Pure One Mini DAB Radio review

Well I picked up one of these last Saturday and I thought I’d share how I feel about the device.

Firstly, it looks amazing and is a perfect size, roughly 5 CD cases stuck together. And for £39.99 does the three things I need it to do; listen to radio; allows me to plug my mp3 player into it; and is a portable speaker with the addition of a battery. I’ve been looking for something that could do all this for a while at that price, but with no luck.

Plugging in my mp3 player the sound was amazing. It disables the volume control when you do this turning it into a simple monitor speaker. It’s very punchy for it’s size and was much louder than I thought it would be.

The radio auto-tuned in around 30 seconds and it found 20 stations to listen to. I was getting 3 out of 7 signal bars but this seemed enough for clear reception.

I often listen to the radio as I fall asleep and the Pure Mini’s low volume range was perfect. I had three volume settings that could all be used for getting off to sleep depending on the external noise.

But, it’s not all roses. I’m finding quite a few issues with the machine. Enough to think about taking it back and waiting another year for some one to create the simple radio I need.

Now, I’m not sure if it’s just this strange humidity we’re getting in the south of the UK this week but my DAB reception has been all over the place. It’s jumping from 1 to 4 bars (out of a max of 7) constantly which is leading to a lot of bubbling and cutting out. I don’t live remotely or in a valley and the Pure Bug Too I had for a month last year had amazing reception so I can only presume that the DAB tuner in the Mini has been scaled back. Then again, I also lose a Freeview Multiplex with this weather so maybe it is just atmospheric conditions. There’s no external aerial socket so you’re pretty much left with the 17 inch fully extended aerial to get a signal.

Selecting the station is also a bit more complicated than it needs to be. It needs three actions; pressing the stations button, turning the volume dial to the required station, then pressing this dial in to select it. An additional station dial would have been better, although I think the normal Pure One uses the same all-in-one functionality.

Finally there’s one issue which could well be a fault. When the radio is on standby, i.e. plugged in but in the off mode, and the mp3 player is plugged it occasionally makes some feedback noise, like a cough, as if it’s discharging some energy. It’s very annoying and loud enough to wake you up.

So, I’ll wait a week or two but if I’m still having issues I’ll have to take it back and maybe buy a more expensive, less portable radio. That’s unless somebody can suggest a solution to the reception issues. Can I crocodile-clip a better aerial to the top of the current one?