Internet radio stations that sound really good

I like Folkalley.com! Go to their website. Can also stream on a Squeezebox.

I really like to listen to WUMB (www.wumb.org). In fact, I'm going to buy a Roku M1001 so that it can be streamed directly to my home theater receiver to use the receiver's DAC for the conversion to an analog signal.

KWVA Eugene

http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~kwva/

Great college radio streaming at 224K MP3

I tried the Roku Radio Snooper while listening to the internet radio on Winamp and it didn't pick up any of the streams, so I'm not at all interested in the product. Winamp is important because there are some streams that are only listed at Shoutcast.com and therefore only playable on Winamp or foobar2000, and then there's a subscription stream I have that I can only play on Winamp.

Although I have not tried it, the Linksys WMB54G installs a virtual soundcard on your computer and you get reception by changing the audio output device int the Windows control panel. Some people complain that this is too complicated for them, but the benefit is that you can play back any audio that you want. And of course it has coaxial and Toslink connectors.

Live 365 is a Internet Radio clearinghouse of sorts. For a reasonable monthly fee you get access to thouands of reliable internet radio stations organized by Genre, they are commercial free, and you can see what quality sound level they are broadcasting in. The quality is rated as AM, FM, CD, etc, and tells you the bit rate as well.

iTunes radio gives you bit rate info too. Folk Alley is a great station for content and good sound.

The highest bit rate at live365 is 96 kbps and everything uses the mp3pro codec, which just doesn't cut it. 96 kbps AAC+ sounds very listenable, but not mp3pro. And I can't bookmark a live365 stream in Winamp.

Yeah, I would rate the sound as good on Live365 but not great. When I have it on it is usually background and not for sessions in the sweet spot. The attraction is the organization, variety, commercial-free, and the fact that they are all legitimate stations.

I got around to buying that Linksys wireless music bridge and it doesn't work at all. I can't install the drivers, at least not completely, the installation hangs leaving partially functional software that disables my wireless network (I have to reboot in safe mode to get rid of it manually, the uninstall program doesn't work). And I can't save my wireless network settings to the bridge. I checked to see if there were a newer version of the setup utility and in fact the one that comes on the CD is newer.

I managed to get this thing working. The problem with setting up the bridge itself was because of a network adapter installed on my firewire port that was causing the LAN to malfunction. The problem with losing internet access was because enabling the hardware LAN diables internet access through my wireless connection. I was able to get the drivers installed, however to do so I had to repeatedly baby them along by trying to bring up the Add/Remove programs control panel while they were installing. This is the only thing that would make the progress bar show any progress.

www.pandora.com Create your own radio ststion. Sounds good through my edirol ua-25 and paradisea dac.

Bri

www.lastfm.com is another good source.

Bri

There are many in various genres that sound very good even on a very good audio system, with a wireless Roku Soundbridge hookup. It offers an almost never-ending combination of variety and sound quality...and still growing.

The Radio Roku web site is a welcome feature as well. My understanding from the Radio Roku website is that the Roku system regularly and automatically selects the best sound quality stream to play for a station. Realize that many Internet radio sources are available at multiple URIs and that not all feeds are of equal quality. This in combo with the fact that the Roku device seems to be designed with both sound quality and cost effectiveness in mind, and you have a very nice source addition to consider for your system. A high-bandwidth internet connection is of course a pre-requisite.

wncw mpeg stream. great station. best npr station i've ever heard!!!

Dnewhous:

I'm listening to Bartok Radio Budapest right now.

Thanks for the link.

There's another one - Czezky D' Dur or something (search Icecast.org) that broadcasts in 256 kbps Ogg.

AVRO in the Netherlands has several very high quality web radio stations:

www.avro.nl

I have their 'Light Classical High Definition' channel currently streaming at 320kb/s on my squeezebox:

http://145.58.33.31:8096/

101.ru - diverse and somewhat quirky muzak from Russia with excellent sound quality.

Delicious Agony - Progressive Rock

I receive Radio Bartok at only 80kbps.

http://www.multilingualbooks.com/online-radio.html Link to lots of stations.

Like a lot of people in small towns I live out of range of most stations that broadcast classical, jazz or folk. But I live close enough to civilization to have cable internet and it’s my main source for everyday listening. And most of the stations based in large cities have knowledgeable Djs or carry very good syndicated shows.

I used publicradiofan.com to find potential stations. The “What’s On Now” section is sometimes wrong, but it lists hundreds of stations and programs and provides links to the stations‘ web sites and their various feeds.

Two stations I listen to daily are KCSM and KVOD. KCSM has one of the universe’s largest Jazz libraries and the Djs are knowledgeable and professional. KVOD is a classical station in Denver. It doesn’t stray too far off the beaten path and plays some of the same syndicated NPR programs that other stations play but also covers the Colorado classical music scene. Both stations sound great.

