TechRadar: All Radio tuners Feeds

NAD M4 FM/AM/DAB tuner

Richard Black — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:01:00 +0000

NAD's high-end 'Masters Series' components have been in the stores for a while now and the range has made plenty of friends.

It has, however, conspicuously lacked a tuner, a lack NAD evidently felt needed addressing: the result is the NAD M4 and a tastier-looking piece of radio kit we haven't seen in a while.

Tasteful design

Looks aren't everything, of course, but in an age of greatly improved industrial design, compared with as little as ten or even five years ago, styling is now something significant.

Something, indeed, for which people have realised it is worth parting with a fair wad of extra cash; so we're delighted to report on this tuner's substantial and nicely sculpted aluminium front panel, its tasteful and clearly labelled control layout and its generous dot-matrix display – not to mention the very robust steel casework.

The remote control is a good example of the breed, too, not so fancy as to be unusable and better laid out than many.

Tuner features

Like many other tuners, the M4 receives good old FM radio, new-fangled DAB Digital Radio and grandfather AM. It has 40 presets for storing analogue stations, a single analogue output plus digital outputs (both flavours), which only work with DAB, and even basic connectivity for home automation.

In terms of tweaky features, about all it offers is 12.5khz-step tuning on FM (a very handy feature though, allowing one some leeway to sidestep annoying pirate radio stations which may be close enough to legitimate stations to cause interference) and 'blend', another FM feature which trades off some high-frequency stereo imaging in the interest of improving general clarity when reception conditions are difficult.

Station choices

On DAB, the usual station ordering etc. features are present and, of course, there is the range of display options – station type, scrolling 'music playing' display, technical details including station bit-rate and our favourite, error rate readout – the one way the user can be sure that reception is tickety-boo (error rate is either zero or sub-optimal, basically).

On FM, RDS gives a similar, though slightly more restricted, set of display choices. inside the case, it's interesting to see how money has been apportioned. It's already apparent from the rear of the unit – with its separate aerial inputs for FM and DAB – that NAD has not gone down the 'digital FM' route.

Tuners that receive and decode FM broadcasts via the DAB module have to date tended to disappoint, but in this case the functional blocks are separate as far as the audio output circuit.

Powerful device

The FM and AM sections are handled on a large circuit board which, perhaps surprisingly, bears a legend connecting it with one of NAD's much cheaper tuners and features regular commercial-grade components and an off-the-shelf tuner head.

It does, however, use some of the latest integrated circuits to receive the two bands and, as we've pointed out before in reviews of upmarket tuners, there isn't really much that can be done to better these unless a manufacturer sets out to build a really cost-no-object tuner.

In the DAB department, a frontier Silicon module does the donkeywork, again something shared with various much cheaper tuners. here, though, NAD has made two significant modifications.

First, the module is encased in a very solid metal housing that provides a significant degree of screening to and from the rest of the unit. Second, there is a very high grade DAC appended. This is built on a separate board, which also buffers the audio output from the FM section and houses the well-specified power supply.

Well-balanced

On a practical note, NAD has set the output from the FM tuner lower than from the DAB, with the latter already lower in level (at peak output) than most CD players.

Because of the compression of dynamics used in both radio systems, subjective results seem to be quite well-balanced against typical CDs.

Basic measurements of both sections suggest that technical performance is very good, though we have seen lower levels of ultrasonic output from FM tuners.

Mixed sound quality

DAB tuners vary considerably less than FM ones, and it was to the FM section that we turned first, in high hopes of hearing something revelatory. Maybe that was a high bar to set, but it's certainly true that we heard many things that we very much liked.

First, foremost and enduringly, we heard some remarkably clean radio reception. This was in part due to a decent rooftop aerial, a purchase we would highly recommend to anyone considering this or any other high quality FM tuner if circumstances permit.

Still, most tuners reviewed in these pages have been fed from the very same aerial, and in that context the M4 does stick out as one of the cleanest. Indeed, it makes a good stab with just the supplied indoor aerial, the usual T-ribbon.

FM performance

FM is capable of very good sound, but one of the toughest gremlins to eliminate is a degree of harshness, especially in built-up areas where multi-path distortion is a perennial problem.

