If you require a quick answer, the best DAB car aerial is the Eightwood SMB, which is a universal roof-mounted option that instantly improves DAB and FM reception. However, if you want to mount the aerial to the windscreen without the need to drill into the roof of your car, the DriveSmart Kit is the perfect solution.
To rate the DAB car aerials within our roundup, we based our recommendations on installing and testing multiple that we’ve installed to our cars, the latest research and several factors. Some of the factors that we considered included the aerial’s build quality, ease of installation, provided hardware, cable length, warranty and value for money.
Best DAB Car Aerials Overview
- Best Overall: Eightwood SMB
- Best All-Rounder: Hama Kit
- Easiest To Install: CAMWAY Universal
- Most Versatile: SHENKEY SMB & SMA
- Best Windshield: DriveSmart DAB
- Best Quality: Pioneer Antenna
Although some car DAB radio adapters come with aerials, it’s strongly recommended that you invest in an external aerial that’s able to vastly improve the reception that the adapter can retrieve.
Below is a list of the best DAB car aerials that can be easily installed on the windscreen or roof of your car.
The Best DAB Car Aerials
1. Best Overall: Eightwood SMB DAB Aerial
The Eightwood DAB Car Aerial is a highly rated option that’s designed to be mounted to your car’s roof. It comes as a complete kit that includes an SMB plug, DIN plug, power supply and the antenna itself.
- During testing, we easily mounted this DAB aerial to our roof with ease
- Provides AM/FM Frequency: 87.5-108 MHz
- Gain rated at 10 dB
- Input impedance 50 Ohm
- 5 metre cable length
- Most expensive within our roundup
Although expensive, the Eightwood SMB is a high-quality car DAB aerial that’s straightforward to set up and instantly improves reception when compared to cheaper alternatives.
2. Best All-Rounder: Hama Car Antenna For DAB
Another premium DAB car radio aerial is by the Hama brand with its flexible roof antenna. It comes as a complete kit with detailed instructions and a cable length of 5 metres, which is suitable for most cars.
- Electronic reinforced amplified
- Highly flexible antenna rod
- 5 metre cable length
- Easy to install straight out of the box with all the hardware included
- Durable and weather resistant
- Relatively expensive when compared to the alternatives
Overall, the Hama Antenna is a great bit of kit that provides crystal-clear DAB reception and is relatively easy to install. It does come with an expensive price tag but it’s a worthwhile investment that you won’t regret.
3. Easiest To Install: CAMWAY Universal Roof DAB Aerial
The CAMWAY is another universal roof aerial that easily replaces your OEM aerial to provide both FM and DAB reception. The brand state that it’s completely universal and can be installed with ease on any vehicle.
- Built-in amplifier that improves sound quality
- Desirable SMB connection
- 5 metre cable to makes the installation easier
- Universal fit for all cars and one of the easiest to install
- During testing, the antenna rod wasn't as flexible as the alternative roof-mounted options we tested
Overall, the CAMWAY car DAB aerial ticks all the boxes and is an excellent all-round option. It comes as a complete kit that’s easy to fit and promises to boost both the FM and DAB reception you can receive whilst driving.
4. Most Versatile: SHENKEY DAB Car Aerial
The SHENKEY DAB Car Aerial Kit is a highly rated option that’s available with either an SMB or SMA connection. In terms of the installation, it’s completely universal and requires drilling a small hole in the roof (if there isn’t one already) and running cables through to the receiver and power supply.
- Option to use either a SMB or SMA connection
- 5 metre long cable
- Roof mounted and easy to install
- Supplied with detailed instructions
- Comes with a premium price tag due to the fact that you can use either connection
Overall, the SHENKEY Kit is a great choice that comes as a complete kit and easy to follow installation instructions. The option of either an SMB or SMA connection is also another great bonus that many other brands don’t offer.
5. Best Windshield: DriveSmart DAB Car Aerial
If you would prefer to mount the DAB car aerial upon the windscreen, the DriveSmart kit is the best option. It’s an ultra-lightweight attachment that connects to your DAB receiver via the A-pillar.
- Easy to install to your car's windshield
- High quality copper ground
- Supplied with detailed instructions
- Compatible with most DAB receivers
- Relatively expensive when compared to other "generic" aerials
Although more expensive than some of the generic DAB aerials, the DriveSmart alternative is built to a far higher standard. It also comes with detailed instructions with pictures for each of the installation steps too.
6. Best Quality: Pioneer DAB Antenna
If you’ve recently purchased a premium double din head unit and want a matching branded aerial, Pioneer has the answer. Their DAB antenna kit is one of the most expensive in this article but it’s a universal kit that promises brilliant reception.
- Universal design that's easy to install to your windshield
- Developed by the reputable Pioneer brand
- During testing, we could instantly see the improved build quality
- Active antenna that provides the best DAB reception
- Most expensive DAB aerial within our roundup
Overall, the Pioneer car DAB aerial is a high-quality bit of kit that’s backed by a reputable brand for peace of mind. However, the expensive price tag makes it a less attractive option when compared to the DriveSmart alternative above.
How We Rated
As we own a number of old cars that haven’t got DAB factory fitted, we’ve retrofitted multiple aerials in the form of roof-mounted and windshield kits. As long as you are happy passing through wires to your radio, the installation is relatively straightforward and we feel that anyone can install it themselves (as long as you follow the instructions).
Below are some photos we took during the testing and installation of our recommended car DAB aerials above. During testing, we analyse the aerial’s build quality, ease of installation and the quality of the DAB reception it provides.
In the below photos, you can see an example of where we needed to drill a 20mm hole into the roof because there wasn’t an aerial installed previously.
As well as testing and our experience of installing multiple DAB aerials, we also based our recommendations on the latest research and several factors. Some of the factors we took into consideration included the aerial’s build quality, ease of installation, provided hardware, cable length, warranty and value for money.
Conclusion
There is nothing worse than poor reception from your DAB radio or adapter but this can be easily resolved with a quality aftermarket aerial. All of our recommendations listed within our roundup are universal and suitable for all budgets. Whether you want to mount it to your roof or windscreen, the above aerials are more than ideal and are designed to provide the best possible DAB reception.
If you require further information regarding our DAB aerial recommendations for your car, feel free to get in touch and we will try to provide our assistance where possible.
