Pure Evoke C-D6 All-in-One Music System with DAB/DAB+/FM Digital Radio – DAB Radio with Bluetooth Music Streaming, Dual Alarms and CD Player – Siena Black

Product Information

Compact discs – invented a full 43 years ago – aren’t obsolete, but it’s fair to say that the “revivial” is more of a cultural than an economic resurgence. They fit into the zeitgeist in 2023, driven by Nineties nostalgia. We are always impartial in our testing and ensure we hear every CD player at its optimum – connected to the appropriate kit and placed on a sturdy and level surface. We'll use them in their best use case with different partnering amplifiers and speakers, as well as play plenty of discs in different genres of music through them. Naturally, we give them plenty of listening time (and time to run in) too. Most of the radios reviewed above are mains-only, so you can’t use them with batteries. A few, however, can optionally be used with batteries. If you want a radio you can carry around and listen to in different rooms or in the garden, make sure you buy a portable radio. Portable radio CD players are often called ‘boomboxes’, which are compact and robust devices with a carrying handle. Radio or micro hi-fi? There’s a chance that the FM signal in the UK will be switched off in the future in favour of DAB, so if you buy an FM-only radio it could become obsolete.

Performance-wise, we found the Pure Chronos relatively easy to use. If you’re new to the world of DAB radio, then you might have a slightly harder time figuring out how everything works. That tends to be the case with systems that include a lot of extra features, like the Pure Chronos 2.Beyond pale in the face of PMPs loaded up with lossless music files. Both the size of the discman and the need for carrying around CDs is just too impractical. Besides, some of these players sound brilliant - https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/portable/best-portable-music-players Those who already own an amplifier and have more to spend should consider the Technics SL-G7000M2 as well.

The Pure Chronos Series 2 isn’t just your standard radio/CD player. This is a device that’s been designed from the ground up with impeccable attention to detail and passion. There’s something compelling about the Chronos II’s unique triangular shape and powerful dual speakers that makes us instantly want to own one permanently at the office. Some of the radios reviewed above also have a USB port for charging a device such as a smartphone or playing MP3 files from a USB flash drive. This is a good feature if you have lots of MP3 files stored on an MP3 player or USB drive and want to play them through your radio’s speakers. The Homerton is another of the more compact radio CD players in our list, this time from budget brand Majority. The simple cube-like design is ideal for smaller spaces and would look great on an office or living room shelf. We all remember the Sony Discman, but you’ll struggle to get your hands on one of those models in 2023.Bluetooth allows you to ‘steam’ audio from a Bluetooth-enabled device such as a smartphone through the radio’s speakers. This means that you can play an MP3, YouTube video or other sources of audio on your phone but hear the audio with better sound quality through the radio’s speakers. So, how does the Pure Chronos CD measure up overall? We think it’s a nifty piece of radio kit, particularly for those who don’t want to let their CD collection go-to-waste. While there are nicer CD players out there from Pure, like the Pure Evoke music system, the Chronos is more affordable, and great for fitting into compact spaces. Not only can you expect to get excellent sound quality and fantastic features with a Pure radio, but you know you’re going to get a charming design too. That’s why many people regard Pure radios to be some of the best DAB and FM products on the market. The ZoomBox 3 is a portable FM/DAB radio CD player from Roberts. You can plug it into the mains using the adapter provided, or power it with 6 C-size batteries. It benefits from its forward presentation mainly, however, because spaciously it is cramped. Sections with thinner arrangements – the more fragile Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks, for example ­– aren’t so much affected, but as textures become busier, such as in Terrible Love or Bloodbuzz Ohio, space between instruments is compressed to become close to claustrophobic.

We like the tactility of the swivelling transparent CD cover on the top; it’s made of toughened acrylic and feels good to use. The SA-C600 proves an admirably consistent performer across the board, producing musically compelling results with CDs as well as high-res files across our network. It times well enough, too, to make enough sense of the top of the build, with its sometimes confusing, crashing percussion. We don’t get scalpel-like precision, but enough capability to be relatively pleased with what we hear.This compact, all-in-one music systems with integrated speaker delivers ultra-clear class-leading audio and looks great too. Evoke C-D4 offers digital and FM radio, Bluetooth for streaming music from your devices and a CD player for your music collection. Colour may vary. We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of experienced, in-house reviewers test the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that passes through our door – including CD players.