XM radio also provides free online Classical feeds that are pretty good.

JPO

RadioIo is a group of 60 Internet radio stations with 60 different formats. Broadcast all at 128bps.

This is not a rant against RadioRio as much as it is an appeal to support Public Radio.

IMHO RadioRio does not stand out from the crowd. Despite the rhetoric on the home page it is pretty much like any other commercial internet station. It has a mediocre mix, average sound quality (whatever the band width may be) and too many offensive commercials.

I listen to Public Radio stations because they tend to have interesting mixes, fairly decent sound quality (some despite relatively low bandwidth) and, generally interesting commentary. And I send them what little money I can because they need help keeping their streams on line.

Just my opinion. Whatever you listen to, enjoy.

JPO

Where is that "embaressment" smiley face icon when you need it?

In the preceding post I was of course referring to Radioio not RadioRio.

I'll adjust my meds before making another post.

Enjoy the music anyway.

Audiophile alert:

Today I discovered that 101.ru has a few dozen stations available in 128K WMA format, all of which really sound quite phenomenal. I'm currently listening to 101.ru "Spivakov Classic(al)" ...very nice indeed! I highly recommend that anyone with a good quality internet hook-up to their music system give the 101.ru stations a try.

Also, the programming on these stations is really quite eclectic for the most part but the performances and recordings selected are really very good and unique. Whoever selects the music has very good taste, I would say. They also seem to consistently pay great attention to audio quality on a consistent basis. I have yet to hear anything sloppily produced and broadcast on these stations.

These stations originate in Russia and are Russian language stations as well, but much of the programming is either in English, other target languages, or instrumental, so not understanding Russian is not a big issue.

This is pretty close to internet audio nirvana for me, I'm finding.

Radioio used to have reference quality streams. They went from a windows based platform to a Mac environment over six months ago (the company was sold).

The sound was at first terrible---thin and upper midrangy MP3'y. Totally unlistenable. Since then they dropped in some EQ but its still unlistenable on a high rez system.

I have built up an EQ session for their ambiant station in Patchmix if anyone is interested (I can email it to you).

I've tried all sort of EQ for their excellent classical station but I've yet to get a winning combo.

IO has great music but needs to address the audio quality.

Peter

I don't consider Raioio "unlistenable" at all. I access the Radioio stations via a Squeezebox into the DAC of my RA Opus and I think it sounds pretty d*** good. A well recorded CD is better for sure, but I find Radioio, Pandora and other internet stations quite enjoyable and I listen to them a lot. The resource they provide to discover new music is invaluable, IMHO.

Classic FM, London

Hy Lit radio.

Baby boomers from eastern Pa/Philly area will recognize the name.

The name does not relate to a state of (non) sobriety as far as I know.

I live in a metropolitan area with quite a variety of stations but nevertheless I listen to streaming audio quite often. What is really good is that while I live on the West Coast, I can get late-night East Coast Broadcasts much earlier while the local stations are still crowding the show with commercials.

The greatest classical channel of all is Adagio. It's best stream is 128 kbps Ogg (subscription) but the free 64 kbps AAC+ stream sounds better than most 128 kbps mp3 streams.

There's a great jazz station out of Paris (France, not Texas) called TSF Jazz. I get it through my squeezebox at 128kbs. Sounds great and their programming is excellent.

Found Big Blue Radio using Roku Soundbridge. Very good sound.

CAn't find the other two on Roku though. Do you have the URLs for public access?

Great Radio is gone.

Bartok Radio - I can no longer find listen links.

Cesky rozhlas D-dur - No home page but you can find a listen link at Icecast.org.

Radio Paradise - Should have mentioned them before. 128 kbps LC-AAC. Self-described as eclectic rock, and it is indeed eclectic. I will forever be in gratitude to this channel for playing Johny Cash's "Personal Jesus."

Oops, Cesky rozhlas D-dur does have a home page even though there's no link to it from Icecast:
http://www.rozhlas.cz/d-dur/english

All the 24seven stations, including Adagio and StreamingSoundtracks.com, use HE-AAC-PS. That's why Adagio's free stream was so impressive.

Bluebeat.com

This is an amazing site that streams at 320kb's.
It is not internet radio per say but more like an internet jukebox with an incredible wide array of songs and styles and playlists to choose from and listen to. And if you don't like the song you are listening to you can go to the next selection which is an amazing feature. It's all on here from Classical to Fusion to Bluegrass to Tibetan chanting to give you an idea. And the quality is rediculous. I don't know where i heard about this or read about it but it has been one of those goldmine finds for me!!
ther only downside is that you have to download a very small player that integrated seemlessly and does not interfere with my WMP at all.

and HEY.....it's free : )

Radio Classique Tubes

Is this a station utilizing tubes in the playback system? SOunds like it. Very good sound. Classical from France.

