Pure Digital DMX-50

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With the DMX-50 Pure have opened the way to turn any DAB radio show into a PODCAST or CD virtually at the touch of a button. Read on to find out how...

So what is the DMX-50? Basically it is a very nicely built mini HIFI system sporting 40W RMS per channel output. It plays CDs and it receives DAB and FM radio. So far pretty standard stuff.

But the really clever bit is that it also RECORDS any DAB signal in full ...
...the mock rosewood units that Pure supply. Don't confuse these with the usual cheap rubbish that other manufacturers supply with their mini systems. They actually seem pretty well designed and built and they produce a pretty well rounded sound within the limitations that I have already stated.

I brought my unit to replace a bedroom system that, after 18 years of service had reached its end of life! In this setting the Pure scores in ... more

Like many people who listen to a lot of radio I was one of the first to leap aboard the DAB bandwagon. The increase in quality and variety of stations that I could listen to made this technology a radiophiles dream.

I listen to a vast range of stations ranging from speech output to classical music, jazz, rock and even some modern chart hits. Like many dedicated radioheads I often like to record proogrames so that I can savour them again, either in the car, at work or just because I want to have that particular show on tap.

Until now this has involved either stepping back into the old fashioned world of analogue cassettes or an unholy process of re-digitising an analogue feed on my PC so that I could transfer the resultant digits to CD.

No longer!

With the DMX-50 Pure have opened the way to turn any DAB radio show into a PODCAST or CD virtually at the touch of a button. Read on to find out how...

So what is the DMX-50? Basically it is a very nicely built mini HIFI system sporting 40W RMS per channel output. It plays CDs and it receives DAB and FM radio. So far pretty standard stuff.

But the really clever bit is that it also RECORDS any DAB signal in full un-transcoded quality to an SD memory card. With 512Mb card you can fit about a whole days output on the memory! From there it is but short and easy step to either burn it onto CD in a PC or load it into your MP3 player. The best bit is that if you don't like the recording it can be wiped just as easily and unlike CD-RWs or cassettes the SD card will never wear out. Alternatively you can just connect the system with a USB cable to the PC in which case the memory just appears as a external disk drive.

Just think any radio show can now become a podcast for you!

You don't get any SD card with the unit but a trip to PCWORLD yielded a DANE-ELEC 512Mb unit for just £23.

The DAB tuner is amazing sensitive. There is only one aerial connector for both DAB and FM. Initially I plugged the unit into my DAB aerial but the FM reception on this was, unsurprisingly disappointing. So on a whim I tried connecting the FM aerial expecting to no DAB signal at all (as is the case with every other DAB radio that I own) To my immense astonishment the DAB reported a perfect signal even on the awkward channels like our local radio stations.

The sound quality is pretty good for a system costing just £200 and overall it has a feeling of quality that no other system in this category has. True if you like heavy metal you are going to find the rather polite delivery with restrained bass and slight lack of presence a bit disappointing. But for general listening its pretty good for a unit of this size and price. The CD isn't bad either.

When originally unpacked it I attempted to correct the lack of bass power by mating the unit with a spare pair of old PIONEER speakers that we had, hoping that their bass response would beef up the sound a little. Unfortunately this reveals that fact that the amp is a bit sloppy at lower end and could not control the speakers. However I am an ex-broadcast engineer and so I have a good collection of components in my cupboard.

Eventually I dug out a pair of BBC LS3/5A monitor speakers and the end result is darned good. Mind you I doubt whether most people will have a spare pair of what are basically £500+ speakers just kicking around! So you will probably want to know that actually the sound is pretty much ok with the mock rosewood units that Pure supply. Don't confuse these with the usual cheap rubbish that other manufacturers supply with their mini systems. They actually seem pretty well designed and built and they produce a pretty well rounded sound within the limitations that I have already stated.

I brought my unit to replace a bedroom system that, after 18 years of service had reached its end of life! In this setting the Pure scores in that it is quite compact, it has lovely little backlit LCD display which can either be dimmed or turned right off when the unit is in standby. It also sports a sleep timer and an ALARM which is automatically updated every time the unit tunes an RDS or DAB station.

My main HiFi system consists of a QUAD amp mated with TANNOY speakers and an ARCAM CD player, so you may gather that I am something of an audiophile. Obviously the Pure isn't going to compete with my main system - but for most purposes it is darned good and well worth my strongest recommendation.

My Pure DMX-50 cost me £229 from ARGOS and was money very well spent indeed
 

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