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Digital radios make tuning in easy and sound superb. Ursula Seymour, who writes for PC Advisor, Mac World, Computer Buyer and The Sunday Times among others, picks five of the very best Click to view Top 5 Digital Radios.
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Best Portable (Pure Digital PocketDAB 1500) |
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 If you want to listen to digital radio on the move then look no further than the Pure Digital PocketDAB 1500. This dinky device, which sports a host of high-end features, allows you to listen to both digital and FM stations via top-quality headphones - and yet it's still small enough to fit into a (large) pocket. (Compare Prices) |
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| It has 20 present, 10 digital and 10 plain old FM, and scrolling text for both digital and FM stations is displayed on the orange LCD screen. Setting up the unit is fast and on first use an auto scan will pick up up to 55 available digital stations. (Compare Prices) |
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 One potential problem you can have with digital radios is that coverage isn't as strong or widespread as with old fashioned analogue, so good reception is a must with a portable digital radio. Fortunately, this is one area in which the PocketDAB 1500 excels. Gadget review site, Lordpercy says that when it comes to reception "the Pure [PocketDAB 1500] radio was about the best portable DAB unit we've tested".
While it is a portable radio, weighing in at just 123g, with dimensions of 65x110x21mm, it's nowhere near as tiny as say an iPod nano MP3 player, so you will have to have a pretty capacious pocket to fit it into. But this is probably due to all the features Pure have squeezed into this little box.
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Audio Quality |
 You can use the on-screen electronic programme guide to select between stations, and the addition of textSCAN so you can pause and rewind scrolling text, makes using this feature even easier. (Compare Prices) |
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A real bonus with this model is the inclusion of Sennheiser MX300 earphones, the same as those supplied with Pure's more expensive PocketDAB 2000 radio. This shows that Pure isn't stinting on audio quality even on this slightly cheaper model, and ensures what Lordpercy describes as "a rich, warm DAB sound with no hiss and sounding very balanced".
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 It comes with a rechargeable battery that promises 24-hours of use on a single charge, as long as you switch the backlight into power-saving mode.
The PocketDAB 1500 represents real value for money, while still offering a good quality, genuinely portable radio. If Pure could make a little bit smaller, then it would be perfect, but for now it's pretty damn close, which is probably why it was selected as What Hi Fi?'s Best Handheld Radio in its 2006 awards.
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| TYPICAL PRICES - £90/approx $177 |
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