Robert Stream 205 Stereo DAB/FM/WiFi Internet Radio - Black

I have been a radio listening enthusiast for over 30 years and decided that I needed an internet radio that I could use without the computer. I was at first divided between the Roberts 202 and the Pure Evoke Flow. From the reviews I read the Pure seemed to be popular, although I found many reviews which said that they could go wrong easily. So I went to my local electrical store and listened to both the Roberts 202 and the Pure Evoke. There was no competition really. The Roberts sounded great while the Pure sounded muddy. The only problem was that the shop had sold out of the Roberts and also I had heard that the button layout on the 202 was a little fiddly.

So I went home and did another internet search and stumbled across the Roberts 205. It looked similar to the 202 but the buttons were laid out better and from what I could see, it had only been on the market for a couple of months. 2 days later my radio arrived and I can honestly say that its the best radio I have ever owned. Despite there being no dials to change the treble and bass, the sound was perfect straight out of the box.

So, what's so great about this little radio?

Well, for starters, I can pretty much pick up any internet radio station I want. Although there are only 5 preset button for internet radio (and 5 for FM and DAB too), I found that the best feature on this radio is that there is a section for favourites and also new stations that I have found myself. For anyone who doesnt already know, you can use this radio in conjunction with a website called the 'Frontier Silicon Wi-Fi Portal.' You log onto the Portal and enter your radio's specific code (which is found in the help menu on the radio) and once that is done you can browse their already extensive library of stations and add them to your favourites and also add new ones into your 'added stations' that are not already in their database. Then you just fire up your radio - go to favourites or added stations and the new stations are there. You can even sort your favourite stations into your own categories. Also remember that this radio has DAB, FM and you can use it with Last FM - you can hook up your MP3 to it and control it from the radio too!

My friend happened to visit on the day I got the radio and he was so impressed that he was going to get one too. If you like music that isnt really played a lot on the radio (especially in the UK) like Jazz, Heavy Metal, or Alternative, then this radio is for you. You can go to the station list and then you get a list of genres to browse. There are literally thousands of stations ready to go.

To give you an idea of some of the stuff I have found in just 3 days, by using the radio together with the Portal website, I have listened to the Police in California, Anchorage air traffic control, NASA mission control, BBC podcasts, paranormal radio stations (which you wouldnt hear on anything other than a radio like this), Ham radio and many stations from around the world. The radio is easy to use and has categories for continents, countries and genres. I want to also mention that whoever wrote the instructions did a fantastic job - they are the best set of instructions Ive read!

I knew this radio was going to be good because it is a Roberts - a name famous for making reliable radios - but the 205 far exceeded my expectations. There is even a setting so you can set the strength of light for the display - both when it is on and when it is standby. There are 2 alarms (which can be set to buzzer or any of the radio stations and can have different settings for week days and weekends) and a sleep timer too.

If you are looking for a nice sounding, easy to use internet radio then you will not go far wrong with the Roberts 205. I'm not sure about the guys review on here who said the radio was fiddly to use. I soon got used to selecting the sleep feature and other stuff - it quickly becomes second nature. I think I made the right choice - I stumbled across a forum the other day of former Pure internet radio users who had decided to buy Roberts because their old radios were unreliable or had broken.

Take my advice - for the money I dont think you will buy better than this radio!

For a radio with so many options it is a remarkable achievement to make it so simple to set up. Being somewhat familiar with the technology I took it straight out of the box and had it up and running on the internet in a couple of minutes without opening the manual. I'm not a HiFi connoisseur but I found the sound good too, benefiting no doubt from the largish case(for a portable radio).
Setting up favourite internet stations through the web site is also a simple process but I have to admit to referring to the manual for this as it involves navigating through the radio menues to get an identification code specific to your radio.
I live in a DAB gray area, the DAB receiver worked fine until I turned the bedside light on. Not a problem of this radio per-se but DAB seems particularly prone to interference from energy saving lights, something to watch.
Persuading my Windows 7 PC to deliver music also required one more step than I anticipated as the radio found the PC fine but the PC wouldn't share any music. Definitely worth reading the manual for this.
Navigating the BBCs listen again service is a little daunting. Unlike the BBC web site which has structure, on the radio you are presented with an alphabetical list of everything which is available for the chosen channel. Still it works just great when you have found what you want.

Minor niggles (or why I didn't give it 5 stars):
* Why isn't the clock backed up with a separate battery? It temporarily looses the time when switching from mains to battery (but gets it back again automatically).
* Why does plugging the adapter in glitch the power? It takes the radio 30 seconds + to start up after power loss which is probably OK if it only happens when changing batteries. I keep the adapter by the bed but carry the radio round the house so this happens a lot.
* Why can't radio manufacturers make battery compartments that work reliably? For the first few hours after putting batteries in I fought with the radio turning itself off every time I put it down. I have a Sony which does this too so I used the same fix - a piece of folded tissue paper between the batteries and the removable back of the compartment.
* Where is pause / fast forward/ rewind when listening to listen again items? If you start listening to something and come back to it later it is a real pain to have to listen from the beginning again.
* Where is pause and rewind for DAB and FM? Not essential but a really useful feature if your spouse/partner/child/parent/colleague decides that the middle of your favourite programme is the right time to enter a deep conversation.
* Shouldn't there be an integrated rechargable battery option? 6 "D" cells are not cheap. I'd pay an extra 25 pounds for a built in rechargable battery which gave a days listening (say 8-10 hours) between charges.

OK so having discovered the personality of this radio I still like it, it is packed with features which are easy to use. It is stylish, the sound is good for a portable radio and the minor problems can be forgiven to be able to listen to what I want, when I want, anywhere in the house.

I am am a Brit who has retired to western Sweden having lived in many parts of the world during my working life. I have wrestled with SW transmissions from Europe in both Africa and the Soviet Union, progressed from MW and LW to FM in the UK and latterly discovered internet radio on my computer here in Sweden. The advent of proper internet radios (which can even be called "wirelesses") is an extraordinary boon for people like me with roots in more than one place, an interest in current affairs and in music. The Roberts Stream 205 in which I have now invested is a truly wonderful piece of equipment. It is not too big, but puts out an impressive sound, both in terms of quality and volume. Its looks are somewhat retro, its functions many and varied. There is inevitably a down side to all this. It begins with the instruction book. Most electronic kit these days has a chunky booklet which turns out to have the same two pages of instructions in 50 languages. The Roberts has a similarly chunky booklet of 100 pages, but this is all one instruction book for the different functions of the radio. I blenched, dear readers. But once I had got my head around the idea that to make an internet connection involves a bit of activity on the computer as well as with the radio I had no great problem in connecting to my favourite programmes both here in Sweden and in the UK. I have yet to investigate radio from Albania or the Pacific islands, but have no doubt that they will come in loud and clear.