Over the years, advances in the integrated circuits and tuner heads used in most FM tuners have helped considerably in this area, but good performance is by no means automatic. NAD must be congratulated on wringing some very fine subjective results from the components it uses in the M4.

With both BBC and commercial radio stations, we found the sound to be almost completely devoid of any such effect and, as a direct result, very informative and listenable in the long term.

Naturally, detail is well preserved in the sound because of this. Getting the ultimate in detail out of an FM transmission may be one trick beyond this model, and we do feel there is some justification left, in this parameter above all others, for the even high prices of a few dedicated FM tuners from Naim and others.

On the other hand, few of those models can manage to better the tonal balance of the M4, which is again very fine indeed. The bass is very extended, but without excess or lack of control, while treble is unconstricted: as the original designers of stereo FM realised, a band limit of 15khz is barely perceptible as a restriction if it is well implemented.

Competent DAB

Truly neutral midrange is exceptionally rare among tuners, but also hard to gauge because of the way recordings are processed. By putting into service our own FM generator, fed from a local CD player so that the reference is available at the flick of a switch, we became aware of a slight chestiness to the sound, something we've heard from many models.

However, we really do mean 'slight' and only with the most carefully prepared broadcasts on Radios 3 and 4 were we able to convince ourselves that we could pick it up in typical use and then only by listening specifically for it. To all intents and purposes, this is an evenhanded tuner, tonally speaking.

We've little to say about DAB here, save that it is clearly very competent and better than any current broadcast is likely to explore in detail.

It is admirably quiet and also well behaved, with no unpleasant surprises when re-tuning to a different station.

Cut above the rest

In terms of raw performance, the NAD M4 FM/AM/DAB tuner does not necessarily stand out from the best on offer in the sub-£500 bracket: clearly, the law of diminishing returns with tuners sets in.

But it is a very fine product and visually and ergonomically a cut above most and, of course, a perfect match to the rest of the NAD Masters range. We are happy to give it a warm, if not entirely unqualified, welcome.

Pure Evoke Flow DAB/Internet radio

Alan Sircom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:34:00 +0000

It's no exaggeration to say that Pure's Evoke-1 set the standard for DAB and the new Pure Evoke Flow does the same for Internet radio.

It makes listening to stations around the world almost as simple as tuning into Radio Four.

The formula for success found in the Evoke has not been broken with the Flow; this time it's in piano gloss – with a single speaker to the left of the front panel and a yellow on black OLED display to the right.

The handle doubles as a snooze button if you use it as a clock radio. DAB and FM are also included and it's possible to switch from one to the other using the multifunction knobs and a quartet of touch buttons.

Online radio

There's also an optional ChargePak battery and a matching auxiliary speaker (both costing an additional £30) to bring stereo to the party.

If you have a wireless network at home (and can remember your WEP password), the Flow connects to your router in a matter of seconds and then offers you a sortable range of stations.

The key word there is 'sortable'; you can filter by genre, location, language even sampling rate – which is simplified into a star rating. There's even a keyword search.

You can extend this further by opening up a free account at Pure's Internet Radio hub (www.thelounge.com), either through your Flow or on your PC. This allows you to store podcasts on The Lounge to listen to at your leisure.

There's even a line input for connecting up an iPod or similar. You can also browse music from a UPnP music server. A wired Ethernet connection would be handy, though.

User-friendly device

The Evoke Flow demystifies Internet radio at a stroke. You have to navigate through menus, but it whittles down stations to find the perfect one, instead of leaving you thousands to browse. You pin down stations with that keyword search; if you really want to listen to Death Metal, that's what you search for.

Like the Evoke DAB radios, the sound has no deep bass, no extreme treble. This means it doesn't butt up against the limitations of DAB and neither does it challenge the performance of Internet radio. It's never going to compete with separates hi-fi, but that's not the point.

This is the radio where you can sit in your West London living room and switch from George Lamb's banal Shabbas to cerebral Seattle talk radio without reaching for the laptop. It will change the way you view radio.

Tag and download tracks

The Pure Evoke Flow also allows Listen Again facilities without recourse to downloading from a PC.

