DAB radio reviews: Roberts, Sony, others: which is best and is it worth even having a radio now?

[@Jamesnebula]

I really wish I could design my own DAB radio, if I could it would have 20 or at least 10 individual preset buttons. I mean why not. An analogue volume control which should be incredibly easy. Maybe a simple touch screen interface that would show 10 stations or once you could flip between the pages of 10 stations by swiping and then you could just touch the one that you wanted. It would make it really easy to explore new stations and programs. I enjoyed the review very much, I love radios

[@accoutrements4469]

Thank you! Yes the radio designers really seem to be unable to get these relatively simple little devices just right! I’d love to design my own too 👍

[@stuboy13]

Absolutely! Crazy these things get overlooked with modern technology

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

If I could design my own radio it would be an Internet and DAB radio in a solid dark walnut horizontal wooden case with a beautiful front panel with gold lettering, a handle on top, 10 preset buttons, rechargeable but replaceable c size batteries, optional matching stereo speaker with long wire, large volume dial on the front, large tuning dial also and triple alarm clock that works on battery and mains! The radio would have great sound and be extremely reliable and the radio circuitry would be on a replaceable board just in case DAB++ comes along 😊 the radio will never rely on the cloud, if the servers break you can put new ones in as the radio will be open source 😀

[@accoutrements4469]

That’d be very cool 👍👍

[@tdumnxy]

Good video. I have a minor radio obsession also. Some thoughts. Mixing battery types and even manufacturers can be bad news. Differences, even slight, in chemical composition, internal resistance, state of charge etc. can lead to over-heating and leakage. Just an observation. We all know that DAB and even more so DAB+ is rubbish quality, not because of the underlying technology necessarily but because of the economic imperative to jam in too many stations per mux (transmitter). 32-bit audio stations sound horrible. And 64 and even 128bps in marginal listening locations. But politicians and business just keep repeating the mantra, "It is good quality because it is digital". Choice means nothing if all the choices sound dreadful. On the controls, I really don't like cheap, clicky buttons, especially for volume. The rotary (encoder) knobs for station and feature selection are ok but again only if they aren't the cheap and nasty kind. I wish the popular consumer programmes etc. would make people aware of some of these things. At least small speakers sound much better than they did years ago.

[@accoutrements4469]

I have to agree - the only thing better is the audio quality on some of the modern small speakers - although only a few of the radios I’ve tried do sound better: so many of them seem to just bung any old rubbish in there. That little Roberts Petite sounds fantastic for the size. Some of my much older Roberts, Grundig and Hacker radios sound wonderful and were so well built! I think dedicated radios are becoming a very niche market nowadays… and DAB itself: yeah, like you said, it’s just not great is it - a poorly implemented system at least.

[@fruitfulhope203]

Thanks for this review 👏

[@accoutrements4469]

Thank you - I don’t think it’s a very good review looking back at it and I’ll do a better review of the Roberts Petite in the next few days (it’s easily the best radio out of this bunch by far) 👍

[@cmartin_ok]

I wish Sony offered a version of the 7600 short wave worldband radio with DAB and DAB+. I have a 7600 from about 1985 and although it's OK it is showing its age and the on-off lock occasionally won't release. Sony don't sell the current model in the UK or Europe (maybe they have discontinued it altogether?) but of they offered a version with DAB+ I'd buy it. As it is, for DAB it seems to me (from what I read and personal experience) that Pure is the market leader

[@accoutrements4469]

I'm not familiar with that Sony model, although there's several old radios i had that I'd love to be updated. They never seem to get the DAB radios just perfect from my experience - either the sound isn't quite good enough or the design/layout/controls aren't very well thought out... Wish i could design my own! I've had a few Pure radios over they years - they were certainly the market leaders several years ago but i'm not sure they're quite as on-the-ball these days - they don't seem as present in the market as they once were. Dedicated radio units seem to be becoming a bit of a niche market nowadays don't they, everyone relying on their Alexas or whatever (including myself to some extent)... We'll all regret it when the 'war' comes & the internet goes down!!

[@MiataBRG]

Thanks for the review. You didn't cover the issue of the floppy wire ariel on the small roberts; how is that to use in practice when carrying it around room to room?

[@accoutrements4469]

Yes forgot to mention that! Will do a better look at this radio at some point. I’ve replaced the wire aerial with a small telescopic one from Amazon - much better if you’re moving the radio around. I mean, the wire one was hardly a massive hassle, but definitely less so with a small telescopic one - bit of an odd choice by Roberts, there.

