Roberts RD60 Revival DAB/FM RDS Digital Radio with Up to 120 Hours Battery Life - Duck Egg

I absolutely love the way these radios look and this DAB version is fab, with extra functions such as pause plus which lets u pause radio for upto 17 minutes. However, despite incredibly careful cleaning and handling, the 'leather' is slowly peeling away in many places which is annoying to say the least, when you consider its price and the quality you would expect from a roberts radio. If i were to buy this radio again i would consider one of the hard plastic coated varieties that they now do.

My wife bought me this little beauty for Christmas 3 years ago when I was looking for a radio to go in my workshop. The build standard and feel of the radio is superb, it's built like the proverbial brick outhouse and the leather covering gives it a real feel of quality - more than capable of withstanding the extremes of a dusty woodwork shop. The controls are simple to use and the pause/playback/rewind facility is excellent - used mostly when I miss a news bulletin due to machinery being in use. On first listening through the built in mono speaker the quality of the sound was okay - nothing fancy but no distortion whatsoever on either the DAB or FM system. It wasn't until I hooked it up to a small stereo using the line out facility that it showed just how good it was. Love it.

My piano teacher had one of the original Roberts radios on which this set is based and I always admired it. Despite the lack of features, I ordered one expecting great things.

Although the radio looks fantastic, I'm afraid that serious build quality issues were immediately apparent once I took the set out of the box. Roberts don't seem to have adjusted the tolerances of the hinged back to take account of the fact that this version does not have the leatherette covering of the standard model, causing the fitting of the back to be quite loose. The set rattled as it was carried.

More seriously, it made a constant buzzing noise on certain mid range frequencies, which was really annoying to listen to - quite unacceptable for a radio of this price. The front grill was also loose and the packaging is poor (the set is far too tightly packed - take care getting it out of the box and mind that you don't get the sticky from the handle's packing cover on the actual handle as you remove it.)

The sound quality unfortunately is quite dull and although I knew that there were no tone controls on this model (why ever not?), I had hoped this wouldn't have been a problem, but it is. The volume is adequate - turning it up increased the amount of buzzing emanating from the case, but I only listen at modest volume levels anyway.

I returned the set to Roberts themselves as I was unhappy to pay the return postage - they paid for this following an email. They sent me another set, though not with any speed. Unfortunately the second set also had build quality issues. Although the back was a tighter fit (is still wasn't a good fit) some buzzing could still be heard if I turned the volume a little louder than I use. However this set had a constant 'chirpy, squealing' sound coming from the internal electronics themselves - this was constant and could still be heard if you turned the volume off completely - it was too loud to ignore and wouldn't go away. I returned the radio to KK Electronics, who gave me a full and immediate refund. I really wanted to like this radio and I admired the looks despite the lack of features and the high price.

I have now bought a Pure One Elite instead. This is a truly excellent radio - solid build quality, no rattles, very clear well balanced stereo sound (the Roberts set is mono), it also has tone controls, is DAB+ ready, can have software upgrades via the USB connector, has the ability to rewind up to 15 minutes, 50 presets and an optional rechargeable battery pack which fits inside the set on a fit and forget basis. It also has a 2 year warranty. Whilst it is an ordinary design, it looks a lot nicer than in the pictures (the smooth rubber surface is really quite classy). The fact that it was almost exactly a third of the price of the Roberts set is another bonus. The Pure is a truly excellent radio - with good reception, build and sound quality. If I sound like an advert, I'm sorry - it is a really nice radio though!

I have no links with either Pure or Roberts at all. But feel that the Pure radio is so much better. At its price it is also a bargain. Sorry Roberts, this one you lose.