Later developments will include music 'tagging', whereby you can listen to a piece of music, click to buy and download the album to your PC.

All of which means you have a table radio that performs brilliantly now and yet will keep at the top of the tree for some considerable time to come.

Tivoli Networks Internet/DAB/FM radio

Richard Black — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:48:00 +0000

Tivoli claims, quite correctly, that you don't need a computer to access internet radio.

You do, however, need a broadband modem/router of some sort and a broadband connection, both of which you will probably have if you use a computer.

NetWorks can connect wirelessly or via Ethernet to your broadband network, which means it doesn't have to be in the same room as the modem and once connected it seems to work very efficiently, loading a list of stations which you can search by name, genre and country.

Well-connected radio

DAB and FM work in the usual way and with good results. Additional features include a USB socket for connecting portable music players, which can function as sources controlled by the NetWorks – it can also play music on your home network, if you have any.

There is a line input, a subwoofer output, a connection for an optional right channel loudspeaker and a recording output.

Ergonomics are OK rather than brilliant, as long as you use the remote, although the topmounted dial is a nice touch, even though we found some aspects slightly illogical. Use without the remote can be pain, as some functions are accessed via buttons on the back of the NetWorks.

Bland sound

We have to admit to a slight sense of disappointment with the basic sound quality of this unit.

Although tone controls are available, no setting we could come up with quite banished a rather muffled quality which was not present on the headphone output and must therefore be blamed on the loudspeaker.

Speech intelligibility is somewhat hindered by this and music is made a little bland. GIven how impressed we've been by many previous Tivoli models we're distinctly perplexed as to how this was allowed to happen and we really hope it will be addressed in future models or upgrades.

Strong reception

That apart, there is a lot to like about this radio. Indeed the sound is not by any means all bad, for it has a room-filling quality which many table radios struggle (and often ultimately fail) to achieve.

This is a question not just of volume but of scale of sound, and the NetWorks certainly has that. It has a basically quiet background, though listening on sensitive headphones one is occasionally aware of just a little noise and hum.

As for reception quality, it is good in all modes. FM is not particularly grainy, DAB is perfectly decent and internet radio quality is probably the best we've heard – transmitted quality is improving as time goes by too, of course.

You can have a lot of fun listening to Radio Tashkent, or folk stations from Paraguay, and NetWorks seems an excellent way of enjoying it, along with DAB and FM.

Creek Evolution Tuner

Tech Staff — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:08:58 +0000

On first glance, apart from the distinctively Creek layout of controls, the Creek Evolution is pretty much what one expects from a modern analogue tuner.

There are less buttons on the front than one might expect, so no single-button access to presets. But using the tuning knob to skip from preset to preset is hardly rocket science and direct access is possible from the remote control.

Tuning the 'old-fashioned' way is particularly fast - a pleasure after some of the glacially slow tuners we've encountered - and is not accompanied by any unpleasant bursts of noise (the automatic muting being very efficient). RDS automatically displays the station name.

Inside Creek's tuner

Inside the unit there's little enough to see. The tuner head covers both FM and AM bands and is sourced from Kwang Sung, the Hong Kong based manufacturer that seems to be
the most successful supplier of such devices at present.

A ribbon cable from that little module passes a signal to Creek's own audio, control and power supply board which performs final signal conditioning and buffering before feeding the high-quality output sockets.The power supply is well specified, with a toroidal transformer and plenty of capacitance.

Build is good throughout, with a particularly impressive solid metal front panel.

Clean reception

With so much of the reception and decoding work done in the tuner head, how much of the sound is down to the notional manufacturer is open to question.

Testing it over a timespan that covered various atmospheric (and therefore reception) conditions, we continued to be impressed at its clean, unfussy and detailed reception of a wide range of stations.

Even with FM stations from quite distant transmitters, the sound managed to hang together fairly well. It's at its best, though, when fed a strong, clean signal from a roof-mounted aerial and, under such circumstances, proves conclusively that there is nothing wrong with FM sound.

Speech is very lifelike, with no detectable roughness on sibilants, while music is treated in an admirably even-handed manner, neither bass-heavy nor lightweight.

