Roberts DAB radios

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Lovebitesandeveryfing

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Sorry, guys, to create a thread on such a specialised subject, but I really couldn't find a thread that corresponded to what I need to know.
I've been looking at the Revival range of Roberts radios. As a kid, I lusted over those radios — I'm a big radio listener, I have never owned a tv set in my life, and never been tempted — but they were frankly out of my league.
I'm pleased to see that they're updated to the latest technology, and that they're as gorgeous as ever. Maybe more so.

I'm currently looking at the Revival Uno and the Revival iStream 3L and thinking of offering myself a very nice Christmas present. Since I don't really understand the technical gobblegook (yes, I know what Bluetooth is!) could anybody who owns one or other of these models try to give me some points of comparison, and express their general satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the product. The iStream model is a full €100 more than the Uno, so there must be some very good reason for that, but I'm not sure what (maybe the Uno is not Wifi connectable and the iStream is?). I've looked at some of the feedback on Roberts' own site, but it would still be useful to get a few opinions from here.
By the way, I should specify that I don't just listen to the radio for talk shows/news/podcasts, but also listen to a fair bit of jazz and classical. So sound quality with the two models is a vital consideration.
I don't expect to get much in the way of replies, but anything informed is helpful.
 
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Probably not helpful, but you reminded me I have an 11 year old Roberts iStream DAB radio in the garage that wont turn on. Been thinking for a long time about getting it repaired, but not sure where to go.

Whilst it looks great, not sure how much use I will get out of it though. I use radio on my laptop whilst WFH, and stream a lot of stuff through spotify.
 
smevchenko said:
Probably not helpful, but you reminded me I have an 11 year old Roberts iStream DAB radio in the garage that wont turn on. Been thinking for a long time about getting it repaired, but not sure where to go.

Whilst it looks great, not sure how much use I will get out of it though. I use radio on my laptop whilst WFH, and stream a lot of stuff through spotify.
Click to expand...

Any idea why it won't turn on? And how soon after buying it did it conk out? Any idea on that?
I listen to radio on my desktop — news and suchlike — but I want a nice portable that I can carry round to the various parts of the flat with me. I also want one that has the best possible sound quality (without me putting on my Bose headphones) because I'm capable of sitting down of an evening and listening to, say, the Proms or a concert at some other venue. My desktop (a Mac) is good but not great. I just also like the fiddling-round-with-dials side of radios. I have no laptop, by the way.

Edit: I have a Panasonic portable that I've had for over twenty years. It does the job but the sound is tinny so it's really only good for talk stuff (i.e. interviews, news, etc.) Naturally, it is not connectable to the internet.
 
smevchenko said:
Probably not helpful, but you reminded me I have an 11 year old Roberts iStream DAB radio in the garage that wont turn on. Been thinking for a long time about getting it repaired, but not sure where to go.

Whilst it looks great, not sure how much use I will get out of it though. I use radio on my laptop whilst WFH, and stream a lot of stuff through spotify.
Click to expand...
Roberts website offer a repair service. If you mailed them, they might be able to estimate likely cost to see if it's worthwhile?
 
andthesunshineband said:
Roberts website offer a repair service. If you mailed them, they might be able to estimate likely cost to see if it's worthwhile?
Click to expand...

Yeah, just been on the website and it says I need to ring to get a price for repair, I guess because its fairly old.

Just opened the back and also realised I can put 4 large batteries in, so need to try that. When plugged in with the adapter, it just won't turn on.

Although i'm now looking at a newer model with Spotify built in..... so could be £200 lighter soon!
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Any idea why it won't turn on? And how soon after buying it did it conk out? Any idea on that?
I listen to radio on my desktop — news and suchlike — but I want a nice portable that I can carry round to the various parts of the flat with me. I also want one that has the best possible sound quality (without me putting on my Bose headphones) because I'm capable of sitting down of an evening and listening to, say, the Proms or a concert at some other venue. My desktop (a Mac) is good but not great. I just also like the fiddling-round-with-dials side of radios. I have no laptop, by the way.

Edit: I have a Panasonic portable that I've had for over twenty years. It does the job but the sound is tinny so it's really only good for talk stuff (i.e. interviews, news, etc.) Naturally, it is not connectable to the internet.
Click to expand...

No idea, although need to put batteries in and see if it turns on. It might be that the adapter is knackered rather than the radio. You can open the back up and all the leads coming from the power/input ports seem to be intact.

It worked fine for a long time, so I wouldn't worry on that front. Sound quality was excellent and it picked up a good selection of DAB stations.
 
smevchenko said:
It worked fine for a long time, so I wouldn't worry on that front. Sound quality was excellent and it picked up a good selection of DAB stations.
Click to expand...

Thanks. By the way, never having owned a DAB radio: I thought one of the things about them is that they can pick up pretty much any station in the world. In Japan, if you want to listen to Japanese for a while. Am I wrong?
Any thoughts on differences between the two models I mention, or does that go well beyond your knowledge of Roberts radios as they are now?
I realise, as I say, that this is a long shot on Bluemoon to ask people to know about it.
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Thanks. By the way, never having owned a DAB radio: I thought one of the things about them is that they can pick up pretty much any station in the world. In Japan, if you want to listen to Japanese for a while. Am I wrong?
Any thoughts on differences between the two models I mention, or does that go well beyond your knowledge of Roberts radios as they are now?
I realise, as I say, that this is a long shot on Bluemoon to ask people to know about it.
Click to expand...

