Pure Digital Avanti Flow review

Radio Product of the Year, Awards, 2010. This is Pure's second internet radio, and the Avanti Flow has a built-in iPod dock as well as DAB and FM radi Tested at £250

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

Radio Product of the Year, Awards, 2010. Talented and likeable, the Avanti Flow is a genuine alternative to a micro

Pros

  • +

    Great spec

  • +

    good ergonomics

  • +

    sounds is large-scale and well controlled by prevailing standards

Cons

  • -

    No iPod menus on the display

  • -

    goes loud, but not quite as loud as we'd like

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Radio Product of the Year 2010

While the price-tag puts the Pure Avanti Flow firmly in the territory of many micro-systems, its configuration suggests it's more of a rival for something like the Roberts Sound 53 we awarded four stars to – a fixed-speaker desktop/worktop design.

But where the Roberts featured a CD player alongside its DAB/FM reception and iPod dock, the Avanti Flow goes without CD playback and counters with wireless internet radio reception.

Internet radio as standard
This is a thoroughly thought-through device. Your £280 buys iPod connectivity (including the iPhone, provided it's in 'airport' mode), DAB/FM radio, wireless connectivity, 3.5mm in- and outputs, remote control, and two 3in full-range drivers and a 5.25in downward-firing subwoofer driven by a claimed 75 watts of power. It's glossily finished and substantially built, and the display is bright and clear.

With an iPod secured in the cradle, the Pure sounds punchy and composed. Headhunter's Physics Impulse (a 128kbps file) is a martial test of timing and attack, but the Avanti Flow is unfazed – a switch to an uncompressed copy of the altogether subtler Joan as Police Woman's Anyone and the Pure offers unflustered musicality and eloquent midrange communication.

Radio reception is laudable
FM, and to a lesser extent DAB, reception is equally laudable. Radio broadcasts are crisp, spacious and poised – talk radio sounds particularly immediate. The Pure is a tenacious tuner, picking up signals in obscure parts of our listening rooms where other radios give up the ghost.

Internet radio is the party piece, though, and here too the Avanti Flow scores highly. Easy to navigate and uncomplicated to administer, the Pure is basically a simple link to a whole world of radio, from Venezuela to the Vatican – providing you have a wireless network to attach it to, of course.

Aside from a lack of outright volume, there's very little here worthy of censure – so if the ideal of a three-piece micro system doesn't appeal but internet radio does, you'll need to put this Pure on your shortlist.

Watch our Awards video of the Pure Avanti Flow

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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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