Review of ALBA TRDAB2820 DAB RADIO
By Blossom S, 23rd Feb 2011 | Follow this author
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In conclusion I’m not very pleased with the performance of ALBA TRDAB2820 DAB RADIO and I would not recommend it to anyone.
Review of ALBA TRDAB2820 DAB RADIO
DAB is short for Digital Audio Broadcasting, which is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe, and the BBC launched the first DAB digital radio in 1995. ALBA is a British company providing Electrical appliances, television and radio. The one I’m writing about is one of ALBA digital radio products, given the full name, ALBA TRDAB2820 DAB RADIO.
Packaging and Features:
The radio came with a well packaged box, which contained a DAB radio, a Mains Cable and a User Guide. My first impression on the radio was good. It actually looked quite stylish with white body and blue display. It’s approximately 23cm wide, by 16cm high and 7cm deep. The power on/off button is just above the display screen, which is about 6cm long and 1.5cm wide. The display is white lettering on a blue background and can provide channel and program information in two lines separately. You can also adjust the displayed information on the second line to suit your need, such as program type, multiplex name, etc.
There are 15 buttons in the front: DAB/FM button for switches between DAB and FM radio modes; Select button for switches between the signal strength indicator and the selected information display; Scan button for searching for all available stations, etc.
There is a integral telescopic aerial on the top, which can extend to about 55cm. One Headphone socket is in the left side of the radio. At the rear you can see a Power socket and two Stereo line outputs(available for Left and Right signals) at the bottom and one carrying handle on the top.
In detail the key features of the Alba TRDAB2820 DAB Digital Radio are listed below:
Mono FM/DAB radio;
20 radio station presets;
Automatically updates the time;
Analogue tuning;
LCD display;
Headphone socket;
Can run off mains and battery power;
Usage:
When you switch your radio on for the first time, DAB mode is selected automatically. Then you can press BACK or NEXT button to scroll up and down through the available stations; when the desired station is displayed you press SELECT and the radio will immediately tune to the station. You can use PRESENT buttons and Shift to store and recall 5 DAB and 5 FM stations. I would not list all the operations because I think for people who have not seen or touched the product it’s meaningless to mention these too much. From my experience I just can say the User Guide itself is written clearly. However you do need to practice a few times to exactly know how the radio works.
Price and Availability:
In the UK you can buy ALBA TRDAB2820 DAB RADIO from many outlets including Sainsbury’s, Argos, Curry’s, Amazon just to name a few. You will find prices vary considerably. As a guide the current price on Amazon UK is £29.99.
My opinion:
I like listening to radio. Every morning when I wake up the first thing I do is to turn on the radio in my bedroom.
The radio features two modes: DAB radio and FM radio, that provides more options of channels. It’s very easy to switch between DAB and FM by pressing the DAB/FM button. Also as a travel DAB, it can automatically tune-in all of the available stations around the UK, so you don’t need re-tune when you are travelling. By the way you can easily run it from both mains and battery. Considering the price and channel options the radio seems to be a good choice to many people.
However to me, who just use it at home, especially in bedroom, then the problems come out. First, the sizes of the buttons on the control panel are too small. Sometimes they don’t work after one press. Also the 15 small buttons gather in a small area, it’s really a big challenge to press the right button in a go. I would suggest ALBA to try separating Volume buttons from others. Second, the quality of the sound. At the User Guide ALBA said because DAB is binary coded, the receiving equipment is only expecting to receive a series of ones and zeros, so their radio can provide near CD quality sound. Listening is believing. I would not say the sound is not clean, but it’s definitely not a high CD quality. Compared to my other DAB radio in my living room, the sound sounds from an old and tired machine, not pleased or bright at all. Third, the noise caused by the radio when it doesn’t run. If you just press the OFF button to turn it off without plugging off the mains, it can keep a continuous machines noise. It’s very annoying. I can’t stand the noise in one second.
In conclusion I’m not very pleased with the performance of ALBA TRDAB2820 DAB RADIO and I would not recommend it to anyone.
For more product reviews please visit my articles below:
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