PURE Sensia
popp
Posts: 548 Forum Member
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really tempted to get 1. as argos have some for £128, anyone got 1 and for that price is it worth it. will also buy a chargepak for £35, total price £163ish. what is the sound like. do the speakers rattle, i know the evokes sound good. i do use my itouch for internet radio, but hoping this will be better to listen to with the bigger speakers .seems to have mixed reviews. but gets better with the firmware updates. my other option is the pure flow with the extra speaker. but like the look of the Sensia. regards popp
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This means that not all internet stations are receivable with it.
I have no problem adding my own URLs to The Lounge.
It is problematic for podcasts though. Which really isn't a problem for me anyway I can easy download the podcasts automatically and stick it on my media server.
I have had one for a good while now and payed just over dubble the price that Argos is selling them at now.
I love mine and use it a lot and I like the weather app on it as well.
I do fine that every few weeks you have to wipe the screen on it or it dont repond to well if you touch it.
It dont always work at streming music from my PC but I never really go it for that.
Darren
Well, at least it has transport controls - but if pausing and rewinding 'listen again' material is not a priority for you the Frontier Silicon interface that most Roberts use is far more user-friendly.
Finding such material alphabetically is reasonably easy on the Sensia but you cannot browse, for example, Radio 4's entire Listen Again menu as all podcasts come up at once.
With the FS interface, they're a sub menu of the station.
Sound quality is excellent, with a good response right across the frequency range, including solid but not booming bass - although like all more recent Pures it's very compressed. And it does get better with each firmware update - they're quite frequent - although the two most recent ones have, annoyingly, obliterated the option of the 'on' indicator at the top of the radio being completely off when on standby (instead, it just dims).
Regarding any rattle, on my example there's none.
I once (foolishly) cleaned the touch screen while the radio was on, and the volume control went up to full. It was very, very loud for its size, and there was no audible distortion, and no rattle whatsoever.
Despite all the above, if you're lookoing for the ultimate cheapy all-rounder I'd try and pick up a Magicbox Clarus Plus from eBay.
It has the fastest boot time of any internet radio I've ever used, a proper line out, well-positioned built-in stereo speakers with decent enough sound quality - plus decent DAB performance and, unlike the Sensia which performs appallingly on FM, it's good in that respect too.
Mine was only 39 quid from Curries just over a year ago - they thought it was the DAB version
Be careful with PURE products. My Evoke 3 was the third PURE digital radio I had bought. It worked well for three years and then suddenly failed with a software issue. I discovered that this is a common problem by looking at various Internet forums. I also found that the PURE support desk is unable to provide a technical solution, is relatively discourteous and seems focused on the fact that the radio is out of warranty. However for a £200 radio to fail after a relatively short life and for a brand-loyal, repeat purchaser to receive no real help is surely unacceptable. I will never buy another PURE product and would recommend prospective purchasers to look at all available customer feedback/comment on forums, which indicates serious technical issues.
Bad::
- sound quality is not good IMHO. The treble is all wrong giving a muddy sound and there is no way to adjust it
- the touchscreen is a bit meh, sometimes requires the lightest of touches and others is totally unresponsive, but what do you expect for £128?
- no rubber feet on the base means it moves around when youre trying to prod the touchscreen
- you cant have the radio on without the screen on, so no good for listening in bed unless you want your bedroom lit up like Blackpool illuminations.
- DAB reception is a bit iffy. Never had any problems with my previous DAB radio.
- volume control is rubbish! Better to use the remote, which is just about the only thing it can do...
- the apps are a waste of time and constantly crashing. I usually have the accuweather app on and often find it wont work so I have to reboot the unit to get it going again.
Good:
- internet radio is almost indistinguishable from the DAB part. It looks exactly the same.
- "The Lounge" is easy to use and i've yet to find a radio staion I wanted that isnt on there.
There is no way I would have paid £259 for this, but for £128 It's OK but just OK. Nothing more.
www.icheckstock.co.uk says theres 1 in stock at Feltham Argos inkblot...
Theres also 2 at Argos Holloway Road in London (postcode N7 6PN).
Thanks, that's a useful web site.
Look and see if it needs a software update. Theres nothing wrong with the weather app.
I have had mine coming up for two years now and the only thing is the FM tuner could have been better and the touchscrren needs a wip now and again and the Facebook app could do with an upgrade apart from that theres nothing wrong with the Sensia.
Darren
Thanks but ive already updated the software. Weather app says "weather information cannot be displayed" twice a week on average. Only way to get it going again is to restart the unit.
I disagree. I think the sound quality is excellent. I'd say the treble is relaxed to cover up nasties in low bitrate streams, but most cheaper DAB radios have too much treble.
You're being rather kind there. The touchscreen is as good as an iPhone... that's been in some sort of freak toilet accident
I always use the base, blu-tak is your friend.
On the latest v4 software you can change the display to 'timed' so it goes off after 30 seconds. Obviously the appalling UI doesn't make this easy.
DAB reception is great for me. FM, on the other hand is a joke - from the dreadful tuning interface to the fact that the display audibly interferes with the signal. Best just to find the station in The Lounge and use that.
Don't get me started on that ****ing volume control
I have few problems with the apps. Picasa is particularly good. I find I only have to reboot the radio (including removing the chargepak, which is a pain, when it mysteriously loses the wifi on occasion)
For me, the sound is good and The Lounge is good, but the UI is probably one of the worst of any device on the planet. I suspect the software is written in Java, as that is always responsible for general crapness.
It looks nice, it sounds nice, but it's a bugger to use. It's an experimental geek toy rather than a radio.
For carrying it does come with a rather cool padded fabric bag as opposed to a boring old handle
We had the mains off earlier in the year, I had my Pure Evoke Flow on most of the day on its internal battery.
Its a bit of a PITA to switch on when no mains connected, it goes into a dormant mode and needs waking up. It can take a minute or so to get it on sometimes. Usually quicker to take through and plug into the mains power supply until it is running.
Yep done the same, mains was only out for an hour or so but was surprised how well it performs on DAB.
Parents liked the Evoke Flow so much they decided to get their own.
Plus with it having UPnP It has many options, one thing I've setup is satellite (DVB-S) radio.