Advantages: Cheap and Cheerfull, Good sound for money, Nice introduction product if you want DAB
Disadvantages: No casette deck. No AUX input for expanding. Tad slow on Tuning

...DAB is to radio what Freeview is to TV. Times are changing: DAB Digital Radio offers all the pluses of the new digital era upon us. You can expect crystal clear sound, and lots more stations. Think carefully before you purchase a FM/UHF/Anglouge system, they are already out of date. The Goodmans DAB 500 is a good effort for a entry level DAB system. It looks sharp in the clean bright silver finish and fits in well next to a DVD player, TV, Playstation etc. The display glows blue and the volume knob is sorrunded by a blue glow when the unit comes out of standby. This really adds to the visual apperance of the system. The front of the unit is uncluttered with only four buttons and the volume knob. The headphone socket also lives here. The top of the unit is where the majority of the buttons can be found in a line in front of the CD... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent reception, audio quality
Disadvantages: Expensive

...Background I have enjoyed DAB digital radio for sometime after being treated to a Pure Evoke1 for a Christmas present. A radio I am delighted with, but unfortunately, although its light and portable it relies on the mains supply to work. Here in Kent where I live a new Multiplex is currently being launched so I decided that I would now like a DAB radio that was a bit more portable having a battery provision The Contenders As some of you will know if you read my first review, I bought an Acoustic Solutions Portal 2 DAB/FM radio from Argos. This radio was great value at only £69.99 at the moment. Unfortunately this proved to be quite deaf and flatly refused to receive stations that my nearby Evoke1 radio would happily receive. So it was back to Argos for a refund. The nearest contender was the Bush TR2003 DAB built in a retro style... Read review

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Advantages: Compact, light, plays home-made disks
Disadvantages: If using battery-power, not long-lasting.

...the cassette deck, is purple and the cd player's lid (which opens on the top of the player) has puple edging around it too. In the centre of the cassette panel is the digital display (you can just about see it in the picture), which shows what track you're playing, or what radio station you have on. This glows orange when in use. ~Functions~ The Goodmans GPS222 plays ordinary cds, and also wma's and mp3s (on disk). It has mw/fm stereo radio and has a single cassette deck. It can be operated by the mains lead included, or by 8 (yes, that's 8!) size C batteries. It has a 2 x 1.5 watt power outlet. You can record from the radio, or from cd, and it also has a built-in microphone. There's a standard headphone socket, and also an extra-bass button. The cd/mp3/wma player is fully programmable - so you can set it to repeat individual tracks... Read review

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Advantages: Very easy to use; Great quality of sound; Stylish looks
Disadvantages: Not much in the way of extra features

...The Mikomi FM DAB Radio pretty much does exactly what it says on the packaging. Coming in a refreshingly simple yet stylish looking casing, the product looks professional, and the performance it delivers reflects that, with the reception and quality of sound both crystal clear. The radio also offers exemplary ease of use, with five possible preset stations, and an easy to navigate and clearly marked button system that manages to be self-evident and yet understated. What is more, all of this is offered for an astoundingly cheap price; at pretty much £25, this is the cheapest DAB digital radio that I am aware of on the market. So if you are bemoaning the crackly reception of your old FM radio, the Mikomi FM DAB radio is a brilliant investment with fantastic value for money. You aren't going to get any more out of it than that... Read review

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Advantages: Unit and interface design leaves most others in the shade
Disadvantages: Heavy with the six C batteries needed for power-hungry DAB

...Are you a DAB fan? The Sony XDR-S 20, retailing at around £80, is one of the best current designs on the market for a kitchen radio. As a family we have four DAB radios - two mono and two stereo - and really appreciate the quality and choice of digital radio. Channels such as BBC7, OneWord and FUNradio for the children are a real bonus, and while many households have other ways of experiencing radio via set-top box or the Internet, a compact and mobile radio is the most flexible. This Sony has the trademark clean styling and consumer design for which the brand is best known. You will probably want to leave it on AC power for regular use: you may have heard that DAB is far more power-hungry than FM, and while the six C batteries give very respectable battery life compared with our other radios, it doesn't really compare... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent sound for the money
Disadvantages: Hissy through the headphones