[@matth7443]

This has now been rectified with the new petite 2! An incredible piece of tech!

[@accoutrements4469]

Yes the Petite 2 looks perfect now! Better aerial and usb-c charging (finally!). 👍👌

[@dynamodav]

That Robert’s petite is made by Sangean! Go check them out, all their stuff sounds amazing

[@accoutrements4469]

Is it? I never knew that! Thank you for sharing.

[@avapodgorski6763]

Does the Revival Petite work with Google/Alexa?

[@accoutrements4469]

Hiya, no it doesn’t: it’s purely either an fm or dab radio or can be used as a Bluetooth speaker, but doesn’t work via voice for Alexa or Google. Hope that helps!?

[@ashokdeb8365]

The Sony sounds amazing

[@accoutrements4469]

It’s really nice for speech but definitely lacking bass depth for music. Not sure my video captures that really. A very well made and well laid out radio for sure but the audio just isn’t quite right up there with the best imho ✌️

[@alungibbon3396]

Why do DAB radios either sound rubbish or are insanely expensive? A few years ago I found a JVC branded radio that was both affordable & good sound quality but sadly no longer available.

[@accoutrements4469]

They really do seem massively overpriced don’t they, and for such limited technology - I think DAB will be around for a far shorter time than fm… There’s not much actual need for a dedicated standalone radio in my house nowadays, I just still really like them, but yeah, as u say, finding great quality sound is more elusive than it should be 🤷‍♂️

[@cmartin_ok]

In the UK it seems JVC sold out and the make is just a brand name used by our Currys electrical chain; nothing to do with the Japanese Victor Corporation

[@accoutrements4469]

Yeah it seems a lot of the old brands are now just nameplates for modern poorer quality equipment

[@vallee3140]

I recently bought the Roberts play 20, am not up to much when, it comes to understanding this DAB. I only listen to LBC ,but if its because I am in Lincolnshire ??? although have had perfect tone before with others, this one only works when it feels like it. Any ideas thanks

[@accoutrements4469]

I’m in Lincolnshire too: DAB reception can be dodgy in my kitchen but seems fine everywhere else at home. I don’t know what to suggest really - if you’re struggling with reception maybe try a different brand of radio or a larger aerial? 🤷‍♂️

[@vallee3140]

@@accoutrements4469 thanks for reply it is a brand new radio and has a very long aerial which I pull up all the way. I tried it again last night and it was great??

[@accoutrements4469]

That’s really strange… glad it’s working ok now though! 👍

[@maxfactor4209]

Get s Sangean... They made proper radios.. Roberts is just a marketing / branding company (these days)

[@accoutrements4469]

I saw the Sangean version of the Roberts Petite - it’s almost exactly the same, but strangely cost more than the roberts. I know Sangean have a proven track record as a solid manufacturer. Roberts definitely do trade on their heritage don’t they.

[@johncoops6897]

DAB is pretty much useless when the audio quality of the broadcasts is about 10 times lower than AM. The manufacturers have zero incentive to make their receivers sound even half decent.

[@accoutrements4469]

AM is pretty much unlistenable where I live. In my experience DAB is ok for casual listening but certainly not suitable for detailed or critical listening of music. It’s advantage is the wider choice of stations though isnt it, although that obviously pales in comparison to internet radio choice. Which itself tends to be severely restricted in th uk in terms of what stations we’re allowed to receive from abroad nowadays.

[@johncoops6897]

That Roberts logo on those radios looks incredibly ugly. Video title is misleading ( 'others' = only one, and you basically just skipped over it).... Why show us 7 radios yet only review 5 of them?

[@accoutrements4469]

I really like the Roberts logo myself. This video was initially very long so I edited it down just to look at a few of the options. Sorry u don’t like it 🤷‍♂️✌️

[@mrihusain]

The review was boring.

[@accoutrements4469]

I’ll put more car chases and explosions in my next review of compact radios 👍

[@prasanths2386]

Amazon echo

[@accoutrements4469]

Yeah, absolutely! I have several. I still like having a dedicated radio though - must be a nostalgia thing 🤷‍♂️

[@Jamesnebula]

With the Amazon echo you get another layer of adverts from Amazon unless you do their subscription, you also have a device spying on you 24/7 so there is that as well 😀

[@accoutrements4469]

Yes, definitely need to consider those factors. 👍