Sony Portable Long Wave

I needed a radio that had an earphone socket, Long Wave, and a compact size so I could take it to work for lunchtime listening. This radio provides all these features added to the promise of long battery life due to the analogue dial, easy to follow controls and a good sound. Excellent value.

Great Wee System

Bought this to replace my Pure Dab Hi Fi when the CD player developed a fault and also wanted to be able to play and charge my Ipod Classic. This is a good looking, great performing, good sounding, piece of kit. I can easily pick up all Dab stations from where I live (Central Scotland) with the supplied Dab ariel. The other customers who unfortunatly cannot get a good Dab reception I'm afraid that is down to the area where they live or where they are positioning their equipment.
The manual buttons situated at the top are well spaced and convient to use. Unfortunatly the supplied remote control is not very user friendly, a bit fiddly and takes quite a while to get used to but does perform well when you have mastered it. On initial set up I thought the sound was pretty good with the supplied speakers which do look and feel a bit basic. I removed the Sony speakers and replaced these with my much superior 'Pure' wooden speakers, the difference was night and day, the sound was excellent. I would say to people to upgrade the speakers on this unit if they truely want great sound. Yes the unit is very competivly priced and will not beat your Dennon's, Bosse etc but these cost 3 or 4 times the price, change the speakers and you will get a sound quality to match them. Overall this is great system with basic controls for bass, treble etc, but as an earlier reviewer wrote use the DSGX function on the unit to enhance the sound, it really makes a difference. My Ipod Classic when docked in this system looks great and the Cd player, Dab, FM, AM radio is excellent. Yes if this unit malfunctioned I would buy another identical one, no problem.

Not bad but could be better

It does what it says on the tin. It's a DAB radio and iPod alarm clock. And it does it reasonably well. However, I have 2 niggles with it:
1. It is not designed for the iPhone. You can use it to charge your iPhone and to play music but you cannot control it through the remote control and have to use the iPhone itself.
2. The sound quality is only mediocre but then what do I sound like first thing in the morning?

Don't buy it if you are looking for a great sound quality sound dock - buy a Bose instead. However, if all you want is a good quality alarm clock that is DAB and will charge your iPhone then I'd say it is worth it.

So many problems

It's not the light that gave me the problems, as you can easily turn it off, it's the fact that it cuts out all the time, for no apparent reason! I bought it yesterday and so far it's been able to go about 5 minutes without cutting out while playing my Ipod. The alarm failed to go off this morning despite me following the instructions in the booklet to the letter - for something with so few buttons it's very complicated. And to top it all off, there are no troubleshooting posts anywhere on Gear4's site, so I have no idea how to fix it! Bad, bad move.

If you loose power!

Great bit of kit, but if the power goes it's a bit annoying in trying to set it back up again! The first couple of times this happened the instructions had to be found.

Great name, shame about the build quality!

Radio looked great, programming was easy and the dual alarm feature is innovative. However, the build quality is very disappointing. Every few days the radio 'hums,' not very loudly but enough to keep me awake! There is something about the case and the assembly that causes a vibration which tightening the screws will not solve but 'flexing' the whole unit quetens it down, perservering with this technique eventually stops the noise!

Hope others are better

SJW

Lovely

I bought this clock for my grandson's 6th birthday to replace a far more expensive and elaborate clock which didn't work!

He was thrilled with it and proudly carries it to bed with him each night and brings it down again in the morning. It is an object he treasures and enjoys for its appearance as well as for its usefulness. He had asked for an alarm clock to wake independently and to practise telling the time.

Its outer case is a plastic sort of material and looks strong and durable. Less than one third the price of his original gift, he loves it.

I was pleased that the colours changing do not disturb his sleep.

Waste of money

I agree with the other review that this radio alarm is rubbish. A complete waste of money and if I hadn't thrown out the box I would have returned it. Far too complicated and the off button is so well hidden as to be almost non existent!

Superb sound & quality for price

A really great product. The sound quality is superb and if it is the only speaker output used for your ipod you would not be sorry. Only downside is the size of it. if you are like me and have loads on bedside table can take up a little bit of room. It does not look cheap and it fits nicely with my modern bedroom decor. Nice one.

Annoying

This Digital clock is fine for the first week. Every second day i had to re - enter the time. I have to do this every week. DON'T BUY THIS CLOCK.

A Neat and Effective Performer

Very portable with good clarity and volume given its compact size. Would have preferred that the On/Off switch was not also the band selector.

Superb Sony CD/Radio/Cassette

When my old Toshiba Unit gave up I doubted whether I would find another of the same quality.
I need not have worried because this new Sony is the most superb player I have ever bought.
The sound reproduction from the Radio,CD,& Cassette are all of the highest quality and I have
no hesitation in recommending anyone to purchase such an excellent product.

Keep Up The Good Work SONY!

Allan Dixon

Flawed

Decent product but it has a ridiculous default volume setting for the alarm. I bought this for my kids bedrooms to help them wake up in the morning with their iPods. But the volume defaults to such a high level that it scared the life out of the kids in the morning and woke them up with a shock rather than gently. I contacted the manufacturer who looked into it and got back to me, but they confirmed the default volume on the alarm cannot be changed. Product returned.