...I bought this 2 months ago for my home-office in order to listen to DAB radio and to listen to CDs and CD-Rs and CD-RWs. I'm a bit of a sceptic so I bought it from Argos (£89) so I could take it back if it was no good. When I last looked Richer Sounds were selling it cheaper (£79). The DAB tuner with supplied ribbon ariel is far more sensitive than my Pure Evoke1. How do I know this? It picks up many more (around 20) distant stations. I live north of Newcastle and it easily picks up stations from Cleveland (Middlesborough) and often picks up stations in Leeds (about 80 miles away). The sound from DAB and CD is excellent for the money. I don't use 'excellent' lightly. I have an expensive main hi fi system (e.g. Linn Turntable) and this Goodmans gives a respectable sound. Very listenable. It's quite understandable why What Hi Fi... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent sound; Excellent Alarm; Easy Operation; iVox
Disadvantages: Doesn't take batteries; Mono only; Expensive

...Radios are a funny thing. They've been around for ages and everyone pretty much takes them for granted. But actually there's quite an interesting history behind them. Don't worry though - I'm not here to bore you with the history of the radio. Oh no… I'm here to bore you with my thoughts on the latest incarnation of "radio" in our household. LegendaryMrsDude likes the radio. She used to have a combination cd/cassette/radio that sat blaring out the latest hits from the popular beat combos of the day. Until it failed. And then she was without music. So top of the Christmas list this year was a new radio. I'd hear a lot about the latest innovation - Digital Audio Broadcasts or DAB for short. It promised much easier tuning, crystal clear reception and a broader range of stations. It sounded too good to be true. Reception in our house... Read review

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Advantages: Cheaper than other radios, perfect for home use
Disadvantages: Sound quality is ok, not as good as a hi-fi though!

...This dab radio is good if you just want a simple radio for home use, you can't turn it up blasting loud so it would be no good for a disco, but would you really want to use the radio for a disco. The sound quality is fine, i'm not going to say its as good as my hi-fi, but it is fine for a radio. One thing that i like about dab radios is you don't have to set the time, it just gets it from somewhere through the digital radio signal i suppose. You can set 10 presets for dab and 10 for fm. The look of it is ok, especially if you like black, personally i prefer those wooden ones but they tend to be dearer, if you want a good quality radio but you don't want to spend to much this is perfect. Unfortunately i can't remember how much i paid for it, all i remember is that it was cheaper than alot of other dab radios, i think i got... Read review

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Advantages: none
Disadvantages: time freezes and then doesn't work, horrible alarm noise, not easy to use.

...Was given this last Christmas as a present. It isn't the easiest of clock radios to understand, the instructions aren't too bad, but trying to remember what to do each time you use it isn't easy, I find that I have to have the instructions to hand on each occasion. It has quite often had me wanting to throw it out of the window. The worst point about it is that for some unknown reason the time 'sticks' and the clock becomes un-useable, you have to unplug it to re-start it, I have taken it back for an exchange a couple of times, but to be honest I can't wait for next Christmas to a I can have another new one. BUYER BEWARE, DO NOT PURCHASE THIS CLOCK IF YOU WANT IT TO GET YOU UP IN A MORNING, THE TIME WILL HABVE PROBABLY FROZEN ON IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.... Read review

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Advantages: Ease of use, sound quality. Looks/styling.
Disadvantages: Not cheap but DAB radios aren't!

...I bought one as a replacement for a venerable old Bang and Olafsun FM portable. The sound quality from the latter was great and build quality simply superb. After nearly 30 years though, the B&O was starting to give up the ghost - the volume control crackled, tuning drifted and so, time to get something new. I was looking for something of similar standard and preferably a DAB radio. The Pure Evoke seemed to fit requirements exactly so went shopping early December. Nowhere, either online or in the High Street, seemed to have one. As luck would have it, I called into my local Argos - for something else - the week before Christmas. I was moaning to the lady at the collection counter and asking why Argos didn't, as they claimed in an email to me, have them in stock. 'Oh', she cried, producing box from under counter, 'is this what... Read review

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