| Average User Rating: 60% | |
| 5 / 5 | Suddenly DAB seems worthwhile
A Common Reader "See all mybook reviews at www.acommonreader.org.uk" (Sussex, England) - 8 November 2007 I have been unconvinced about DAB radio for sometime now, not liking the delay on power-up, the heavy battery demands, the incorrect time-signals, the poor reception etc, etc. FM seems a simple system that just WORKs, and as they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. However, I've now bought my second DAB radio and its this little beauty and I'm beginning to think again about DAB. Basically, this radio does everything it is claimed to do, and does it beautifully and with style. The controls are easy to use, the sound is excellent through the Sennheiser earphones, and most importantly, the rechargeable power-pack puts battery worries out of the window. You don't even have to remove the powerpack, you just plug the radio into the charger like a mobile phone. One of the most important features of a pocket DAB for me is ease of use in the dark (I listen in the middle of the night in bed sometimes). It is easy to use this radio - the toggle button gives access to volume and channel, and you only have to press the preset button to be able to move through your presets with the toggle. I have a blind friend and know that he would have no trouble with this radio. The power-pack gives a reasonable battery life (I seem to have to charge-up about once a week), and there is a power guage on the display to warn you when it is running low. OK, so its still got the annoyances of all DAB radios - the three second lag behind FM and the patchy reception (try going on a train journey with it and see how many DAB dead-spots you'll find on the way). But in this case, I like the simple functionality of this radio. Its not a phone. Its not an mp3 player, or a pocket notebook. Its just a perfectly simple radio which does exactly what it says on the box. Highly recommended for those who want a pocket DAB radio. ... Read Full Review » |
| 5 / 5 | Simply brilliant! Nothing but pure hardcore radio
S. Timbers "Genius_Steve64" (Oxfordshire, England) - 5 February 2007 To begin with I was a little apprehensive about buying this product because of the price and the mixed reviews; Pure have been called the best manufacturer of DAB radios and after buying this product I can certainly say that reputation is well earned! Price These days DAB radios start from about £0.00, and so at £0.00 you wonder why it's so expensive. However as with most things in this world the more money you spend on something the better the quality is likely to be, and this product is no exception! You definitely get value for money with this product. For £0.00 you get small size, graphic equaliser, both DAB and RDS FM , auto-updated time, great sound quality, and the ability to store 20 of your fav radio stations. The fact that this product comes with a set of headphones from one of the best headphone manufacturers in the world just adds the icing on the cake and shows just how much Pure care about quality. You will be hard pushed to find another product with all these features for this price! (Believe me, I've looked!) Size Ok, this product looks no different from the PocketDAB1000 model, and I am sure that if it did it would cost yet more money. The case is a bit bulky at 20mm thick, but this is a tiny down-side compared to what you get for your money, all you need is a carry case strapped to your belt or shove it in the pocket of your combats and it's nicely out of the way without causing any unsightly bulges in your jeans. And if like me you work at a desk then you don't even need to carry it on your person! Take a look at most of the DAB radios on the market and most of them are the size of stereo micro-systems! Never able to fit in your pocket! Battery life Some reviews of this product say that the battery pack rattles around in the huge case but I can say that this is definitely not true. Furthermore, I have been using this product now for approximately 18 hours and it still says it has half the battery left! Believe me that 5 hrs is NOT a lot to charge it up; my wireless headphones take 16 hrs to charge! All you need to do is shove it on charge before bedtime and rest assured its batteries will be recharged long before yours! Reception Making this product both analogue and digital tuning ensures that if the reception on one mode is terrible you can easily switch to the other at the touch of a button. The digital reception is definitely more sensitive to interference than the analogue; but it's just the same as your mobile phone really; park yourself somewhere with enough EM shielding and of course the reception will go down! Some reviews about this product talk about poor reception on the train; I have yet to test this one but I can say that you probably cant find another place above ground with as much signal interference. "Where's the external aerial port?" I hear you say, this clever little gadget doesn't need one; it uses the headphone cable as an external aerial! Genius! Sound quality One of the reasons why I liked this product from the outset was the fact it advertised a graphic equaliser with 5 presets, which definitely improves the sound; and I am pleasantly surprised by how powerful the sound amplifier (volume control) is! If you love to ramp up the volume when your fav tune comes on the radio then this product can definitely oblige! Obviously under the normal analogue FM mode you still get a small amount of background `hiss' but you clean forget about it when your rocking along to the music. Features Ok, let's not lose sight of the fact that you are looking for a quality DAB radio here, not an mp3 player, and definitely not an interactive content browser! This is why I didn't wanna pay the extra money for the PocketDAB2000 model. You get all the features needed for great radio listening without all the unnecessary frilly bits that only add cost to the price. This product is just pure (pardon the pun) unadulterated radio. Put simply, I couldn't ask for a better radio, it's probably going to put my mp3 player out of a job at this rate!... Read Full Review » |
| 5 / 5 | Lovely unit but needs a decent signal
Mist of Time "Mist of Time" (UK) - 9 April 2007 I echo the comments on the build and good sound from this unit. My personal bits to add are: 1) I work in London and get a good half an hour on the bus happily flicking from one station to another - superb 2) If you are out and about at the weekend and want to get Radio Five Live for the football this is a god send 3) Battery life seems good - goes from four bars to three to two then hangs on two for a long time before going to one then zero really quickly 4) No good on trains 5) I live out of London - until the signal gets switched up (2008?) this is a bit hit and miss 6) If the DAB2 standard takes off this may become an expensive white elephant... Read Full Review » |
| 5 / 5 | Superb Sound Quality & Reception!
Scriabinmahler (Cambridge UK) - 8 March 2007 First I was suspicous of this new model due to the first negative review, but my suspition proved pointless when I actually bought the item encouraged by the following positive reviews. I live in Cambridgeshire where Classic FM and BBC Radio 3 receptions are notoriously poor with ordinary FM tuners. But with this DAB radio, reception is near perfect with high reception level. No inerference even with my PC at my work place. Only occasionally it gets interference in some parts of shops, builings or on bus where interfering signals come and go. But normally that's what happens with any DAB radios. I listen only to classic music and some jazz music, and sound is superb with enough detail and warmth if you set the bass boost on. Only difficulty I found is that the sliding lid for the rechargable battery never opens again once it's closed. I had to struggle to re-open it for an hour until I stuck a lump of blue-tack on it to force it open without damaging it!... Read Full Review » |
| 2 / 5 | Good DAB, lousy audio technology
Timon (Netherlands) - 3 November 2007 I acquired the radio and had very high expectations from it. Unfortunately I had to return it to the (web)shop. The good: design, size, battery pack, DAB reception quality (even in a poor DAB country like the Netherlands). The bad: its audio quality. When switching the radio on immediately a "hiss" was noticable, even in the DAB mode. Of course the better the earphone (e.g. my Sennheiser CX300 or HD 555) the more annoying the defect, but even with the supplied MX300 the "hiss" was very noticable. And as the lowest most volume was already quite loud (with the louder settings too being too much), I became to suspect a design flaw in the primary (pre-amp) electronics. The reply to my enquiry on this (d)effect was that this "hiss" was normal. Leaves me to search for a better pocket sized DAB radio ;-(... Read Full Review » |
£99.99
9 August 2007
£63.60 - £89.99