It's also well-balanced and with an open treble that displays excellent resistance to break up.

A capable FM system

Listening to some choral music on Radio 3 (the one station that sometimes sounds better on DAB due to its wide dynamic range and higher DAB bitrate) was a good test.

Because, even though it can sometimes sound quite edgy on FM, the Evolution managed this difficult repertoire with ease and confidence. On pop stations it was no less assured, perfectly happy with driving bass, ballads, even harmonic-rich jazz trumpet.

This is a very capable FM tuner and makes a great case for sticking with this trusted old technology!

Revo Blik RadioStation

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:13:28 +0000

This, folks, is a wireless wireless. That is to say it's a radio - supporting FM, DAB and even the not-yet-used-in-the-UK DAB+ - that also has WiFi, so it can connect to the internet to play web-based radio stations and, in theory at least, stream music from your Mac.

In fact, there's a hell of a lot of very juicy tech stuffed into this little box, and yet neither its physical dimensions nor the hole it would make in your bank balance are large. It really is a neat little box - only 255mm wide - and is available both in white and in a matt black finish (a little smarter, we think). And then there's that price; the manufacturer sells it for £150 - and even that's pretty good - but we found it online for only £119, which is serious bargain territory.

So many features

It's still a lot of cash, though, so why are we so excited? Well it's just that it does so darn much. Let's get FM out of the way, because you really never use it unless you're unlucky enough to live somewhere with no DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) reception - you can check at www.ukdigital radio.com/coverage - or internet connection.

DAB works beautifully, and we didn't even have to extend the aerial to get a perfect reception. There's space for ten presets - the same buttons for presets on the top of the device itself are replicated on the credit card-style remote control - along with support for all the usual DAB stuff, such as scrolling station information.

Setting up the internet

radio is a simple task, and the RadioStation supports WPA as well as WEP encryption, so it's easy to add to a secure network. Entering a password more than a few characters long is laborious with the system of scrolling through alphabets, but you'll rarely have to do this. It's just annoying that there's no alphabetic support, as this would make jumping though long lists much quicker.

Get browsing

Once you're wirelessly connected you theoretically have access, the company tells us, to 9,000 stations. Picking one is easy - you can browse by genre or location - but with so much choice, you might find yourself grateful for the list of 'highlighted stations'. Here too you can set ten presets, but there's another way to bookmark stations: an online service that enables you to browse and add them to a favourites list. This list is then accessed from your RadioStation. Flicking through the stations on a computer screen is certainly easier than on a two-line display.

The same online service also gives you an easy way to highlight 'podcasts'. We put the word in quote marks because although it does do podcasts proper, the real bonus here is you get access to the BBC's current Listen Again content.

There again, you can always hook up your iPod using a 3.5mm input jack, which renders the RadioStation into a dumb speaker, and though it isn't up to Denon standards, it's decent enough.

Alarms can be set, though don't be misled by the website's claims that you can set alarms that only sound on weekdays, weekends or every day; that feature didn't make the cut, but it's likely that by the time you read this, a firmware upgrade will be available to correct it.

A firmware upgrade is also needed to enable it to stream music from your Mac. The manual's suggestions about doing this are neither elegant nor secure, and neither EyeConnect nor Twonky (apps that enable UPnP streaming from your Mac) would allow us to access our music. Revo has it working in its offices, though, so ours could well be a network-specific problem.

It's not without its faults - the streaming, the screen and the anonymous buttons on the top that make it nearly impossible to find the right controls in the dark - but it's cheap and feature-rich.

Pure Siesta

tech.co.uk staff — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Having conquered the lower end of the DAB radio market with its best-selling One radio, Pure has dished out another 50 quid radio. This time it's is trying to conquer the bedroom with its Siesta model - and it might just succeed.

Pure, it seems, has woken up to the age of the eco warrior and constructed the Siesta mostly from recycled materials. Further Green credentials come courtesy of its standby mode: whereby, the unit consumes less than 1W. Although it's available in silver and charcoal, our sample is black - thanks to water-based lacquer, no less.

