DAB delight: digital radios under £20, plus top big brand deals

Andrea_Franks

When you go into Amazon this Philips DAB Radio is £39.99??? Some of the search engines have it as £29.99, but when you click into the shop, it takes you to Amazon which has it at £39.99.

MSE_Lawrence wrote: »

What's the deal?

There are some Christmas-cracking (ouch!) deals available on DAB radios at the minute, with budget models available for £20, plus one swish £95 model reduced to £40

Where?

• The Cheapest: Alba TRDAB2810 DAB with FM Radio £19.99 delivered. We've featured a slightly cheaper DAB radio before, but this one manages to pack in an FM tuner too, so you get the best of both radio worlds. The only thing that lets it down is its in-built speaker, which is a mite tinny, but still fine for speech-based shows. It's also at Amazon, so again you'll pay £6 extra if you want it in time for Christmas.

UPDATE 19.12.07, 9.09AM. The Philips DAB radio price has increased to £39.99 - still not bad, but not quite the MoneySaving deal it was previously.

• The Smartest: Philips AE5900/05 DAB clock radio £29.99 delivered (Was £95). This Philips desktop radio certainly looks the part, and has lots of up-to-date features. It's available from Amazon, but if you want one in time for Christmas you'll need to pay an extra £6 for express delivery (Available until 8am on Dec 22).

UPDATE 19.12.07, 9.09AM. Sadly, Argos has increased the Sony DAB radio price to £39.99 - so it's not nearly as good a deal as it was previously. I'm leaving it in in case the price drops again soon.

• The Big Brand: Sony XDRS50 Compact DAB radio £24.99 in-store (was £50). This little Sony box can be operated by batteries or the mains, and has full auto-tuning ability and a headphone socket should you come over all anti-social. It's available half-price at Argos, and you can reserve online to collect in store.

Seen these cheaper, or a better deal? Post it below and I'll add it in.

Anything else?

In case you're wondering, there are four main things that make DAB digital radio better than the older FM standard:

More Choice: The FM band can only host a very limited number of stations compared to DAB, which already has dozens.

Easy Tuning: With digital you don't have to worry about numbers- you can just look for the name of the station you want to listen to. This user-friendlyness makes it ideal for the elderly.

Better sound: Digital isn't prone to the same hiss in the signal that FM suffers from, so provided you listen on good quality speakers you should get a better, cleaner sound.

Extra Features: All the players above feature scrolling text, meaning that you can find out useful info (eg. about songs/artists) while you listen.

Gareth56

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

I don't care how cheap DAB radios become, I would never buy one as they are inferior to Analogue radios. The sound quality from the DAB transmission is awful low bitrate MP2 compression and no DAB radio can reproduce it to sound as good as FM. Theres a nasty metallic sound to DAB and it lacks top end. DAB radios are only really useful in a kitchen or environment where the terrible sound quality won't be noticed.

You don't get hiss on FM provided you have a decent signal but on DAB when you lose the signal you get a nasty burbling sound like you are underwater.

I wouldn't have a DAB radio if somebody paid me to have it.

Just try listening Radio 5 Live after the sun has gone down, also try listening to BBC7 & Five Live Extra on FM.... oh you can't on stoneage analogue:-))

As for the "nasty" metallic sound I suggest that is due to the quality of the radio and not the broadcast. I have one [very] cheap DAB radio and one expensive one and the 'quality' is different. As you say to get a decent FM signal you have to be practically living underneath the FM transmitter!!!

Stuartli

Jefft wrote: »

Perhaps you had a duff one?

No, he/she doesn't. It's a well known fact that digital radio (apart from the much higher standard of the smaller number on broadcast via Freeview) is not always what it is cracked up to be.

For proof see:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/digital_radio_samples.htm

deanos

Andrea_Franks wrote: »

When you go into Amazon this Philips DAB Radio is £39.99??? Some of the search engines have it as £29.99, but when you click into the shop, it takes you to Amazon which has it at £39.99.

Prices change at Amazon all the time, you have to be quick as sometimes they are only on offer for a few hours

on_the_edge_4

I live in the North West and bought a Pure Evoke 2 XT. The sound is excellent, there are loads of channels and it is a quantum leap when listening to R5 live.

Top tip: Don't use internet radio when setting your watch !!

competitionscafe

on_the_edge wrote: »

The sound is excellent, there are loads of channels and it is a quantum leap when listening to R5 live.

Agreed. I mostly listen to BBC Radio 5 live (I work from home) as well as XFM and occassionally Radio 4 - - buying a DAB radio is one of the best purchases I have ever made - sound quality of BBC five on am is awful, it's crystal clear on Dab.
XFM Scotland and Radio 4 are at least as good as my FM reception radio (which is a decent quality model) if not better. In fact i was so impressed I bought another Dab radio so I can have Dab in different rooms (both on mains power). My first one is a Creative Soundworks 500 Dab which was on offer at £40 at amazon about a year ago (Not sure if they still make this model) the second one is Pure One which only has one speaker and not as good sound quality as the Creative but still decent and way better than am for BBC Radio 5.

greenmoneysaver_2

Goodmans can only deliver from 17th Jan onwards!!

Just cancelled my order, need it before then!!

James123_2

Reserved the Sony offering at Argos for £24.95 Tuesday, tried to collect Wed but the price had gone up to £39 - still £10 off, but not the absolute bargain it was!

BlackBladder

I listen mainly to Radio 2, Radio 4, Radio 5, Radio 5 extra, BBC7, TalkSport, Virgin and Planet Rock. I would hate it if there was no DAB.

pioneer31

Lakeuk wrote: »

Don't worry about the possibility of DAB being supersided by DAB+, stations broadcasting in the UK on DAB will continue for quite some time and there are currently no plans to broadcast any stations in DAB+. It's taken DAB 15yrs to get to where it is

DAB's days are already numbered.

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/articles/DAB+-likely-to-launch-in-the-UK-in-the-next-3-years.php