)
|-
|[[Norway]]
|71
|-
|[[Australia]]
|68.5
|-
|[[United Kingdom]]
|65
|-
|[[Germany]]
|34
|-
|[[Denmark]]
|31
|-
|[[Belgium]]
|21
|-
|[[France]]
|14
|-
|[[Italy]]
|13
|}

Although FM coverage still exceeds DAB coverage in most countries implementing any kind of DAB services, a number of countries moving to digital switchover have undergone significant DAB network rollouts; as of 2022, the following coverages were given by WorldDAB:<ref name="worlddab.org"/>

{| class="wikitable collapsible mw-collapsed sortable"
!Country
!Coverage<br />(% of population)
|-
|[[Kuwait]]
|100
|-
|[[Malta]]
|100
|-
|[[Monaco]]
|100
|-
|[[Denmark]]
|99.9
|-
|[[Norway]]
|99.7
|-
|[[Switzerland]]
|99.5
|-
|[[Germany]]
|98
|-
|[[United Kingdom]]
|97.3
|-
|[[Belgium]]
|97
|-
|[[Czech Republic]]
|95
|-
|[[Netherlands]]
|95
|-
|[[Gibraltar]]
|90
|-
|[[South Korea]]
|90
|-
|Qatar
|90
|-
|Croatia
|90
|-
|[[Italy]]
|86
|-
|[[Slovenia]]
|85
|-
|[[Austria]]
|83
|-
|Serbia
|78
|-
|[[Tunisia]]
|75
|-
|[[Poland]]
|67
|-
|[[Digital radio in Australia|Australia]]
|66
|-
|Estonia
|50
|-
|Slovakia
|46
|-
|[[Sweden]]
|43
|-
|[[France]]
|42
|-
|[[Azerbaijan]]
|33
|-
|Turkey
|30
|-
|Montenegro
|29
|-
|[[Spain]]
|20
|-
|Thailand
|17
|-
|Algeria
|8
|-
|[[Ukraine]]
|7
|-
|[[Greece]]
|{{dunno}}
|-
|Indonesia
|{{dunno}}
|}

====Compatibility====
In 2006 tests began using the much improved [[HE-AAC]] codec for [[DAB+]]. Hardly any of the receivers made before 2008 support the newer codec, however, making them partially obsolete once DAB+ broadcasts begin and completely obsolete once all [[MPEG-1 Audio Layer II|MP2]] encoded stations are gone. Most new receivers are both DAB and DAB+ compatible; however, the issue is exacerbated by some manufacturers disabling the DAB+ features on otherwise compatible radios to save on licensing fees when sold in countries without current DAB+ broadcasts.

====Power requirements====
[[File:Roberts Sports DAB 5 Portable DAB and FM Radio.jpg|thumb|right|Portable DAB/DAB+ and FM receiver, circa 2016. This unit requires two [[AA battery|"AA" size batteries]] ([[headphones]] not shown).]]
As DAB requires digital signal processing techniques to convert from the received digitally encoded signal to the analogue audio content, the complexity of the electronic circuitry required to do this is higher. This translates into needing more power to effect this conversion than compared to an analogue FM to audio conversion, meaning that portable receiving equipment will have a much shorter battery life, and require higher power (and hence more bulk). This means that they use more energy than analogue Band II VHF receivers. However, thanks to increased integration (radio-on-chip), DAB receiver power usage has been reduced dramatically, making portable receivers far more usable.