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Posted 20 hours ago

Radio Revival Mini DAB/DAB+/FM Digital Radio - Amazon Exclusive - Portable Radio - Midnight Blue

£74.995£149.99Clearance
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About this deal

The white goods suppliers seem to be a bit more hands on than the brown goods suppliers and a number still run their own network of service agents e.g. Electrolux's ServiceForce who may use independent repairers but are there to provide national support for their products. On first switch on it goes into a tune mode for DAB stations and it found 67 in my area. It defaults to the first found. The Roberts Revival Mini has rotary dials for tuning and volume control, which are very easy to use. You can also set and recall preset stations by just pressing a button, which is much easier than with most DAB radios where you would need to press a complicated sequence of buttons. Sound quality

Well, at a glance, it’s exactly what you would expect – a smaller, more compact version of the Revival. There’s that fantastic retro vibe that made us fall in love with Roberts Radio in the first place. I've never known anything about Pure, as far as I'm aware there was never much support from them, and they seemed to appear from nowhere. One feature which few DAB radios have is ‘Prune’ and this allows you to remove stations that are permanently off air or those you know you will not ever want. There are some spares available for their products, so they are not adverse to people repairing radios. I suppose the thing with digital radios sold commercially is to "be happy with things that work moderately well"...

Pros

Hi Nigel ! Just out of interest, is there a brand these days who impress you with after-sales support ? Something that customers would appreciate !

One reason I kept the radio was because there was an easy (but not perfect) workaround. The BBC still retained old fashioned (and a bit lower quality) mp3 streams for all the stations and these were not affected by the change. The FS portal lets you add/save favourites and I added the BBC mp3 streams for my required stations. I could then use them as normal on the radio until Roberts fixed it. The Petite’s use of a micro-USB port for charging also feels a bit outdated when most of the competition are incorporating USB-C, but this is far from being a dealbreaker. The Roberts Radio Mini is a super-stylish bit of kit, with a stunning front grille that just screams “Radio history”, and a carry handle so you can take your investment with you wherever you go. The gold plating really makes the accents of this radio stand out too.

The Roberts Revival Petite is an attractive, pint-sized DAB radio that comes very close to delivering full-sized Roberts sound

Our only issue is when listening to it at its top volume increment, number 20. Here, things do start to distort slightly through the treble (which hardens) and the bass (which begins to bloat). But take a moment to remember, this thing is the size of a modest 1970s battenberg cake – it is not intended to become an alternative to your hi-fi system. At more sensible listening levels, you’ll hear it display rare talent for its level. Roberts Radios are just cheap made in China radios, and seem to have very little spares support now. Now, the Roberts Revival Mini looks great, it sounds amazing, and it even feels good to carry around with you. However, Roberts is offering their smaller radio at a discount price, which also means that you have to compromise a bit on features.

With the Roberts Revival Mini you’re mainly paying for the stylish retro design and the prestigious Roberts name, though it does have decent sound quality and the built-in battery charger is a great feature. Occasionally, a product ventures through our testing facility that not only surprises us sonically but makes its way into our everyday lives, to the point that we miss it when the time inevitably comes that we have to return it. The Revival Petite is one such device. The big surprise is how big and authoritative such a small unit can sound. I’ve tried previous radios of around this size from Pure, Sony and VQ, but even the best have suffered from a slightly tinny, boxy output, with little in the way of bass and most of the power in the mid-range and the treble. Some have been more listenable than others, and you put up with the audio compromises in the name of portability. With the Revival Petite, those compromises just aren’t that significant.

Rambler Radio Range

Always worth a try I suppose, but I'm dubious they would offer help - particularly to a member of the public.

The Roberts Revival Mini is the smallest and cheapest radio in the Revival range. The Revival RD60 is the next model up, and features two speakers rather than just the one. If you’d like a retro Roberts radio with more advanced features, you should consider the Roberts Revival iStream2 , which has WiFi and Bluetooth allowing you to wirelessly stream music from your phone or listen to podcasts and online radio. The display could be better, as it’s very small, with text to match, which can make reading menus or finding out what’s playing a bit of a challenge. It’s also very bright, and while you can reduce the brightness level, you won’t get it down to levels you won’t notice in a darkened room. For anyone looking for a reliable Bluetooth speaker with DAB and FM radio that you can throw into a bag and know that it’ll last throughout the afternoon and long into the evening, this little Roberts should be on your list. Any individual yet to invite the joys of the original wireless into their lives will find this device a compelling gateway product. It’s also a decent Bluetooth speaker, it offers wired listening, and it sounds every bit as good as anyone can ask for the price. Most other radios at this price point have an alarm function, and many have Bluetooth and/or a USB port. If you want a compact, stylish FM/DAB/DAB+ radio and don’t need any other features, the Revival Mini is a good choice. You might even prefer a straightforward radio with just a few features. Similar radios If you want alarms or EQ settings, let alone internet streaming features, then you’ll need to move further up Roberts’ price and size range, but if you just want a compact, simple and easy-to-use radio, then this one has you covered.After my problems with the Solar DAB II, and learning far too much about Frontier Silicon modules and the "closed source" business model for my brain to handle, I built my own software defined radio which decodes all the regular broadcast stations, which is what I enjoy listening to - AM, FM, SW, DAB and DAB+. For DAB and DAB+, it uses the open source software Qt-DAB. It runs on a Raspberry Pi 3 and uses an RTL-SDR dongle. Sony are still one of the best for after sales support, but like everyone else it's not what it was - the money isn't there to offer decent support any more. Everyone wants cheaper and cheaper prices, and cutting service support is one way of doing that. The big caveat here is that there’s a definite volume ceiling. Up to 75% (or 15 out of the Petite’s 20 levels) it’s great, but that final 25% sees distortion creeping in on bass-heavy material and the tone becoming strident. Aside from the aforementioned distortion at high volumes and minor dip in sound quality while streaming over Bluetooth, there’s very little to dislike about the Revival Petite.

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