Semi detached

Siesta's semicircular design isn't new for a bedside radio, but neither does it make much sense. Its low profile on a bedside table might be a boon, but the speaker is further away than it needs to be, something that precludes hearing it at low volumes. That same design characteristic keeps all the knobs away from easy use.

It's a shame because there are plenty of features on the Siesta despite its overall basic character.

A quick autotune function is slightly hampered by the Siesta's lack of a telescopic aerial and you may encounter some minor interference, especially if you move the unit around.

There's also an FM tuner, complete with RDS (radio data system) for automatic tuning and station names, but the most impressive feature, for us, is the DAB tuner's Intellitext and Textscan features.

Both combine to allow the user not just to inspect different genres of scrolling text - business headlines, sport, entertainment or politics - on a radio station, but it's also possible to scan through them more quickly.

It's great if you want to catch up on the headlines seconds after waking up without having to figure out what Today's John Humphrys is talking about mid-interview. You can even save them to read later, though we can't imagine why you would.

Connectivity is scant and restricted to a simple headphone jack hidden at the back of the speaker. We would like to have seen a line in for connecting an iPod or similar, but unfortunately the sound quality is such that speech radio is all you should be aiming for with the Siesta.

The positioning of the speaker might cause a few problems if you're planning to listen quietly, but at least volume buttons can be turned really low, although the sleep timer doesn't fade out the sound slowly, as is possible on some Pure radios. Instead, a loud pop accompanies the Siesta's slide into unconsciousness. It's likely to wake you up.

Three amigos

At least three alarms can be set for weekdays, single days or even separately for weekends. These three alarms are important, given the Siesta's bedside nature.

They're also why we partially forgive its weedy sound: bereft of bass and too high on treble, the Siesta's treatment of music is rather woeful from its mono speaker, although speech radio is acceptable.

Despite poor sound and its plastic feel, the Siesta remains a user friendly DAB radio with some pretty unusual features.

Genus Type-R

tech.co.uk staff — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Here's a DAB radio with touch sensitive controls - and it's done in no-expense-spared style. Genus' Type-R is a serious proposition for the audiophile and has a considerable helping of bells and whistles.

Cash and carry

This beautifully designed digital radio's carry handle hints at portability, although special 'Type-R' rechargeable batteries must be purchased from Genus for this option to become reality. Besides, the Type-R is pretty heavy: leave it in the kitchen.

But maybe not, because its touch panel quickly becomes covered in fingerprints because all the controls are operated by sliding a fingertip down a scale. Volume works identically, while scrolling between DAB stations works much like using a dial on an old fashioned radio - there's just no dial in sight.

It's well designed because there's really not much to operate. Clean and streamlined, the two sliding scales - as well as tiny controls for accessing menus and making presets - glow red for about thirty seconds after use before dimming.

The use of red makes controls easier to locate, but there's still the same problem with the LCD screen. A two-line, red-on-black affair, it's too small to read properly and has a poor viewing angle, making it hard to read from the side.

But for the Type-R, forgiveness comes easy. Firstly, it's got a line-in (for attaching an iPod), a line-out (for using with other speakers) and a headphones jack, showing off some nice versatility. Secondly, it's one of the best sounding DAB radios at this size. Rich in bass (thanks to its MaxxBass feature) yet without any muffling, voice radio is given extra gravitas, while music enjoys a fully rounded delivery.

Brilliantly designed and with excellent sound, the Genus Type-R is an expensive, but nonetheless good value, DAB radio if you're in the market for something that will last for years. There are more expensive options out there with more features, but stunning build quality makes this a great option for the connoisseur.

Bush TR04DAB

tech.co.uk staff — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Despite the old fashioned looks, some features on the TR04DAB are firmly in the 21st Century - touch sensitive controls, for example.

Connectivity is limited to a headphones jack and a line output, meaning the radio can be hooked up to a separate speaker system. Bizarrely, there's no line input to allow the TR04DAB to double as a speaker for an iPod or similar.

Smash and grab

It's the touch panel that grabs the headlines, but it's not quite the finished article. In the centre lies a two-line blue LCD display and to its right side are five double-use presets for 10 DAB radio stations. The right hand contains controls for altering the volume, activating the blue backlighting, a standby option and something called BBS, which reveals itself to be a '3D sound' feature.

