Just Tested
Home cinema amplifiers
Denon AVR-X2000
The AVR-X2000 brings Denon back to the AV receiver top table in this ultra-competitive price category
Read
Soundbars
Otone Sonora AV-Lance
A decent, affordable effort from Otone but sound quality is tainted by a distracting brightness
Read
DACs
Chord Electronics QBD76 HDSD
Chord’s QBD76 HDSD is a top-class converter that delivers a brilliant sound from a well-built package. It has plenty of visual appeal, too
Read
In this month's mag
July 2013
SUPERTEST: Soundbar solutions £250-£450
GROUP TEST: 46-47in smart TVs
GROUP TEST: Standmount speakers £350-£450
© 2013 Haymarket Publishing
Comments
I am amazed by this minute DAB radio. I have owned Pure, Sony and Navada portable DAB's and this Technika is the best AND the cheapest! The sound quality may not be the best out there (in my opinion, only the nevada bettered it) but its close, and its size just makes others look clumsy and heavy. I wasn't expecting too much when I bought it but after changing the bundled earphones for something half decent I can seriously say I was very impressed with the sound. Size? About the same as a box of matches (battery life is good too}.
Just one more point, the reception is better than any of other portable DAB's I've owned. Iwork in a shopping
center and this is the only one that I have been able to get a signal with while working.
FM: Pros- great nulling- doesn't pull in adjacent strong stations when locked on to a DX station on margin of reception and is not prone to loss to other stations when positioning/ automatic switching to mono ensures clear sound/good tolerance to interference/low noise level. RDS picked-up even on weak stations.
Cons:sensitivity could be better, it is worse than Sony SRF s84 but way better than M10, so overall adequate, in Birmingham East I can pick up Beacon from Wolverhampton/BBC Coventry is on the margin. Some PLL-induced "taping" is evident on talk stations. Switches to mono too quickly. Could do with bass boost, probably stereo separation could be better.
DAB: PROS:strong wobble-free signal on weak stations, able to stay on station without patching on buses, also on trains for most of it. "Loud" EQ setting ensures full frequency sound, well defined bass (on Yuin PK3/Sennheiser px100-II you can hear the texture) natural mids and juicy treble.
Cons: "loud" EQ setting and low 64kbs mp2 with fast encoding make sound artefacting in the mids and treble region more evident. Pure tackled that better."Rock" eq set. in that case suited me best.
ADDITIONAL: RDS is a nice addition to FM as well as signal strenght and battery
level is. If you get interrupted just press "play" button in the middle to mute sound. 1100 mAh rechargeables last me for 9.5 hours, fair enough.