CDNSE Newstar DR111 Review (part 2)

Saturday, I had my first opportunity to listen to Disco Palace from Montsinery on 17875 kHz.
I started out on the front porch of the house with the whip. I got the ID but no audio. I went back in the house and connected up the ham radio vertical. Immediately I got audio with only minor dropouts.



Right away I noticed minimal if any stereo effect on the Newstar. I did a comparison on the Pappradio into DReaM. There was noticeable difference between both delivered audio frequencies and stereo separation. The Newstar audio seems quite compressed, both through the speakers and headphone jack. I must say, this has been the biggest surprise and disappointment so far. That to say that although very listenable, DReaM software delivers twice the fidelity the Newstar does. Here are 2 samples, recorded the same way (via analogue cable) into Audacity. They are both 5 second, stereo WAV files. Listen to the Newstar audio sample. Listen to the DReaM audio sample.

Answers from Allen Liang of CDNSE Newstar

I asked Allen Liang a few additional questions regarding the CDNSE Newstar DR111 and here are his answers:

Is there any way to look at SNR or rx stats of a DRM station?
No, we did not include SNR display since it is less useful for the average user. Users can review the status by pressing INFO key while listening to the DRM.

Is there any way to adjust the aggressiveness of the DSP for AM?
You can adjust AM bandwidth by Press and Hold CLOCK key while listening to AM, then yes up or down to adjust.

Will firmware upgrade be available via the USB or SD?
Yes, you can upgrade the receiver by USB or SD.

CDNSE announces DR111 pre-production samples

[UPDATE 20120417]

DRM adventurists, sign up on the DR111 pre-production sample ordering page. I'm looking forward to a reasonably priced, working DRM standalone receiver. How about you? This device has not been approved by the F.C.C.

Cost for pre-production sample is $120 plus shipping and handling.

Comments from Allen via email:

"We only have limited units for our first Pre-production manufacture. My target market is for wholesalers and business owners. However, I do also sale to individual as well."

"We are intentionally not to disclose our price in our website at this moment due a few reasons. Our first PP has low production volume and is not target the general public yet. Hope the future price will be much less when the production volume increases. Plus we do not want to our competitors to know our pricing strategy. Therefore, we did not mention our price in our website. Regarding our quality, we aware it is not a perfect receiver yet. However, we are doing our best on improving the efficiency and quality. At this moment, we believe our DRM receiver has best quality and functionality by comparing with other companies."

Be sure to read the DRMNA interview with Allen Liang of CDNSE.

Allen Liang of CDNSE

Yet another DRMNA exclusive - an interview with Allen Liang, Sales VP for CDNSE!
Allen, How long has CDNSE been working on DRM receivers? What other products do you manufacture?

CDNSE has been established in 2006 and focusing on applications using DRM technology. Besides the developments on the DRM receivers, CDNSE has been working on the DRM contents sever for its own development needs and production line testing needs.

Based on the DRM technology, CDNSE also developed a unique hardware and software architecture to connect two computer systems through digital radio link over thousand kilometers directly without relays at very low BER (under 10-7).