Recommend a DAB radio please

Sea_Shell

In the market for one of these.   But the choice is huge.   Can anyone help whittle the choice?

Important features to us would be...

Good sound quality
Portable
Under £100

Less important...
Bluetooth
Alarm clock
Rechargeable 


Thanks

SiliconChip

It may fail your sound quality test but I've been very happy with this one since I bought it a few years ago. I tend to use it with rechargeable batteries which seem to last quite a long time.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roberts-Radio-Play10-Digital-Presets/dp/B008VPBDYI

matelodave

TBH you really need to have a listen to see what you consider acceptable sound quality. I

n the end a bigger box usually sound better than a smaller radio, but it depend when an where you want to use it and what sort of content you want to listen to. Classical, Rock or talk radio etc.

Like @SiliconChip I've got a Roberts radio which I've had for around 15 years (its an Ecologic 1 - now discontinued) which still works flawlessly, runs from rechargeable batteries or a mains adapter and I'm more than happy with the sound volume and quality but it wont fill a room with rock music.

I'm guessing that the one SC suggest above  is the replacement to mine and its what I'd go for if I was replacing mine.

THis one might be worth a look - https://www.digitalradiochoice.com/?s=pure+elan+one or this perhaps https://www.digitalradiochoice.com/reviews/roberts-play-20-dab-fm-bluetooth-radio/

Sea_Shell

DH looked at the Roberts play 20.

It's what we're erring towards.  Unless something else would be better.


In the meantime, we think we've got an old set of "headphone jack" speakers in the loft, that we could use with our tablets on WiFi internet.   They used to be pretty good, from what I remember.

Sort of like a Heath Robinson smart speaker 😉🤣

flaneurs_lobster

If you move away from a standalone DAB radio then it's worth looking at some of the new Bluetooth portable speakers. The sound quality (& volume) from even the small boxes from makers such as JBL has improved greatly in the last few years. 

Look at What Hi-Fi recommendations, they (as you would expect) focus on sound quality.

mgfvvc

The USB Interface on the Roberts I had was atrocious and the CD player died fairly quickly. It sounds like neither of those are directly relevant, but I would not buy another Roberts.

tghe-retford

The sensitivity of a radio is the essential aspect of a radio. It could sound good (does 112kbps Joint Stereo MP2 or 24kbps HE-AAC v2 sound good? A debate for another time), be portable and cost under £100 but if it isn't sensitive it will be nothing more than an expensive doorstop if you don't live next to the transmitter.

I've tested pocket radios instead of portable radios but the concept is the same. When I tested the pocket radios, it ranged from radios that could pick up distant multiplexes in certain places and keep a signal pretty much consistently on the stronger ones all the way to ones that constantly dropped out on stronger multiplexes and was effectively useless. It's that big of a difference.

Different radios have different sensitivities. From the portables I have used, the most sensitive ones I have are the Roberts Play 20/Play/Play Duo models (who rebadge Sangean radios as the UK reseller), the Microspot RA318/Wintal DAB10B (I had to import mine from Australia!) and then the Reka 16923 from Aldi (no longer available) and Pure models. Then hot on their heals, the VQ, Majority and Azatom models followed by the generic models that you can get on online shopping sites. I don't know about Bush, until recently their radios did not support DAB+ (reviews I can see are a bit hit and miss with sensitivity) or Lidl's Silvercrest range.

Sea_Shell

For anyone interested, we decided on the Roberts Play 10.

It came lunchtime.

Seems to be just the job so far.

Will give it a proper test tomorrow for Popmaster 😉

interstellaflyer

Sea_Shell said:

For anyone interested, we decided on the Roberts Play 10.

It came lunchtime.

Seems to be just the job so far.

Will give it a proper test tomorrow for Popmaster 😉

I pretty much guessed from the thread title that it was to follow Ken to GHR.

Sea_Shell

interstellaflyer said:

Sea_Shell said:

For anyone interested, we decided on the Roberts Play 10.

It came lunchtime.

Seems to be just the job so far.

Will give it a proper test tomorrow for Popmaster 😉

I pretty much guessed from the thread title that it was to follow Ken to GHR.

You guessed it 😉.   And Top 10 til Ken.

I was 2 yrs out this morning. 🤣

We're in an FM not-spot for GHR. ☹️  Tablet was glitchy and tinny.

We seem to have good DAB signal strength and the new radio performed as expected.

interstellaflyer

Sea_Shell said:

interstellaflyer said:

Sea_Shell said:

For anyone interested, we decided on the Roberts Play 10.

It came lunchtime.

Seems to be just the job so far.

Will give it a proper test tomorrow for Popmaster 😉

I pretty much guessed from the thread title that it was to follow Ken to GHR.

You guessed it 😉.   And Top 10 til Ken.

I was 2 yrs out this morning. 🤣

We're in an FM not-spot for GHR. ☹️  Tablet was glitchy and tinny.

We seem to have good DAB signal strength and the new radio performed as expected.

I left Radio 2 behind a few years back when they decided to be down wiv da kidz innit and play more current pop music, can't stand that awful auto tuned to death nonsense, it became Radio 1.5.