My Pure Avanti Flow has finally packed in and if uneconomical to repair by the local telly fiddler, I’ll want something new. We listen to DAB and Spotify and already have and use Google Chromecast so criteria is simply

– Decent sound to fill a 10m room with clear audio (not looking to host any dance hall events – Avanti Flow was fine)
– DAB + Aux-in. Bluetooth and ‘dock’ redundant but will take it if it widens the choice. DAB signal is excellent here.
– Simple, clean lines to pass the wife test – no builder’s radios or ’80’s ghetto blaster styles please
– Not bothered about the financial commitment of Sonos type stuff but maybe it’s time to consider it
– Budget up to £250

When I’ve heard the old Bose iPhone sound docks I thought they sounded great but Bose seem to have gone all-out multiroom.

We’ve got one of these, does exactly what you want, cos that’s what we do with it. We’ve got the green one, but there’s a choice of colours/finishes

https://www.goodmans.co.uk/heritage-retro-radio-green.html

Loads of standalone Internet radios about. Wouldn’t fuss too much about DAB unless you’ve got no WiFi and get a decent DAB signal. Can get pretty much everything DAB has plus 1000s more just via Internet. Ignoring DAB opens you up to devices that aren’t specifically aimed at the UK market.

Though a load of radios are FM/DAB/Internet also.

Would have recommended a Squeezebox Radio but they’ve killed them off basically now.

New fangled but discrete – how about Amazon Echo? Just ask it what to play. http://bestradios.co.uk/using-the-amazon-echo-as-a-radio/

SONOS Play 1?

I got one of these:
http://www.very.co.uk/goodmans-dabfm-wi-fi-radio-withnbspbluetoothnbspnfcnbspandnbspspotifynbspconnect-wood/1600135012.prd?_requestid=130128

Also these are good for £40 if you have wifi:
http://www.medion.com/gb/shop/tv-and-audio-medion-wifi-speaker-md43035-50051355a1.html

These both use the undok app, so can be linked in a multi room setup.

Why would you buy a DAB radio if you have wifi in the house?

I would be going for SONOS speaker or such like, and a mobile phone app.

Why would you buy a DAB radio if you have wifi in the house?

Cos sometimes you just want to press a button and music/the news appears. You don’t want to get phone, scroll to app, start app, scroll through radio station/music selection, select the thing you want and press to cast to the speaker.

As posted in the other thread, Get a Google Home. Excellent speaker (for my ears), only £120 and does a bunch of other stuff too.

Thanks all – No NSA / GCHQ bugs personal assistants. Deffo still want DAB for reasons mentioned; the passivity of putting on the radio must remain so.

Chromecast audio into my stereo 😉
I do though have a DAB Radio too though I do like the turn on and play plus so many IP devices in my home I’d rather not another taking more bandwidth 😉

BR
JeZ

IHN – Member
Why would you buy a DAB radio if you have wifi in the house?
Cos sometimes you just want to press a button and music/the news appears. You don’t want to get phone, scroll to app, start app, scroll through radio station/music selection, select the thing you want and press to cast to the speaker.

Absolutely, I have wifi, I only listen to one radio station, and that’s 6Music, and I really can’t be arsed with streaming music from any source other than what’s in iTunes on my Mac or phone, so BT from the phone for the odd occasion when I’m not interested in what’s on 6 is all I need. I’ve got weeks, if not months worth of music, with more added all the time, so that and the radio are all I need.
A bunch of blokes next to me at Greenman had a Makita site radio playing Greenman FM over the weekend, and the sound was amazing, more bass than seemed possible, so I’m looking at getting a site radio for use around the house and garden; there’s only me, so it doesn’t have to pass the S/O test of domestic acceptance! There’s a Hitachi on that looks really quite whizzy, with BT and USB connection, which uses their tool battery packs, but the Goodman Heritage looks very appealing as well, I just like having a robust radio that I can take on a camping holiday and know it’s tough enough to take a few knocks.
This one:

Thanks all – No NSA / GCHQ bugs personal assistants. Deffo still want DAB for reasons mentioned; the passivity of putting on the radio must remain so.

Do you use a search engine? do you communicate via email? I fail to see the difference and wouldn`t worry about such things, lifes too short unless your a criminal mastermind and or terrorist.

Do you use a search engine? do you communicate via email? I fail to see the difference and wouldn`t worry about such things, lifes too short unless your a criminal mastermind and or terrorist.

All the best criminal masterminds mastermind to 6music, 5live, R4, AbsoluteX0’s and Kurupt FM. How do you think I’ve been getting away with it for so long. Der.

Cos sometimes you just want to press a button and music/the news appears. You don’t want to get phone, scroll to app, start app, scroll through radio station/music selection, select the thing you want and press to cast to the speaker.

The internet radios I use (linked above) all just come on and play the last playing station, even after being turned off at the plug.

The Goodmans one I linked to has an easy to navigate the screen, you don’t have to use the app at all.

They use a system by frontier silicon, and an app called undok to control them and setup multiroom playback. Its very good.

This also uses the same system: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NWJS9TK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

IHN – Member 
Cos sometimes you just want to press a button and music/the news appears. You don’t want to get phone, scroll to app, start app, scroll through radio station/music selection, select the thing you want and press to cast to the speaker.