While the design is functional and day-to-day operation is relatively simple, the touch panel does make things a little harder. As well as not being all that sensitive, the area of the black panel that is dedicated to each control is fairly small.

Worse, the LCD screen itself is tiny, making scanning through digital stations quite a painful experience, especially since the viewing angle is awful, making the screen impossible to read unless you're looking directly onto it.

Seeing as all the controls are hidden on the top, we're not sure the touch panel makes too much difference to aesthetics, as buttons would probably have worked better without blighting the TR04DAB's charm. Still, a by-product of this radio's physical presence is decent sound: the volume can be high without distorting and music is lent plenty of bass.

For those after a simple DAB radio for a kitchen, the TR04DAB is worth an audition, although its plastic look and touch panel take some getting used to.

Intempo PG-01

tech.co.uk staff — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0000

With digital radios now selling for under £50 you might wonder why anyone would sell one without any discernable extra features for a good deal more.

But Intempo's PG01 is all about 'the look'. It has an aluminium carry handle and a polished wood veneer that appears solid and well built. But, under the veneer lies a fairly basic unit without any of the advanced features you're likely to find on Pure's line-up of DABs.

Panel of experts

Above simple aluminium speaker grilles, complete with volume knob in between, is a panel that holds all the basic controls. At its centre is a simple, two-line blue LCD screen that shows station name and scrolling text in white lettering.

Although the auto scan works well and tunes in stations quickly, there is a problem with ease of use. Instead of a dial for skipping between stations, the PG01 only has scanning buttons for jumping to the previous, or next, station.

It's a slow and clumsy way to find your desired frequency, but at least there's four preset buttons for DAB stations, which seems a sparse return. Luckily, its FM tuner, which automatically searches for the next station when activated, uses those same preset buttons for storing four presets of its own.

But that aside, a lack of versatility is the PG01's main problem, because there's not an option to use batteries, and only a headphone jack exists in the way of ins and outs.

That's a shame, as sound quality from the 5W stereo speakers is excellent, although it never approaches hi-fi quality. Used in a kitchen or a bedroom, the PG01 does just fine, but high volumes and bass-heavy sound are not its forte. On a positive note, it lends just about enough gravitas to music and certainly more than a lot of DAB radios half its price.

Reasonable value in terms of build quality and sound, the PG01 will suit those looking for a better-than-average entry into the world of DAB radio.

Philips AJ5100

tech.co.uk staff — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0000

For its debut DAB radio, Philips has taken a laid-back approach - literally. The sleek black body with chrome surround handle may recline to present its wares, but there's not much on offer.

The main reason that the AJ5100 is a cinch to operate is because it doesn't even try to do anything remotely exciting. This is demonstrated by its limited connectivity. Hidden away on its shoulder is a telescopic aerial to boost DAB and FM reception, with just a headphone socket and the power jack for company - although there is a battery compartment for easy portability.

Auto repair

Auto tuning without any delay, the unit offers a simple toggle between DAB and FM alongside an info button to choose between signal strength, the time and date, and displaying scrolling text.

A menu command gives access to manual tuning, DRC (which alters sound levels according to what's being broadcast) and the name of the software being used. Choosing between options is simple: left and right scroll buttons are used to run through DAB stations available, while up and down arrows control the volume.

Oddly, although 10 presets are provided for DAB or FM stations, these controls are hidden away on the unit's neck.

Unfortunately, the speakers dominating the front are a letdown in more ways than one. The silver cloth covering looks a little tacky, but the sound coming from beneath is better than we expected for the price.

Speech radio is rendered with precision, and surprisingly, for such a small unit, there's just enough bass to give some depth even to music broadcasts. A play of Sinatra's Luck Be A Lady on Radio 2 proves that while the AJ5100 can't reach the impressive sound of other, more expensive DAB radios, it does provide very accurate stereo and will fill a kitchen without much trouble.

A one-trick pony with unique styling, the AJ5100 joins the hordes of products that are aimed at those looking for a simple, affordable DAB solution for listening to voice radio in a kitchen.