Pure Digital ONE MINI > Reviews (6)

Pure digital one mini

I was sick of hearing all about digital radios and the scare stories that we needed them or we’d never be able to listen to our favourite music stations ever again when they switch of the analogue signal. What they fail to mention is that this isn’t strictly true since most of us have access to digital radio in different ways such as through the computer or through freeview/sky/cable. Anyway I was suckered into this propaganda and I had to have one so off I trundled down to the shops to have a look.

What I found there shocked me as the prices were astronomical for what were essentially just little radios with none of the features we have come to expect from our radios over the years such as CD playing facilities. Once I got my head around the fact that since this is relatively new technology then there is going to be a premium I quite liked the look of what I saw.
There was a pretty large range of DAB radios to choose from lots of different manufacturers and some of them even came with digital clock displays but of course for this luxury it was an extra £50.
Unsure if I would even like or use a digital radio I plumped for the cheapest one there which just so happened to be the Pure digital one mini.

what exactly is DAB and why should I have it?

DAB is an acronym of Digital Audio Broadcasting and it is basically a way of broadcasting and listening to radio stations in digital opposed to FM. IT is supposed to have many benefits over conventional radio including allowing people to listen to their favourite stations without the interference and buzzing that is common with Fm radios.

DAB radios will automatically tune into all the available stations that it can pick up and tell you what they are. The upside of this is that unlike with FM you will not have the hassle of trying to adjust the ariel to try and get a better signal. Of course the downside of this is that perhaps you want to listen to a specific station and do not mind a little interference but with DAB you cannot do this as if the signal is not strong enough the radio station you want will just not show up.

With DAB there is a larger choice of stations to choose from thanks to the fact that DAB can transmit more stations on the one transmitter than FM can.
Other benefits include the ability to be able to see what the name of the song that is playing and the station it is on.

Currently not everywhere can receive DAB signals and these places will not be able to listen to any of the stations that are offered on the network whereas with FM they would most likely be able to pick up something.
Although the sound picked up with DAB will be clear thanks to it being digital it is actually a lower quality of sound than FM radio is when picking up a good signal.

I have tried explaining to the best of my knowledge DAB but I am far from an expert so I hope you at least managed to gleam a little information from it.

The pure one mini

The pure one mini is made by the company pure digital that specialise in DAB radios and are one of the leaders in the field and probably the most ubiquous of the DAB makers when looking round the shops.

The reason that I got the one mini as stated is because it was the cheapest that was available and I wanted to ensure that I liked it before thinking of buying anything more expensive.

It may be the cheapest but it’s actually not a bad looking little radio. It is very small being only a 13cm x 13cm square and is available in black, white or pink. I chose the white version simply because it looked better than the black one. It is has a glossy finish and looks sleek and modern whereas the black I felt looked a little old fashioned and not in a cool retro kind of way either.
I was actually really pleased with the size of it and as it is really light I thought it would be perfect for taking into the bathroom, kitchen or out in the garden with me.

Unfortunately what I didn’t realise at the time of purchase was that in order to make it portable which is what I was most looking forward to using it for then I would need a special battery pack adding another £20 onto the price of the radio. Not to be deterred I bought the battery pack and was glad that I did as it has allowed me to make much more use of the radio than I would have without.
This obviously adds a little more weight to the radio but nothing that makes it uncomfortable to carry.

Features

I was surprised to find this little mini digital radio is a lot more packed with features than I first thought when buying it.
On the front is a little screen that shows the information such as the name of the radio station and the song name. I like this and think it is great for those times a song comes on that I want to know the name of and can’t remember and you would be surprised how often this happens. It also where you will find the clock and the signal strength and it manages to pack quite a lot of information into such a little screen thanks to scrolling text.
A feature called textscan gives information on the screen when it is said on the radio for example if they give the name of their website or a phone number this will show on screen and there is even the option of pausing the writing so that you can make a note of it.

On the top there are buttons that are for turning it on/off, DAB/FM, information, Autotune, Preset, stations.
To the side there is a knob for controlling the different features depending on what button you press and I like this little touch as it gives you that authentic feeling of actually using a radio instead of just pressing a button to do everything for you.

The radio can switch between either DAB and FM radio which is great if you can’t get a strong enough signal for your favourite station or just miss the slight hissing of FM radio like I do sometimes. It also means that no matter where you are in the country you can guarantee some kind of radio service be it digital or FM.

Remembering that this is the most basic model available I was pleasantly surprised by everything it had to offer.

Sound

The pure mini only has one speaker that is positioned right in the centre of the radio and actually takes up more than half of the space on the front of it.

It is full range meaning it will play the spectrum of audio frequencies.
As it is digital of course the music is crystal clear and for such a little thing it is also quite loud. It is by no means up there with a proper stereo speaker but it is more than loud enough for using in the bathroom or kitchen and can be heard even from the other side of the room. Trust me when I say that no one will have a problem with singing along to the radio with this.

One great thing about it which I also didn’t realise when I bought it and was thrilled when I realised is that is has a 3.5mm jack so that you can plug in headphones for listening to the radio without the speaker. This however also means that you can also connect your ipod and the radio will act as a potable speaker for it. Before I got proper speakers for my ipod I used this as one all the time and it worked great for that purpose.

My verdict

I have had this little radio for a couple of years now and although by know I know that FM radio is not about to be turned off tomorrow I have been really happy with my purchase and it definitely convinced me to buy more advanced DABs.
However due to the practicality of being able to easily move this radio around the house and even take it on holiday with me it is by far and away the one that I use most often.
I am lucky that I get good coverage where I live much better than with FM radio and this means that I can listen to all my favourite stations whenever I want and not only in the car like I used to do.

Even though it has been used so often since I got it, it has remained in excellent condition and is definitely a high quality product that will last for a few more years yet. I paid £50 for this little radio when I got it but they are still widely available and can now be had for around £30 which is a great price for a DAB radio. It may not have all the features that some of the others now have but for someone wanting an easy to use little radio with great sound then I really don’t think that you can go wrong with this one.