Presets. My Squeezebox Radio has buttons like any other radio. I press one and bingo, there’s my radio channel, news etc. All via Internet radio over WiFi. Those radio channels can be anywhere in the world also, not just limited to the poor selection DAB offers especially in poor reception areas.

re:

Cos sometimes you just want to press a button and music/the news appears. You don’t want to get phone, scroll to app, start app, scroll through radio station/music selection, select the thing you want and press to cast to the speaker.

Totally agree. I had an Echo in the kitchen, and having to tell it to turn on, or use an app, just got annoying.

I ended up with one of these, and it’s great for the kitchen. Might be too small for OP, tho.

Has DAB+, aux in, bluetooth (NFC), well made, sounds good, simple to use and also comes in black.

https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-astro-dab-fm-digital-radio-with-bluetooth-nfc-lcd-display/p2309463?colour=White

Pretuned to your favourite station too, eh Jamie?

Ruark R1 sounds perfect.

https://www.richersounds.com/portable-bluetooth-dab-fm-radio-1.html

http://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/ruark-audio-r1-mk3

Maybe this Vita R2 on the bay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/vita-audio-r2-/142482770798?hash=item212ca28b6e:g:YNMAAOSwkBZZm0RC

Dead radio is officially dead (aka uneconomical to repair) according to the telly fiddler. Tonight will be ‘man-shopping’ time. May have to smash the budget on a Ruark R2.

I have an R4 in the kitchen (a Vita before the name chance and increase in prices) and an R1 in the bedroom. They are both excellent but I definitely recommend you try the R1 first, it’s a powerful little thing and you never want the radio on boom anyway.

Ruark R1 sounds perfect.

https://www.richersounds.com/portable-bluetooth-dab-fm-radio-1.html

http://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/ruark-audio-r1-mk3

Maybe this Vita R2 on the bay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/vita-audio-r2-/142482770798?hash=item212ca28b6e:g:YNMAAOSwkBZZm0RC

Those are also frontier silicon based radios like the ones I linked to. All controlled by the same undok app.

I don’t use an app with either of mine.

Buttons..??!1!1!11
BUTTONS…with my grubby fingers..??!!

If it doesn’t respond to my voice nowadays, I’m not interested!!

DrP

Cos sometimes you just want to press a button and music/the news appears. You don’t want to get phone, scroll to app, start app, scroll through radio station/music selection, select the thing you want and press to cast to the speaker.

you missed a few steps!

in particular, wait while it tries to cast, swear at it when it fails, go into the list of available devices and watch as it populates a list with such likely candidates as your work PC 5 miles away and the laptop upstairs but not the thing you actually want to cast to, pick up your wife’s phone to try it on that, load the thing, and then press cast to the speaker. Then enjoy 14 minutes of beautiful music before it randomly cuts out.

After 6 months with a Chromecast audio I bought a DAB radio 😆

Also it’s easier to hit ‘FM’ and switch to the local community radio when Marc Riley starts playing all that rubbish that he claims to like

I have a Roberts iStream 83i which I am very pleased with. It is a few years old now.

The modern equivalent looks like it might suit your needs.

iStream 93i

got one of them roberts myself. can be got for £140 ish if you look around. i love it and its great, but to be fair i use a £30 dab on site and apart from the internet radio and better sound , it does the job. at the time i contemplated a speaker of some sort, for the added transportability but i think it was the right choice now after a year.

OP here – Had a play and a listen and eventually settled on a Bose Soundwave 10 (£140) which is a Sonos Play 1 type wifi speaker, except that it has 6 preset buttons on the top and an 3.5mm in on the back which means that as well as embarking on the crack cocaine that is multiroom:

1. Assuming stable wifi it can be used as a DAB radio (BBC 1,2,Leeds, 4,5,6) by the luddites in the house just by pressing buttons.

2. We can play stuff through it anywhere without Wifi (Spotify offline, portable DAB tuner) like on hols if we need to.

It’s got great (non-hifi) sound to fill the room with tunes or spoken radio and unless it’s inherently unstable I’ll give it a week before it has a cousin, twin (as a stereo pair) or big brother.

Play 1. Button starts and stops current selection. If that’s a radio station, it will just restart that station. Although lately one has been asking “Alexa play Radio 4” in the morning. Still feels a little dirty 😳

We have the Roberts iStreams 83i and 93i. Both have are really good and easy to use, the 83 has the better sound but the 93 is quicker and more functional with the added bonus of phone remote control. They easily fill a large kitchen with clear and balanced sound.

The wife has her eye on one of these for our kitchen Beolit17

The internet radios I use (linked above) all just come on and play the last playing station, even after being turned off at the plug.

So does the DAB radio, ‘cos it only has one station to bother with, plus the other important consideration is that, along with a spare battery, I can take a radio like the Hitachi away on holiday, where I’m lucky if I even get a phone signal, and listen to 6Music, which I know I can get, or play music from my phone via BT.
I can see the point of Internet Radio if you’re listening to international stations, there’s lots of interesting stuff out there, but for UK stations, DAB is all you need.

Slightly OT but if you like 6 music what internet station should you try?
I’t’s quite easy to get fed up with stations that only play one genre.

I’ve got a little John Lewis thing. Does the job. No complaints. Just turn it on and Radio 3 appears.