Tag: Radio review

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Bush Pocket DAB Radio

Reviewed December 2017

Price at time of review £40

The Bush Pocket DAB radio is a personal radio offering DAB and FM reception. It supports FM RDS, but it is not DAB+ compatible. We found the very small-sized text in the manual difficult to read. 

The build quality feels lightweight and cheap and the radio lacks a belt clip, and there is no button lock to disable the buttons when using it in a pocket. 

The reasonable sized backlit LCD display offers clear text. Below this there’s a central selection button surrounded by volume and tuning buttons. The central button enables users to scroll through onscreen text, whilst a long press brings up the main menu. The controls are not great, imprecise in operation and clunky to use. The only other control is the side mounted on/off switch. 

The radio features a built-in rechargeable battery which can only be charged using the bundled USB lead via a computer or compatible device with USB charging facility. The battery offers up to 9 hours of playback from a single charge. 

There are 20 presets available, 10 for DAB and 10 for FM, but these are menu driven and not easy to access on the move. 

Reception performance was reasonable for this style of radio, but the sound quality through the suppplied earphones is not good and there are no tone settings. However swapping for a better set of earphones improved sound significantly. 

This radio doesn’t have the quality of Pure’s Move 2520, or the Roberts SportsDAB range, but it is considerably cheaper. However without DAB+ we cannot recommend it.

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Pure Evoke CD-4

Reviewed in Radio Listener’s Guide 2017 edition

Price at time of review – £190

Pure’s Evoke C-D4 is a kitchen/tabletop mini-system – the smallest system from the current Pure range – offering DAB, DAB+ and FM radio, Bluetooth streaming facilities and a slot-loading CD player plus there is an auxiliary input for other devices.

The case, in common with similar models we have looked at this year, has a rounded design, but the wooden-effect veneer seems to be thinner and less durable than on older models.

All the controls are on the front panel. Buttons and controls are easy to use, and there is a good-sized display which is easy to read. It offers a range of information about the station or track played. There are a number of brightness settings, but no auto-dimming. The C-D4’s traditional menu system is relatively easy to use, but we much prefer the display and menu structure found on the Evoke H-range and C-F6.

On the rear there are power, auxiliary-in and earphone sockets, we felt the later would have been better positioned on the front of the unit.

Bluetooth works well, supporting CDR/RW and MP3 playback. CD playback worked well using the buttons on the unit. The C-D4 also offers a remote control, but in common with the Evoke C-D6 and C-F6 the remote wouldn’t fast forward or rewind CD tracks.

Although it might be large for many bedside tables, the inclusion of two alarms, snooze and sleep features put alarm features on par with most dedicated alarm clocks.

Radio reception is good on FM and DAB, with 10 station presets are available for each radio source on the menu system, and four programmable to direct buttons. They are very easy to set and recall.

The system features a top-firing 76mm speaker, ported for extra bass.  The sound quality is very good for such a small system, and whilst the sound might not fill a large room the system is pretty loud, handling its volume without distortion.

We like the Evoke C-D4.  It offers lots of functionality, reasonable value for money, and although it doesn’t have twin speakers for stereo separation sound quality is very good. Worth considering if you’ll use its CD playback.