Pure One Mini Review - Portable DAB+ Radio

Fulfilling the entry-level range of the digital radio receiver market is a petite offering from Pure, the One Mini. It receives DAB+ and FM, and executes these two functions admirably well with an easy to use interface.

Design

The One Mini comes in three glossy colours: Black, White and Pink. Fingerprints and smears will be most evident on the black units. A simple row of round silver buttons adorn the top of the unit and there is a multifunction scroll knob on the top right hand side.

Most of the front is taken up by the speaker grille, with a small 15mm by 45mm backlit LCD display centred above. The speaker, a 3-inch full-range driver, is rated at 1.6 Watts RMS. It is adequate for filling a small room with distortion-free sound even at full volume.

Operating
Upon first switching on after being unboxed, the unit will perform an initial scan of the DAB frequencies to build a list of local stations. This takes about one minute. Once all stations are stored, the unit will only take about 5 seconds to tune into and play a digital station after turning on.

Setting the volume is accomplished by twisting the multifunction knob. Depressing the knob changes to TextScan mode, where you can manually scroll the text being displayed from the radio station, such as phone numbers and weather alerts.

Changing stations can be a bit awkward, requiring a press of the Stations button before the multifunction knob can be used to choose a station. Then the knob must be depressed to select the chosen station. To do so, the radio must be supported otherwise you end up pushing the radio to the side.

There are 16 preset slots available, 8 for FM and 8 for DAB. The preset system is also just as awkward, with a similar selection technique as changing stations, but worse: you always start at preset 1 and need to work your way down the list. You'd naturally expect it to start from the last preset used.

A line-in socket allows for iPods and other portable media players to be connected. In this mode, the Mini simply acts as an amplfied speaker with all the radio functionality temporarily disabled.

Power

The radio is only supplied with a 5.5 Volt, 1 Amp wall socket AC power adaptor. To run from battery power, the corresponding ChargePAK must be separately purchased and installed. The optional rechargeable battery pack is quite expensive, costing about a third of the radio itself. The battery compartment will only take a ChargePAK - there is only a special battery pack connector inside - and you cannot use standard AA cells with this radio. Pure's philosophy with the Mini seems to be a green one - you're either using AC power or a rechargeable pack - and not ordinary disposable dry cells which can harm the environment.

The ChargePAK is recharged when the AC adaptor is plugged in. The ChargePAK will run the radio for a claimed 20 hours. Without this, the One Mini won't be straying too far from a mains power outlet.

If you end up growing to love the One Mini, the next purchase would be the ChargePAK. You will get on average two years' worth of frequent use out of it. As with all Lithium-polymer batteries, useful life ranges from 2 to 4 years depending on use. After that, the battery will no longer hold a sufficient charge. After a few years Pure may no longer manufacture the battery pack. But by then you'd probably have upgraded to a higher-end DAB radio, or relegate the One Mini to the home, running on AC power perpetually.

Performance

One of the first things you'll notice is the sound quality. At first, a tinny quality is expected of something this size, but your expectations will be blown away with the exceptionally balanced fequency response and natural tonal range produced by such an unassuming unit. Pure managed to engineer the plastic cabinet in such a way to squeeze every last ounce of low frequency response the speaker has to offer. Other competing DAB radios of this niche tend to use smaller speakers in less than ideal cabinets, and sound very lacking when compared to the Mini.

Hi-Fi quality stereo audio can be acheived by plugging in a pair of headphones or amplified speakers to the 3.5mm socket. The Mini uses an exceptionally low-noise amplifier design, with very little background hiss and a high signal-to-noise ratio. This will be true so long as the station is transmitting at a good bitrate.

The unit has good sensitivity, but reception suffers badly when indoors especially with one or more floors above you. In a retail department store, the unit stuggled to get even one bar, with patchy audio, cutting in and out. Outdoors is where all radios perform best, the One Mini no exception - its signal strength meter was often full when outside, or placed near a window. When outside, the built-in whip antenna does not need to be extended at all to get a good signal. As with all VHF communications, walls and concrete will significantly degrade the signal.

The unit's built-in software can be upgraded via the USB port, although Pure has not released any new software for this radio yet. The cable is not supplied, however it uses a standard mini USB connector so a cable can be borrowed from another USB appliance if you do need to upgrade its software.

Overall, it's great as an entry-level small office / kitchen radio for casual listening. Even though it is the right size for the bedside table, it cannot be recommended for use as a bedside radio due to the lack of sleep timers and alarms. The LCD backlight also stays constantly lit when the radio is on and plugged in to AC power - you'll need to cover it to stop the light from keeping you awake. For more serious listening, the (higher priced) One Classic or Elite is recommended as they have the alarms, timers and more flexibility.

Build quality is very good for its price. The radio feels solid when picked up, yet is smooth to the touch, thanks to its rounded edges and glossy finish. The buttons have a positive tactile feel when pressed. In fact, the buttons do need a moderate amount of effort to depress, but they give a very distinct tactile response so you know instantly the press was registered.

Conclusion

If you're thinking about 'DABbling' into DAB radio, the One Mini could be the answer. At the time of this review (May 2010), the One Mini retails for just under AU $100 in most electronics and department stores. If you're worried about reception being inadequete in your area, the low cost makes it much less risky than buying a fully featured digital radio. At the very least it will be a $100 FM radio until such time DAB transmissions in your area are improved. There are other similar offerings for a little less, however their build quality is much inferior to the One Mini.

Pros

• Surprisingly good sound from a small unit
• Doesn't distort even at full volume, very little background hiss even at low volume
• Logarithmic volume control very predictable
• Headphone socket output levels matched with speaker
• Remembers last state after power loss (DAB/FM mode, station, volume)
• Well priced and great build quality

Cons

• Unable to take standard cells (batteries), ChargePAK expensive
• A bit awkward to change stations - need to press "Stations" first
• Backlight stays lit when radio is playing and plugged into AC power, unable to dim or switch off
• No sleep timer

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