I've had the radio for a little more than 12 hours. Here are a few first impressions (this turned out to be pretty long):
1-Sound quality is really outstanding. This is a small bedside device, and it sounds great through the speaker. It does a pretty good job of making even low bit-rate streams sound good, and with good source material (local flac files, high bit-rate radio) is fantastic. It also sounded really nice with my Sony MDR-V6 headphones. 2-Setup. You have to be a geek to set this thing up. Fortunately I am, but it was still frustrating. I used the remote from one of my SB3s to enter accounts, wep-key etc, but it was still a 30 minute process. Also, as far as I can tell, you can't edit a network connection once it exists. Due to some wonkiness with my DHCP server, I initially had to set a static IP address. When I tried to go back to change it, the only way I could see to change it is to completely re-enter the network settings. To be fair, I use a hidden SSID and 128-bit WEP key, so I might be making things harder on myself, but the point is, it should be easy to see and change the settings without completely starting over, especially when it is that difficult to enter passwords. 3-Appearance and ergonomics. This is a really great looking device. I like the LCD a lot, and I really appreciate the fact that with automatic brightness control, it goes really dim. I have the power off screen server set to digital clock (black), and I sleep with my face about 12-18 inches from the clock. My last clock radio spent most of its time with the display off, because even at the lowest setting it illuminated half the bed. The SBR was perfect in that regard. I could always see the time, if I needed to, but the illumination never bothered me. I don't want to rave about it too much, but for me the implementation of the lcd screen is absolutely perfect. Lack of backlit buttons is a plus for me, and it is reasonably easy to find the buttons by touch orienting from the two knobs. It could have and should have been made easier, but it works the way it is. I don't like the menu structure. The main reason, is that it doesn't show you what has already been set at a glance. For example, when changing an alarm you should be able to see from the first screen, if the alarm is on, the time and days for the alarm, and the sound that the alarm makes. You have to go at least two levels deep to see what has already been set. I think this could easily be fixed. It should be possible to re-order the menu items. Why the @#$# can't I manage the menus from the web page??? It's too hard to see which source I'm using (SBS or MSB.com). And it's too hard to switch. 4-Alarms. This is the very worst thing about the Radio. My wife who is very non-technical needs to be able to set an alarm and know that it will go off. She also needs to be able to just hit one button to turn the alarm off till the next day. When the alarm went off this morning, I tried just hitting the power button, which I believe should stop the alarm. I had to hit it 4 or 5 times, in a disoriented state, because I got a different alarm than the one I thought I was getting. I have a LOT of issues with the way the alarms work. It just shouldn't be this hard. -- gdpeck ------------------------------------------------------------------------ gdpeck's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4686 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=69446 _______________________________________________ Radio mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/radio
