Monophonic Downmix (HD Radio, Streaming, Smart Phone Speakers)

[kfbkfb]

103.3 FM has an HD subchannel (K103.3 HD2 they call it) that is currently in Mono
(even though most of the songs they broadcast are the Stereo mixes).

Perhaps this is just someone not selecting Stereo for HD at the station or
maybe it's to make HD2 sound like (Amazon) Alexa and/or the Smart Phone
speaker music playback.

Is there any evidence that new Stereo mixes are monitored to make sure
that not too much music is lost what the Stereo is downmixed to Mono?

(The SQ Quadraphonic Matrix system was designed so that LF,RF,LB,RB
all played a the same level when downmixed to Mono for AM radio)


Kirk Bayne

 

[K6JHU]

If you have two Alexas (Alexii ???) you can get them to run stereo.

 

[Kelly A]

103.3 FM has an HD subchannel (K103.3 HD2 they call it) that is currently in Mono
(even though most of the songs they broadcast are the Stereo mixes).

Perhaps this is just someone not selecting Stereo for HD at the station or
maybe it's to make HD2 sound like (Amazon) Alexa and/or the Smart Phone
speaker music playback.

Is there any evidence that new Stereo mixes are monitored to make sure
that not too much music is lost what the Stereo is downmixed to Mono?

(The SQ Quadraphonic Matrix system was designed so that LF,RF,LB,RB
all played a the same level when downmixed to Mono for AM radio)


Kirk Bayne

My guess is it's to maintain a higher bit rate for their main channel (HD-1). Running full stereo on HD-2, 3 etc., requires finding the extra bits from your main, or other channels.