Post by Rabbit on May 8, 2014 18:08:30 GMT
I am a radio fan, whether it's amateur radio or broadcast radio and often wander around with a radio attached to my headphones for Planet Rock, Radio 3,4 or 4 Extra which I really enjoy a lot. (Must be my age) I've always loved radio and often used one in the car while travelling around or at home on big Yagi Beams or long wires. I even put up a mast on my house for aerials at one point. FM stereo was bliss. I just loved it - new music coming down in rich FM (high) quality with a strong signal.
I managed to drop one of my Pure DAb's last week, so I got another radio. I have always found that the Pure lacked the power to drive decent headphones though, so I always used an amp with it.
So, I decided to try another one because of the lack of volume and this little Roberts Sports thing arived.
Looking at it, shows a less robust build quality but not awful. The Pure was thinner and more metal whereas the Roberts is all plastic. Not a biggie for me since I'll stuff it in a case.
I got a few surprises with it though. First, the earbuds with it aren't too shabby. However, with sensitive earphones, there is a trace of hiss from the amp. Sound is really good, but there is that hiss. It doesn't rise and fall with volume so I decided to put higher impedance headphones on it to see it it could be eliminated. The radio goes extremely loud. Way louder than the Pure which has the awful European restrictions put onto it. This one doesn't and it's madly loud.
So I attached a DT990 straight on to it. No hiss. Senn HD650 is also very easily driven direct from it. Still is very loud!! This radio can drive 250/300 ohm headphones, which was a real surprise for me. No amp. So I could easily be wandering about with a DT770 on my head coming from the Roberts. Of course, the sound is also way better than the buds.
I have an in line resistor which I attached to the buds. They then are about as sensitive as the 250 ohm Beyers and the hiss does go. (It's not that bad - it's just me) So far, great sound on full sized headphones.
Next, I tried the built in speaker. It's small but works really well. Speech is fine although music obviously lacks any weight, but great for listening casually with no headphone. To do this, you extend the little aerial that's on it. It's flimsy but works really well. I was concerned that the aerial will be very easily broken so I tried another experiment and got yet another surprise. I pushed it down to just about one inch showing and it STILL picked up the radio signal at home fine. My Pure sometimes burbled at home and this thing works on a one inch aerial.
So, it's loud and very sensitive.
I like this radio although it does have its own set of drawbacks too -
a) Flimsy, daft aerial.
b) Hiss on low impedance buds - but not nasty.
c) Shiny plastic body is a magnet for fingerprints.
d) Slightly weird way of accessing menus.
Positive -
a) Loud.
b) Good display.
c) Good sound. (for DAB)
d) Speaker is built in.
e) Very sensitive
This is a very nice radio and I think I prefer it to the Pure in spite of the amp noise. High impedance headphones cure it and it drives them easily.
splashurl.com/m4fjadf
There is also this one which is equipped for DAB+ if it happens ....
splashurl.com/muhtmbv
I managed to drop one of my Pure DAb's last week, so I got another radio. I have always found that the Pure lacked the power to drive decent headphones though, so I always used an amp with it.
So, I decided to try another one because of the lack of volume and this little Roberts Sports thing arived.
Looking at it, shows a less robust build quality but not awful. The Pure was thinner and more metal whereas the Roberts is all plastic. Not a biggie for me since I'll stuff it in a case.
I got a few surprises with it though. First, the earbuds with it aren't too shabby. However, with sensitive earphones, there is a trace of hiss from the amp. Sound is really good, but there is that hiss. It doesn't rise and fall with volume so I decided to put higher impedance headphones on it to see it it could be eliminated. The radio goes extremely loud. Way louder than the Pure which has the awful European restrictions put onto it. This one doesn't and it's madly loud.
So I attached a DT990 straight on to it. No hiss. Senn HD650 is also very easily driven direct from it. Still is very loud!! This radio can drive 250/300 ohm headphones, which was a real surprise for me. No amp. So I could easily be wandering about with a DT770 on my head coming from the Roberts. Of course, the sound is also way better than the buds.
I have an in line resistor which I attached to the buds. They then are about as sensitive as the 250 ohm Beyers and the hiss does go. (It's not that bad - it's just me) So far, great sound on full sized headphones.
Next, I tried the built in speaker. It's small but works really well. Speech is fine although music obviously lacks any weight, but great for listening casually with no headphone. To do this, you extend the little aerial that's on it. It's flimsy but works really well. I was concerned that the aerial will be very easily broken so I tried another experiment and got yet another surprise. I pushed it down to just about one inch showing and it STILL picked up the radio signal at home fine. My Pure sometimes burbled at home and this thing works on a one inch aerial.
So, it's loud and very sensitive.
I like this radio although it does have its own set of drawbacks too -
a) Flimsy, daft aerial.
b) Hiss on low impedance buds - but not nasty.
c) Shiny plastic body is a magnet for fingerprints.
d) Slightly weird way of accessing menus.
Positive -
a) Loud.
b) Good display.
c) Good sound. (for DAB)
d) Speaker is built in.
e) Very sensitive
This is a very nice radio and I think I prefer it to the Pure in spite of the amp noise. High impedance headphones cure it and it drives them easily.
splashurl.com/m4fjadf
There is also this one which is equipped for DAB+ if it happens ....
splashurl.com/muhtmbv