Radio is Dead! Long Live Radio!
Do you still listen to the radio? Maybe you’ve been stuck with the same little AM/FM set that has graced every kitchen in every house you’ve ever lived in. Well it’s time to move on.
In the ’90s a new standard was adopted in the UK called DAB which promised to rejuvenate the way we listen to radio. CD Quality sound, hiss free, and zero interference were all buzzwords which surrounded DAB, which theoretically could handle streams of up to 320kbps MP2. This is great in theory, however the radio operators soon realised they could cram more stations in, by reducing the bitrates. In reality, it meant we were stuck with several similar sounding “jukebox” stations, often broadcasting in 64kbps mono mp2. To be honest, it sounded a lot worse than FM, so why bother?
I invested in a Pure Evoke-1 DAB radio set, which was quite pricey when it was released, but I have been happy with its build quality and compactness. The choice on DAB was something I grew bored with, and soon turned to on-line listening as my main habit.
Listening to internet radio has advantages; you can listen to any station around the world, the choice is phenomenal, but it does mean you are tied to your PC or laptop, and it just doesn’t really feel like “radio” to me if you need a computer.
This is where “WiFi” radio comes in. A small computer with a built in wireless receiver, made to look like a radio, which connects to your home wireless network, and allows you stream internet radio anywhere in the house. Add in the ability to listen to FM and DAB broadcasts, and this is as close to a “radio” as any other set I’ve used, only rather than having 30 stations, I now have a literally unlimited choice.
The Pure Evoke Flow follows the design standards set by the earlier Pure products. It’s well built, in glossy black plastic (over ply-wood so it feels solid), has a semi-touch sensitive interface, and is very simple to operate.
Twinned with Pure’s “The Lounge” website, you can sync your radio to any number of stations from their library, or add your own. A superb feature is the “listen again” which out-of-the-box, is paired with the BBC iPlayer in the UK, and allows you to listen-again to any of the last week’s worth of BBC programmes.
Pure have also preset a rather large podcast directory on the radio/lounge which means you can listen to podcasts without downloading them, just streamed directly to the radio.
It also functions as an alarm clock, can be hooked up to your stereo, and accepts input from your MP3 player.
The Pure Evoke Flow retails at around £130-£140, and will change the way you listen to radio.
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4 Comments
daithi Locha
December 1st, 2009
at 12:02pm
I know they’re still flogging dead horse DAB in the UK but internet radio seems to be a second thought with this device? The new Roberts line beats it hands down.
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December 1st, 2009
at 1:15pm
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Dave
December 2nd, 2009
at 4:38pm
DAB was one of the worst broadcasting cons ever pulled on the great British listening public. Great promises of brilliant quality – even user-adjustable audio compression (what ever happened to THAT idea?). I was a very early adopter, being seduced by the prospect of hi-fi radio. What did we get? As mentioned, more and more stations crammed in at ever-decreasing bit-rates, complete with (to MY ears) even heavier doses of audio compression and processing and MONO to boot! Compression was only ever meant to be used on AM and I understand that the 60’s off-shore pirate stations imported an American unit called Optimod for that purpose. However, compression was slipped in through the back-door on FM. I’m not sure why or how the relevant authority allowed it but the end result is that most FM and DAB transmissions (and even their duplicate, higher-bit rate transmissions on satellite) sound absolutely foul. Some have such an excess applied, the sound can be heard “pumping”. No way can it be described as hi-fi.
danwood
December 2nd, 2009
at 8:17pm
Totally agree Dave. Hopefully with faster broadband speeds, the take-up of Wifi radios will increase and we may finally get the promised quality and choice.