Pure's £99 Digital Radio - Retro Review

The Pure EVOKE-1 was released in 2002 as the first widely available DAB digital radio for under £100. In this video we take a look at the Pure radio and the start of digital radio in the UK.

[@bespoken100]

Thanks for the review...👍 My Pure Evoke 1 still looks as good as the day it was bought in 2002. It's unfortunate that it can't receive the DAB+ channels.

[@CamelCasee]

You can if you upgrade the firmware.

[@bespoken100]

No firmware available for the Evoke 1, unless you've a link?

[@tdumnxy]

I have an Evoke-1 that I purchased in 2004. It still functions perfectly. It actually finds more stations more quickly and holds onto the signal much better than any DAB radio I have bought since. Shame on you, Majority and i-box. It still bugs me that people automatically think "Digital" = "Better quality". It doesn't. Marginal signals and the dreaded digital "drop-out", "bubbling" etc. are a pain. Also, all the stations with such pitifully low bitrates which means they can sound worse that a foreign AM station at night! Note to anyone that might want to buy a second hand Evoke-1. Specifically this model. It can display Signal quality on a 1-100 scale, programme category, Ensemble name, Block number, frequency, actual bitrate and whether mono/stereo. Very useful to assessing coverage if you need to complain to OFCOM, the BBC etc. about poor service.

[@gmo4250]

I have one of them with the additional ST-1 speaker. Superb unit and I listen to it everyday. Lack of DAB+ is the only drawback.

[@davidwilson9568]

I have 6 pure evoke radios evoke 2 evoke 2xt 3 evoke 2s stereo with twitter's my favourite and a evoke 3 bought them all from eBay costing between £30 and £60 used they are great radios and all still look and work like new

[@dcbnewforest51]

Hi we like them, and are on our 2nd, can I ask, is the time supposed to display when the radio is off? It used to on our old one but this s/h replacement doesn’t. Evoke 1XT

[@davidwilson9568]

Never had a.1xt

[@mohamadmakkouk8023]

Is there any chance to know why the radio doesn’t turns on while the battery is full but if the electric cord (12 v) supply is inserted the radio will start working?

[@nightlore000]

I bought the Pure Sonus-1XT DAB around 2003 .. it still works fine .. Shame no DAB+

[@michaelturner4457]

I found one of these in a box of our family's old stuff. Problem where I live now, there's no DAB radio, so the thing is rather useless, except for been a paperweight.

[@gabrielsurvey10]

Pure first radios DAB only makes them now mostly useless in 2024, they are now even worse than old FM radios.

[@phebienewman819]

Couldn't agree more 22-yrs of this useless radio for 99 quids - no way to tune its frustrating

[@christopher9727]

John3.16-21

[@valwas6581]

Too much talk and no substance. Tell us how this radio works. Full stop. Thumb down am afraid.