DAB is just like an FM radio except it's using a digital receiver rather than an analogue one.

So like an FM radio needs that region/country to be broadcasting using FM you also need the same for DAB.

I know the UK was one of the first to really embrace DAB but I think other countries have since been catching up. You'd have to do your own research on what countries have DAB coverage.
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Thanks. By the way, never having owned a DAB radio: I thought one of the things about them is that they can pick up pretty much any station in the world. In Japan, if you want to listen to Japanese for a while. Am I wrong?
Any thoughts on differences between the two models I mention, or does that go well beyond your knowledge of Roberts radios as they are now?
I realise, as I say, that this is a long shot on Bluemoon to ask people to know about it.
Click to expand...

It looks like the main difference is the iStream model can connect to wifi and offers internet radio as an option. You can also select to play from various streaming platforms (spotify, amazon) so assume you can link to your account. It is slightly larger as well, but whether that translates to a better audio experience, I don't know.
 
smevchenko said:
It looks like the main difference is the iStream model can connect to wifi and offers internet radio as an option. You can also select to play from various streaming platforms (spotify, amazon) so assume you can link to your account. It is slightly larger as well, but whether that translates to a better audio experience, I don't know.
Click to expand...
It's only money eh?
If you Google Roberts radio what hifi it will take you to several reviews of their stuff. Pros and Cons etc
 
smevchenko said:
It looks like the main difference is the iStream model can connect to wifi and offers internet radio as an option. You can also select to play from various streaming platforms (spotify, amazon) so assume you can link to your account. It is slightly larger as well, but whether that translates to a better audio experience, I don't know.
Click to expand...

It looks to me as though I need to bite the bullet and pay the extra for the iStream 3L model. I like to be able to listen to other parts of the world, from time to time. (The Uno is, I think, just a basic, pretty Roberts radio with the Bluetooth option). I don't however have a Spotify or Deezer account, and don't particularly intend to get one. Perhaps I should be more open-minded about it, but I'm intensely wary of sites that require you to have a regularly paid subscription. It's one of the reasons why I won't have an iTunes account. It's probably crazy, and I'd probably save money in the long run, because I do download stuff on an ad hoc basis from iTunes, and pay for it as I go (have just done so, as it happens — just yesterday). Anyway, that's another kettle of fish entirely.
The iStream model is bigger in its dimensions over the Uno, I notice. Almost certainly, that will give it better sound quality, since the speakers will be bigger. It's also just, well, a very handsome radio. Almost a small piece of furniture.
 
That's interesting. I'm really waking up to stuff. I kind of knew what DAB was, I had just assumed for years that it had been more or less universally adopted.
Far from it! I find that for the stations I listen to most — France Culture, France Inter, France Musique — DAB+ (as they now call it, don't know why) has only been applied since February of this year! You could have knocked me down with a feather. I also listen to Radio 3 for the news, just to get an alternative point of view on European and world issues to the French one (you get some good stuff, I assure you, some very amusing divergence of interpretation…)
So anyway, even more reason to get a good Roberts DAB radio. Yeah, I'm stuck on Roberts, I'm afraid, as I said in the OP. They're just such damned beautiful objects.
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
It looks to me as though I need to bite the bullet and pay the extra for the iStream 3L model. I like to be able to listen to other parts of the world, from time to time. (The Uno is, I think, just a basic, pretty Roberts radio with the Bluetooth option). I don't however have a Spotify or Deezer account, and don't particularly intend to get one. Perhaps I should be more open-minded about it, but I'm intensely wary of sites that require you to have a regularly paid subscription. It's one of the reasons why I won't have an iTunes account. It's probably crazy, and I'd probably save money in the long run, because I do download stuff on an ad hoc basis from iTunes, and pay for it as I go (have just done so, as it happens — just yesterday). Anyway, that's another kettle of fish entirely.
The iStream model is bigger in its dimensions over the Uno, I notice. Almost certainly, that will give it better sound quality, since the speakers will be bigger. It's also just, well, a very handsome radio. Almost a small piece of furniture.
Click to expand...
The basic Spotify account is free
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
That's interesting. I'm really waking up to stuff. I kind of knew what DAB was, I had just assumed for years that it had been more or less universally adopted.
Far from it! I find that for the stations I listen to most — France Culture, France Inter, France Musique — DAB+ (as they now call it, don't know why) has only been applied since February of this year! You could have knocked me down with a feather. I also listen to Radio 3 for the news, just to get an alternative point of view on European and world issues to the French one (you get some good stuff, I assure you, some very amusing divergence of interpretation…)
So anyway, even more reason to get a good Roberts DAB radio. Yeah, I'm stuck on Roberts, I'm afraid, as I said in the OP. They're just such damned beautiful objects.
Click to expand...
It was basically the U.K. that largely adopted and stuck with DAB.
Everywhere else got on to DAB+ pretty quickly.
 
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