Freaking incredible. You could physically switch to any station instantly.
punch a button and the new station would immediately start playing
The digital-enhanced FM stuff in cars now, like what's being referenced in the article, isn't laggy in my experience. Not quite as instant as a full analog radio, but it's as snappy as any other digital FM tuner dating back to the dawn of digital FM tuners in the 1970s or whatever.
The FM signal is still analog; there's just some digital metadata embedded in it that receivers can optionally demodulate. In my experience the audio starts playing immediately and then the digital metadata (track name, thumbnail) pops up a bit later. So you can still flip through stations with little perceptible lag.
FWIW, I'm the type of guy who keeps CRTs around for his retro systems because he enjoys true zero-lag gaming.
https://www.nj.com/parenting/guest_bloggers/2011/09/the_thin...
Freaking incredible. You could physically switch to any station instantly.
The digital-enhanced FM stuff in cars now, like what's being referenced in the article, isn't laggy in my experience. Not quite as instant as a full analog radio, but it's as snappy as any other digital FM tuner dating back to the dawn of digital FM tuners in the 1970s or whatever.The FM signal is still analog; there's just some digital metadata embedded in it that receivers can optionally demodulate. In my experience the audio starts playing immediately and then the digital metadata (track name, thumbnail) pops up a bit later. So you can still flip through stations with little perceptible lag.
FWIW, I'm the type of guy who keeps CRTs around for his retro systems because he enjoys true zero-lag gaming.