Hello everybody Dane has commented on this radio and now that I have one, I would like too also. So if you will forgive my meandering ramblings, I shall do so now.
Be mindful, however, that I have only had this device for a few short hours. But here are a few of my initial findings: • A little disappointed that setup is not as intuitive as setting up the Amazon Echo, echo Dot or Google Home was. All of those devices are extremely easy to set up, and all totally accessible right out of the box. • Build quality is excellent! I like the idea of the removable speaker covers, so that one can view the drivers. There’s probably a good reason for that which I have not yet discovered. I regret that my life is so up-side-down that I don’t recall all of Dane’s comments to the group. But as I said, these are mine based on my own personal experiences. • Very nice control layout. Nothing cluttered, nothing too small. • Audio quality using default settings is utterly excellent. I have managed to tune into my own local BBC station on FM, just using the internal antenna. Worked fine, no noise once the signal was found. • Scanning up/down the frequency ranges is very strait-forward. Hold down one of the directional buttons for about 2 seconds makes the unit scan the currently selected band for the next available strong signal. Once located the device can be fine tuned if necessary but it seems to be sensitive enough. I didn’t expect miracles using a telescopic antenna indoors. But not at all bad, and better than many tuners I’ve tried. • CD player is a little basic, although that’s not really a concern to me. The low profile front-loading media slot is easy to find, and I’m sure that the audio from digital media will be excellent also. • Enough media support to satisfy even the most enthusiastic user. Although I have not yet established whether the SD card reader is HC or XC. The definition here is vital! Any self-respecting media device today should be clear on this point. By that, I mean that the manufacturers aught to make it clear in the specs list. I haven’t seen it yet but that doesn’t mean it isn’t listed. It just mean that I haven’t come across that specific item yet. • I was very much surprised, and most pleasantly so, to discover that the device sports wired as well as wireless networking. In the latter case, we are having compatibility issues for some odd reason with my network. But I’m not overly worried, as I’m having a new client system installed on Wednesday anyway, so I will wait and get that set up when the new broadband goes live. There are, however, two omissions in the hardware spec, however, which do worry me a little. Although there seem to be inserts for wall-mounting brackets on the rear of the unit, which is good. My slight concern relates to the telescopic signal antenna, and to the rubberised WiFi antenna. There are no rear clips to securely lock these antennas in place when they are distended and folded to the rear panel of the device. I have noticed that, over time, most of these antennas with knuckle-joints become a little flimsy as time goes on. Having no locking mechanism does seem a little odd to me. But I’m sure the designers have a good reason for that. It just eludes me at present. • A more discrete AC power input would have been nice. Like most portable devices in its class it makes use of the standard two-pin AC jack. I’m quite surprised about that to be honest. I would have expected something a little more sophisticated on a device of this kind. I need to locate one of the right-angle connectors I have kicking around the place really, just to ensure that it’s as discrete as possible when in its default location in my listening room. • The InfraRed remote control is nicely populated and laid out. Not too small, with reasonably-sized buttons, and the actual remote unit is just about the right size. • That’s about as far as I’ve got as yet. I must do more digging before commenting further. It would be grossly unfair of me to leap to conclusions based on guesswork. So I shall leave it there for the moment. but not too cumbersome either. ======================================== My compliments and kindest regards Gordon Smith: <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> Accessibility & Information Technology Support Specialist. Mobile/SMS: +44 (0)7907 823971 ————————————————————
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