Cruz123,
I'm interested in hearing that great jazz station out of Paris, France. I got onto the TSF Jazz website translated into English, but was not able to figure out how to make it play music. I admit I'm pretty new to computers, but I was able to get Pandora to work. Any tips?

Thanks,

No_regrets

Here's the URL TSF 89.9 from the Roku service:

http://www.radioroku.com/pcplayer.php?table=stations&field=id&id=5448&title=TSF%2089.9&embed=true

No-regrets, TSF Jazz was one of the "staff picks" on my Squeezebox, which is how I access it. I've never tried to access it via computer, so I can't help there. Keep trying though, its a great station.

BLUEBEAT.COM OMG! Go there.
Be sure to turn off the equalizer and turn on the SRS then adjust to a low level.
Seems to need a recent version of windows media player (gross)
and needs to play through explorer browser (gross).
Interface is not user friendly- but the hassle is worth it.
302kbs and every damn album or playlist you could think up.
Shweet.

.

Great thread you guys! Does anyone know of a favorite Mali or related radio station. Rhapsody does pretty well, but just wondering if there's something really great out there that I am unaware of in this genre.

:) listening

Ed

.

Something I've discovered about Shoutcast streams - the bookmarks that you create from Shoutcast's listen links on Shoutcast's site or Winamp's "Shoutcast Radio" tab do not last last. If you want to create bookmarks in Winamp that are durable you must do this from listen links off the radio channel's web site.

Some channels are smart enough to put their site URL in their metadata, so that you can click on it in the metadata display at the top of Winamp and bring up their site in Winamp's web browser. Then you can click on the listen links in Winamp's browser and create bookmarks from there.

Bartok Radio, which is 320 kbps mp3, and can be found easily in Shoutcast's stream directory, has a wimpy web site with listen links that only work with Real Player. This means any bookmark you create for the site will last a day at most. You will need to look it up in Shoutcast's directory just about every time you want to listen to it.

Audiocandy Red White and Blue Radio is a home run.

Material on this station regularly sounds as good as some of my best CDs with my current rig. Outstanding range, dynamics, imaging detail, soundstage....wow!

Radio Paradise - great mix of rock, folk & pop. Sounds better than a lot of Shoutcast stations.
Mike19

I also am looking for the best quality in sound. Classical Archives has continuous non-commercial classical music 24/7. They state that their broadcast quality is 128-196 kbps MP3. How does this compare with other stations and are there even better quality sources? The sound is really very good and approaches CD. I am using Vista on a Toshiba laptop>PS Audio Digital Link III. I am excited at this new way of listening and would appreciate any and all comments and suggestions.

In general, you want to locate streams with wider bandwidth. 128K MP3 is the absolute least I'll subject myself to unless the source material (e.g. 1940's swing/big band) doesn't require more fidelity. 192K MP3 is much preferred to 128K MP3 but is not easy to find, particularly for free. 128K AAC (or AAC+) sound about the same as 192K MP3. Certain classical stations in EU stream at 256K. Here are some stations you might enjoy (assuming Agon's site will allow these links)..

KAMU FM, 192K MP3: http://128.194.247.73:8000

StreamingSoundtracks.com, 128K AAC: http://209.9.229.205:80

Sky.fm and DI.fm. Dozens of themed streams. MP3 and AAC+ streams. Free at 96K, Paid at 192K. Mostly DJ-free.

RadioParadise.com - 128K AAC and 192K MP3, both for free! Listener-supported. Minimal DJ, no ads.

KANM Student Radio - 192K MP3, http://kanm5.tamu.edu:4040/

AVRO Klassiek 256K, http://145.58.33.31:8072

MR3 Classical - 256K, http://212.92.28.75:2006

Concertzender 192K, http://145.58.33.31:8114

Swiss Internet Radio - RadioCrazy Jazz - 128K, http://82.197.167.138:80

Smooth Jazz Expressions - 160K, http://64.92.199.69:8216

Kink FM Alternative-160K, http://81.173.3.20:80

La Grosse Radio | Rock & Alternative-192K, http://91.121.117.102:8192

Classics Remember Oldies-192K, http://88.191.51.234:8000

HifiHits.com Rock-192K, http://74.52.20.63:8000

RadioNonsense.com Rock-192K, http://209.51.162.170:9378

Deeper Into Music - 128K MP3, http://stations.loudcity.com/299/listen.pls

NetworkStudioFive - 192K, http://89.238.146.154:7000

Nathanso, Thanks very much for the time time and energy you put into your post. The information is just what I was asking for. I will enjoy trying them out. Thanks!

From the above suggestions I followed the Favorites already programmed into my squeezebox and found Radio Paradise...I simply hit 'play' and yes, this is a really fantastic station. Also, it just dethroned my local station that only comes at 48K.

Radio Paradise is the closest I have ever gotten via the internet to my better sounding CDs