SomaFM Deep Space One (64k AAC)

SomaFM Deep Space One (64k AAC) is one of two entries in the United States whose names are the same but for a number, and this one's number is sixty-four. A broadcaster numbering its streams like that is separating feeds, not stations, so read the number as the part that matters.

SomaFM Deep Space One (64k AAC) ranks 184 among 1,481 stations in the United States. High enough that the country hub carries it in its own tables, and far enough from the head that the neighbours below are a genuinely different set of stations from the famous ones.

SomaFM Deep Space One (64k AAC) streams at 64 kbps against the United States' median of 128, which is less than half the local norm. On a dial where 49% of stations reach 128 kbps, a rate this low stands out, and it usually means either a speech station that never needed more or an encoder that has not been touched in years.

The audio comes from ice2.somafm.com, and 35 other stations in the United States are served from the same address. That is a streaming platform carrying many broadcasters rather than a station running its own server, which is worth knowing for a practical reason: when a platform has a bad night, a whole block of the United States' listing stops answering at once and nothing is wrong with any of the stations in it.