I am thinking of buying an internet radio for use in the kitchen. Quite like the thought of a device with capacity to stream my music from my computer as well and quite like the look of the Pure Evoke.
www.amazon.co.uk/PURE-EVOKE-Portable-Internet-Radio/dp/B001FA05YU
Any thoughts?
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I have that exact model in my kitchen. We use it to listen to foreign language radio via the internet. It's brilliant.
It's not very loud though, even at full volume, but then that's not really its job in our kitchen. If you want to stream music from the comupter and listen to it at its best, you'll need something a bit more manly.
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That's good to know. The streaming is just a nice to have - I already stream music to the lounge via Apple TV and some decent speakers for serious listening so I'm not looking for a serious music system in the kitchen, just a reasonable radio quality. Loudness shouldn't be an issue.
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You can just about see mine on the window ledge in this picture, just behind the tea cosy:
i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa332/alanovich/Bulb%20and%20kitchen/2013-01-03-154_zps4a14ec1a.jpg
Helps keep the mother-in-law where she belongs on her visits, she can listen to radio in her own language in there!
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>> That's good to know. The streaming is just a nice to have - I already
>> stream music to the lounge via Apple TV and some decent speakers for serious listening
>> so I'm not looking for a serious music system in the kitchen, just a reasonable
>> radio quality. Loudness shouldn't be an issue.
>>
It's got a line out at the back so you could always connect it to something louder.
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You know what? I hadn't spotted that. I'll have a look at mine tonight. It's got an aux in though, I've used that a bit with my mobile phone.
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If you do want something louder, Pure's own Contour is loud enough for a kitchen, and quite an impressive music machine in its own right. (Beestling Major has one in his room and I'm considering one for the kitchen because it can also do FM.) The streaming interface lets you access BBC Listen Again content, and to pause and rewind on-demand programmes. This, to me, is the key advantage of Internet radio.
The other thing you could do, if you have an iPhone or an iPod touch, is to buy something with a dock and use the iThing to access your radio content. Beestling Minor has the smaller Contour 100Di, which does that rather well and takes up less space than the full-size Contour. Or, of your budget allows, you could have a Ruark R2i, which is in a different sonic league entirely, and is firmly on my wishlist for the dining room.
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I've got three internet radios that I've been using for radio & media streaming for 4-5 years now; in general they've always worked 100% reliably as internet radios; as media streamers I've had issues with various combinations of UPnP server & radio firmware not always playing happily together, but having not changed either over the last couple of years everything has been fine. I'd be Googling the PURE unit to see if issues are common with it, I note it uses the Frontier Silicon chipset for its internet capability (same as my 'Pinell' unit*) which seems more stable than my Reciva based ones, although it supports a more limited range of audio codecs - probably not an issue for most users.
If I was starting again today I'd do pretty much as WDB suggests and buy a smartphone/dock combination and use Tunein or similar app. - not quite a one box solution though.
* as discussed here:-
www.hotukdeals.com/deals/internet-fm-dab-dab-radio-streamer-60-quid-clas-ohlson-1292798
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I use the iPhone, with a dock in the kitchen. Got one in the bedroom too. And attached to the main stereo. And i sometimes stream it in the car.
good things those iphones.
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So what does Nicole listen to in the kitchen if you have walked off with your iphone? does the dock have a radio?
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We use SWMBO's iPhone and a JBL Radial dock. Works well.
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>> So what does Nicole listen to in the kitchen if you have walked off with
>> your iphone? does the dock have a radio?
She has an Iphone. The stereo dock has a dab radio, the bedroom dock has a dab radio, only the kitchen dock is short on that function, but then there is a dab radio in the kitchen.
Anyway, the kitchen is my preserve. Only one chef in my house.
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I have a small flock of O2 Jogglers (£30 - 40 on eBay) which farm out radio and my music library all over the house. They're remarkably capable bits of kit, beautifully made, and well looked after with numerous community add ons.
Their main benefit is to function as clients for Logitech SqueezeServer, but they'll also act as AirPlay receivers and can have their output synchronised, with control with on-screen or via a phone or tablet.
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Use this one - has an iPod dock as well for music:
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005OK57TK/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Last edited by: lancara on Wed 10 Apr 13 at 19:58
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We've got one of these:
tinyurl.com/bvsjnxv
No docking facility, has a line out, but very simple to use and surprisingly good sound for it's size. Having seen and heard it, several friends have bought identical models. As you'll see from the link, this is sold by Amazon Germany but was available here in the recent past.
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Decided to go with the Pure Evoke and bought one yesterday at John Lewis. Works fine, good reception on DAB, and wifi and looks quite smart. Sound fine for me and plenty loud enough - its only a small kitchen.
A lots easier to find internet stations on the Pure Connect web site and save them to favourites rather than fiddle about with the radio tuning dial. There is also an iphone App for the site so can also use that to add to favourites from my ipod touch. Streaming my own music from my computer works well.
All in all a good buy I think. Remote control would be nice but I see you can buy one as an extra.
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Internet Radios - Alanovich
