Some DAB stations have moved to DAB+ with advice that “most” radios should still receive them after a rescan. We have about 6 radios which no longer work on the station we listen to. This makes me think that DAB radios are going to be like computers, where you have to scrap working hardware to keep up with software changes. I used internet radio for a few months, but now Bauer Radio have stopped that too - only apps will work. I have the app, but I don’t usually listen to music on my phone.
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Jim, you’re absolutely right, and it annoys me intensely. DAB itself is obsolescent, and DAB+ may have a similarly short lifespan.
What appears to be happening is that many homes have one or more “smart speakers” and Freeview TVs which can receive radio stations. People’s listening habits are changing, and according to the 2025 ‘Radio Listener’s Guide’, in early 2024 online listening overtook AM/FM, accounting for 28% of all live radio hours.
When my wife’s favourite station migrated to DAB+ last year (claiming the move was to “improve the quality”) I refused to buy another radio as we can receive the same station in better quality via our existing TV and smart speakers.
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The original DAB format of 1995 compresses audio in an old format that even pre-dates MP3. DAB+ appeared in 2006 using AAC format which gives roughly the same quality with half the data (allows more stations).
There hasn’t been a new format that much improves on AAC, only similar rivals that don’t have patent costs. Freeview and all smartphones use AAC so it’s highly unlikely we’ll see DAB+ superseded.
Bluetooth and internet streaming are areas where competing, incompatible formats are still fighting it out though.
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We’ve also had digital radio’s in for repair with the fault being ‘no longer tunes into classic FM’ or similar.
Whilst I agree that the original DAB standard was poor, it does still represent a trend of relentless ‘upgrades’ that just happen to require everyone to go out and buy new equipment.
<rant’>
When colour TV was introduced it was cleverly engineered to still work on black and white TV’s. We need to remind government that the radio spectrum is a public good managed for us by them, not a cash cow that can be milked - because that milk is going to be paid for by consumers forced to use the new expensive 5g for example!
<end rant’>
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Hi Jim!
Just in case there is any chance you haven’t done this already - I’d double check that the specific radios in question definitely aren’t upgradable to support DAB+…
At home we have 4 (or 5 maybe) Pure One Mini’s and Pure One Mini Series 2’s - my parents were complaining about not getting classic fm too and Dad asked for a new DAB for xmas. But I found that they were all actually upgradeable. Pure have a portal here where you can essentially download a firmware update which will support the newer format/codec.
It’s a bit of a long winded process -(firmware upgrade + licence activation) but in the end I did get all of them upgraded. I got stuck with a couple where the serial numbers has rubbed off - but I emailed PURE and they sent me some new numbers to use! (Although prior to that I figured out that it’s possible to cheat the software by guessing serial numbers in the right format i.e. A123, A124, A125 etc.
The whole process was fascinating as an example of manufactures going out of their way to not make their radios obsolescent - but the process itself being probably a bit too complicated for most users - even though I get the impression they did try to make it as easy as possible. 
Anyway - let me know if your models are upgradable! Happy to help if needed!
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Good point and worth checking about updating the software. I think this is probably only possible with more recent DAB sets - my Freeplay Devo, now on its third battery and still working perfectly, is not updatable.
I believe there’s still an AAC patent fee to be paid on upgrading an existing device to DAB+ (at least for the next few years until the patents expire). Hence why the manufacturer needs to track exactly how many have been upgraded. I see they still charge money for upgrades to some devices.
I’d expect a lot of pre-2010 radios won’t have chip capable of decoding AAC.
Yeah I’m sure you’re right that the whole ‘activation process’ relates to that ACC patent fee. That’s another point of interest I suppose - how a legal framework can create obsolescence! The whole process does feel like a kind of pay wall - but yep my upgrade was free.
I wonder if there are any hardware limitations on old radios though? If ACC is more data efficient then does it require less processing power than the original format they were designed to use? These things are just small PCs right? Do they need specific hardware to run ACC?
I think the Pure One mini was released in 2008 - I vaguely remember getting our first one of these around then . But as you say if ACC came about in '06 maybe they were designed with upgradability in mind?
My Freeplay Devo was released back in 2005, and as the world’s first wind-up DAB radio I don’t suppose the designers foresaw DAB ever becoming obsolescent.
Algorithms that compress data more require more processing power to encode and decode. Radios are still expected to turn on instantly so rely on hardware for decoding audio. If the chips inside aren’t new or fast enough to decode AAC there’s little the manufacturer can do.
Can understand cheap radios being slow to adopt DAB+ but it’s shocking Roberts didn’t bother making their radios DAB+ capable until 2014:
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