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Review: I have been put off the purchase of a DAB radio for two reasons. One the reception in our area is poor, so poor infact that the FM radio in the kitchen needs retuning when the atmospherics change. So I was unsure if we could actually receive and decode the digital signal. The second reason was the price. However a neighbour has just purchased a DAB radio and it did work which removed my first concern, and after noticing the price of this unit I decided to give it a go. Unlike my other recent purchase ie a Sony DVD recorder, the instruction manual is tiny, but there again it doesn’t need to be vast since everything is very obvious. Just plug the thing in, press the big button on the top left. It will then scan for all the available stations. Use the buttons on the far right to move up and down the list, and when you have found a station you like, hold down one of the four buttons on the left to store it on that button. Do the same for FM. It’s that easy. I did have a fear that the digital stations might not have the quality of programs that the FM stations have, but I’ve been plesently surprised at the range of programming and above anything the quality of the sound. I found some ‘live’ jazz and was staggered at the range and clarity of the tone. Other reviewers have commented about the frequency response but I could clearly hear the base and the high notes in this music. It does however have a dry condenced feel, which I think is what they ment, but I don’t find a problem, infact it gives spoken programs a clarity that I didn’t get on the old FM radio. Now the stereo seperation isn’t great, but on a box of this size it couldn’t be. So I am very impressed and pleased with this radio. The down side are some very minor points such as the fact that there are only 4 preset buttons, where 6 or 8 would have been useful. Also there does seem to be a lag of about 2 seconds compared to the same station broadcast on FM. Oh and the volume control is slow. There is one feature which would drive my mother to distraction, and that is the clock which seems to be set from the DAB signal. My mother always sets the clocks between 5 and 10 minutes fast, but with this thing she can’t. Perhaps I’ll give her one for mothers day. |
Audio HiFi
