Here’s the requirements:

– Cheap-ish
– Small footprint
– Simple functions (no need for iphone dock or anything)
– Dim-able display (don’t want it to keep us up at night)
– Doesn’t look like it was made in the 80’s
– DAB radio

Any recommendations?

Hmmm. I started with the same idea. A bit of mission creep later and I ended up with a Denon DM39 with some Q acoustic 2010 bookshelf speakers. unit on the bedside table (dim-able display), speakers on the the other side of the room.

Very nice for lazy lie-ins, listening to stuff before bed, and a very occasional fillum on the laptop with sound through the speakers.

It’s got a sleep function and a timed switch on, which is good, because tht’s what it was supposed to have in the first place!

So

– Cheap-ish – Hmmm
– Small footprint – Hmmmm again.
– Simple functions (no need for iphone dock or anything) – Hmmmmmmm..
– Dim-able display (don’t want it to keep us up at night) – YES!
– Doesn’t look like it was made in the 80’s – YES!
– DAB radio – YES!

3/6?

When we move house, it’ll probably go in the kitchen/diner/study type thing.

And I’ll come back on here to see what you got for the bedroom – I can’t do the same again!

We have two of these, very good.

I have a revo Supersignal.
It seems to have a decent sound, the display is pretty visible (much better than most other displays) and it has alarms/ sleep etc etc…

– Cheap-ish = £180 (up to you there)
– Small footprint = 135 x 140mm
– Simple functions (no need for iphone dock or anything) = Tick
– Dim-able display (don’t want it to keep us up at night) = Don’t know…
– Doesn’t look like it was made in the 80’s = more like the 60s
– DAB radio = err…… tick

Roberts Dreamdock (with 30pin Apple connector) or Dreamdock 2 (with lightning connector)

Sony XDR-c706

http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/dab-radios/xdr-c706dbp

I have the predecessor and it fits the bill at £60 with the exception of the 80’s look.

Brightness change isn’t automatic which means the lowest setting is harder to read in the day. DAB reception isn’t an issue for us given the location of the transmitter. I like the granularity of the (multiple) alarm settings – specific date (handy for early starts where I’ll be away for a couple of days), weekdays, weekend, daily. The volume control is also quite sensitive so it can be on very quietly. One minor problem is the time is set from the DAB signal so when the clocks change it doesn’t change until the radio is turned back on. Of course you can leave the radio on all night with volume set to 0.

After my DAB died a couple months ago I’ve been making do with an old phone and the bbc radio app on timer. Tiny footprint and angled well with the radio apps build in night mode you get a good time display… not the best sound but wakes you up.

Roberts Bluetone 40 £70 ish. Had one for a while now and should tick all the boxes mentioned

Pure Siesta Mi Series 2. About £40 – two alarms, DAB/FM. Only issue is that the lowest level of brightness could be a notch lower. We have two and I am about to buy a third as a Christmas present for my mother. (And then have to spend a couple of hours showing her how to use it, sigh….

Pure Siesta Mi

Shop around, got one for £26 (Sainsbury’s, bought two in fact)

– Cheap-ish – Yes
– Small footprint -Yes
– Simple functions (no need for iphone dock or anything) -Yes
– Dim-able display (don’t want it to keep us up at night) – Yes
– Doesn’t look like it was made in the 80’s – not sure
– DAB radio – Yes

Not sure how the Pure Siesta Mi compares with its previous itteration, the previous one was a pile of junk. Screen not visible from certain angles, touch screen buttons super-sensative and not backlit, so you hit them trying to snooze which changes channels or other odd things, not particualarly small footprint, very light so easy knocked off table and cables pull it to the edge anyway.

There are no touch screen buttons on the Pure Siesta Mi we have

I’ve been looking into this as my Wife’s Sony radio alarm clock that she’s had for years and years has got a couple of buttons that are starting to play up.

There doesn’t seem to be that much choice, although that Siesta Mi is top of my list, I think in the DAB stakes.

Thinking about it though, no one seems to be sure when analogue radio will be turned off, and for general clock/radio use I am not sure my Wife ever changes the station on her radio. So, wondering if DAB is worth having. It’s not like it will get used for general listening.

I’m thinking of getting her one of these instead:

http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/clock-radios/icf-c1t

Looks like it can be had for £30 and under…

when analogue radio will be turned off

Not for a long time I reckon. DAB itself is incredibly dated anyway. The time is always right on a DAB radio though

when analogue radio will be turned off
Not for a long time I reckon. DAB itself is incredibly dated anyway. The time is always right on a DAB radio though

In what way is DAB ‘incredibly dated’?
Modern DAB radios use several versions common to Europe and the UK.

In what way is DAB ‘incredibly dated’?

They were working on dab during my first job, 25 years ago. I got to take one of the first car receivers home to try.

It uses mp2, and there are many more efficient codecs available, and have been for quite a while.

Plus it is a disappointment audio wise as they weren’t supposed to apply any compression at source, which would have led to better sound quality. The end device was supposed to apply any compression appropriate for the environment, such as a car.

Our DAB is also incompatible with the European standard, hence a UK DAB player won’t work in France etc…

Ended up ordering one of those Sony’s from the eBay. Only £24, so not too much of a loss if it’s rubbish or she doesn’t like it.

Not sure she’s gonna be massively impressed with a clock/radio for Christmas, but probably better than the digital kitchen scales I got her a few yrs ago!! 😀