Geneva Sound World Radio DAB review

Best radio £200+, Awards 2013. If you can afford it, it’s a brilliant premium buy Tested at £270

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

Best radio £200+, Awards 2013. If you can afford it, it’s a brilliant premium buy

Pros

  • +

    Fine sound

  • +

    Versatility of Bluetooth

  • +

    Superb finish

  • +

    Feels worth the money

Cons

  • -

    No presets

  • -

    Pricey for a radio

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

Here’s a truly premium product. Beautifully made with a brushed-metal finish, the Geneva Sound World Radio DAB is an intriguing mix of ancient and modern, with an appealing old-fashioned look married to a decidedly new-world display and digital functionality.

MORE: Awards 2013

Geneva World Radio DAB: features

The display on the front is a touch screen, where you can select your source: FM, DAB, Bluetooth, the auxiliary input, or an alarm. There’s also a touch-point for tone controls.

The knobs on either side control power and volume (left), and manual or automatic tuning and station search (right).

There’s a metal telescopic aerial to seek out the signal, and the auxiliary input on the back of the unit for connecting an MP3 player or other device. Our review sample was a stylish silver metallic, but it also comes in black and red metallics. That’s it really, in terms of features.

Geneva Sound World Radio dAB

Geneva Sound World Radio dAB

It’s simplicity itself to use. Charge up the battery fully before you get going, and you’ll get a good five hours of use – more if you stick to FM and steer clear of Bluetooth. You select your input using the touchscreen on the front, which is an impressively deep black until you turn the unit on, then classy with its red and muted blue theme.

It does suffer a little if you look from any great angle, so you’ll need to be looking at it reasonably straight on. Then, it’s extremely legible and easy on the eye.

The unit will automatically search for stations, or you can manually tune it. The search for an FM station is very smart, with a classic-looking radio dial coming up on the screen and scrolling along until it comes to a signal.

Geneva Sound World Radio dAB

Geneva Sound World Radio dAB

With DAB, you get a list of stations to scroll through using the right hand dial then push to select. It’s all extremely easy to do, and intuitive too.

Which is a good job, as there are no presets available. Most people have two or three go-to stations, at least, and it’s always handy to have a short cut to them. You won’t get that with this Geneva. Tracking down all stations is so simple, however, that we didn’t find it as much of an issue as we thought we might.

Connecting via Bluetooth is just as simple a process really. Select the Bluetooth function on the screen, search using your Bluetooth enabled smart device, and connect. We didn’t have a problem connecting at all.

Geneva World Radio DAB: sound quality

All the premium feel and build would count for naught of course, if the World Radio wasn’t up to the job with the sound it produces. But Geneva has hit the spot here as well. It sounds superb for a unit of this size, with a full-bodied tone that’s even-handed across the frequency range.

Voices, so vital on radio, are particularly well relayed, but not to the detriment of the upper and lower reaches of the range. Treble sings clear and bright without ever being strident, and bass is impressive for a unit of this size – full-sounding but fast, and certainly not flabby.

Geneva Sound World Radio dAB

Geneva Sound World Radio dAB

No one area of the frequency range stands out, and music hangs together cohesively, whether you listen to classical, hip-hop or Frank Sinatra.

We’d happily use the Geneva World Radio to stream music via Bluetooth, too. It’s this that makes this ‘radio’ such a versatile piece of kit. The sound loses little when you go wireless, so as well as your digital tunes and Spotify, internet radio is also available to you via a smart device or laptop.

Marry all that with its portability, thanks to that in-built battery, and you’ve got a winner on your hands.

Geneva World Radio DAB: verdict

The Geneva Sound World Radio DAB is undeniably expensive for a radio. Yet it’s also one of those products that screams quality, making people say “I just want one”. Beautifully built and finished, it also performs superbly and is a joy to use.

MORE: Best DAB radios

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What Hi-Fi?

What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence.

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