2021 has brought two new HiRes internet radio offerings – SuperStereo 1 and Paradise Radio broadcasting additional MQA HiRes streams for those with BluOS enabled devices. The requirements are a browser that supports FLAC, such as Chrome or an audio player such as VLC or foobar both of which are free to download.Ģ019 saw the loss of Bauer Media’s brave experiment in broadcasting its Magic and Absolute Radio families of stations in CD Quality but we had some newcomers such as pop music hits A-1 Mix Radio which has morphed into Magic 108 and Radio BluesFlac featuring the ‘Best Sound 4 the Best Blues’ amongst others. Unlike MP3 and AAC streams which are almost universally supported by radio apps and browsers there are some restrictions if you want to listen to the small but growing list of lossless FLAC stations that have started broadcasting. The BBC currently streams Radio 3 via its iPlayer software in AAC at 320kbps. The 2017 Proms season also featured a number of broadcasts in binaural format which provided an immersive experience for headphone listeners. In 2017, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) experimented with broadcasting the BBC Proms on its classical music channel, Radio 3, in lossless FLAC but there are currently no publicly available plans to introduce this on a regular basis. This compares favourably to the Standard Quality streaming of Spotify and significantly better than YouTube Music. But as broadband and 4G for mobile have become the norm, broadcasters are raising their game with MP3 and AAC streams of 256-320 kbps becoming commonly available. In the early days of internet radio, when dial-up access was all that was commonly available, broadcasts were of limited bandwidth with lossy file formats. Low cost and free internet radio broadcasting software has empowered individuals and small organisations to have an internet radio presence adding to the diversity of material available. Internet only radio channels have expanded the choice available to listeners often with specialist content not found in the mainstream broadcasting world. These days there can hardly be a broadcast radio station of any note in the world that does not have a high quality internet presence opening up an almost unimaginable wealth of news, talk shows, drama and music. When internet radio was introduced traditional radio stations were quick to make their broadcasts available although the initial quality was often poor.

Back in the day, no self-respecting hi-fi enthusiast would have been without an FM tuner to receive quality stereo broadcasts.

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