Sony XDR-S41D Portable DAB/DAB+ Wireless Radio with LCD Display - Black

This is an excellent radio, despite its minor annoyances (listed below).Good things:- It's really easy to use and easy to set the saved presets. It's well-designed in this regard. You don't really need to use the manual.- It has an LCD display that can show 5 lines. That's very handy when picking from a long list of DAB radio stations, using the "Enter" scroller button up and down. (See photo 1)- It has superb reception and great sound quality on both DAB and FM. For me, some radio stations work without extending the aerial. But on cloudy days, you need the aerial for FM.- Superb FM radio, which has RadioText and RDS. This means that for most FM radio stations in the UK, it displays the radio station name and the currently playing song name + artist. It's almost as good as the info that DAB displays. (See photo 2)- The radio applies a small amount of EQ to the overall sound, which makes it have "warm" acoustics. The bass, treble, and midrange are all boosted slightly. (Note: There are no customizable Equalizer settings)- The FM radio has an even warmer sound compared to the DAB radio (the EQ frequencies are boosted slightly higher), and it also has better stereo separation. This can be easily heard using headphones. In some ways, the FM radio is better than DAB!- The plastic case is textured, and not smooth. This gives it a premium look and feel.- A rotary volume dial is better than separate + and - buttons.- It uses 4 AA batteries, which are replaceable (or rechargeable) and more convenient than an internal Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery. Li-ion batteries will also degrade after 2-4 years, and it's difficult or impossible to replace them.Bad things:- If you set the volume to anything above 60% (which is 18/30 on the volume dial), then it works fine, as normal. But when you switch off the device and switch it on again, it reduces the volume to 57% (17/30). This is caused by the "volume limiter" software, which cannot be disabled.- The top part of the silver metal aerial is very small and flimsy. It's so narrow, that it could easily break off if you try to extend it or retract it too quickly.- The power input port is an old-fashioned 'circular cylinder hole', instead of a more modern and convenient USB C or USB Micro. However, because it uses 5V DC and 0.5A like USB, you can use a USB power cable on it, as long as it has the correct cylinder adapter. Just search Amazon for "USB to DC cable". You'll need the 4mm diameter plug.- The manual says that the 3.5mm headphone socket only works for plugs that have 2 stripes on them. Any plug that has 3 stripes, like Beats Headphone cables or Samsung earphones with the microphone and volume buttons, will not work. However, most of the time, the plugs with 3 stripes work fine for me.

This Sony portable DAB radio is a little gem and performs way above its expectations I have been using it for a few weeks now and below are my observations.Design/Build QualityThis Radio is compact and aesthetically very pleasing to the eye. It can easily be held in your hand comfortably, it comes with a single mono speaker, a very bright LCD display and an Ariel. The build quality is excellent this radio is well built and solid, the usual Sony Standards. This also has Headphone output and can be powered with DC input/mains or batteries.Performance/UsabilityThe Sony DAB radio is very easy to use there are 5 pre-sets that can be set to your favorite radio channels, and a simple switch button that allows easy access to menus and navigating DAB channels. I like how Sony have designed the menus and the simple operation , setup and auto tune worked well all my Dab stations were tuned in within a few minutes. The display is very bright and the texts are easily visible. The reception on this is excellent and were no issues with tuning into any radio channels, I didn’t even had to extend the telescopic Ariel. The sound quality from the single mono speaker is very good, everything is well balanced, but what this unit really excels at is the upper range and treble, vocals come out sharp and clear, no distortion even at full volume. Listening to talk shows is where this really stands out vocal range and clarity is one the best I have heard, listening to music is ok but being a single mono speaker lacks the depth and bass. The volume on this can reach to high levels and is very loud, it can easily fill a larger room. The battery life on this is brilliant after 7 weeks of use I still have 20 percent left.ConclusionI have really enjoyed using this radio, it’s on every day and I mainly listen to talk shows, and this radio excels at vocal quality. If you listen to mostly radio talk shows then this is one of the best out there, if you are a music listener then get a model with stereo speakers. The performance, usability and build quality is top end with an excellent battery life this is a star performer.

Intuitive to set up (always a good sign) and battery life is excellent (it replaced a busted Roberts which proved very poor in this regard). Speech radio is clear, natural sounding and plenty loud enough (largely what I use it for), but music is curiously very poor in comparison (grim actually, and thus the lost star). If I accidentally busted this one, then I'd very likely replace it with another.

I spend ages reading reviews and generally dithering about what to buy, and there were a few not so good reviews of this radio so I was a bit wary before purchase. However, once I had my hands on it I was really happy. Sound quality is fine, it's a small speaker but it performs well with a pleasant warm feel. It's not hi-fi obviously, but it's fine. It took a couple of minutes to set up the preset stations ( more, maybe 10 presets would be better but 6 is fine). It looks and feels quality with a small but clear display, and if you use the supplied mains lead it has a time display when the radio is off. The size is really handy,I ts quite dinky and fits in an overnight bag perfectly. I'm really happy with mine, what more can I say?