With a quoted 2 x 15W RMS output and two 3in drive units, the Sensia is loud and composed in equal measure. From BBC Radio 3 to Xfm we were very impressed by the amount of solid and well-defined bass the Sensia generated, along with excellent stereo separation and good high-end definition.
Sonically appealing, but not as finger-friendly as we'd hoped
And we have no complaints about the performance of the auto-tune RDS FM and DAB radios either. The Sensia easily and quickly locked onto all 50 DAB stations and signals we have ever managed to get at our test location, doubtless helped by the sturdy telescopic aerial.
Favourites – 30 DAB and 10 FM – are also easy to set making channel selection very straightforward, once you have found your favourite stations to begin with. But we were a bit disappointed to find the Sensia doesn't support the same DAB rewind 'ReVu' function as other top-end Pure radios.
Like Logitech, Pure reckons rechargeable batteries should be an accessory at additional cost. If you are interested, a battery pack for the Sensia will set you back £35. As with Logitech, we reckon this is having a laugh – for £250 product, a battery should be included.
Verdict
On paper, the Sensia is a very nice idea but we can't escape the feeling that the we're involved in beta test. Assuming all you are after is an Internet radio and UPnP media streamer with some social network functions, the Logitech Radio is a safer purchase and the best part of a £100 cheaper. If you just want a good DAB/FM radio then one of Pure's less ambitious products such as the Evoke-2S is a better bet. ®
More DAB Gear Reviews…
Cowon D2+ DAB |
Pure Evoke 2S |
Sony Gigajuke NAS-SC500PK |
Roberts RDK-2 |
Pure Sensia widget-running DAB radio
COMMENTS
A fair sized chunk of cash
And not exactly silf like in size.
One possibility you review missed is the obvious.
Too slow a processor.
What if it simply hasn't got the grunt to do video or read the screen fast enough.
Perhaps the next version.
Please read a little wider...
@ Alan Brown
While DAB may have it's issues and while this unit may not be perfect, the reader would do with being aware of a few details
Like it or lump it, over 10million sets sold in the UK "so in any statistical answer "no"" is just plain wrong and ill-informed. I suspect even more will be sold at Christmas.
DAB and DAB+ (which this unit implements) is in regular use in Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland as well as the UK.
It's being trailed in Brunei Darussalam, Czech Republic, France, Ghana, Hong Kong, Hungary India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Namibia, New Zealand, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, Taiwan, Republic of China, Turkey and Vietnam.
Hence, this is hardly a UK only product.
Horrible horrible experience
I saw one of these recently in a local John Lewis. I actually walked over to it because it looked so interesting. After a moment playing with it I walked off with the impression that it was a pile of shit. There must be something seriously wrong with their business of it allows products this bad to actually make it to market in this state. I counted 8 seconds from me activating a text input area to the on screen keyboard showing up. Then another few seconds before it accepted input. The flick-scrolling is a joke. There was plenty of "I want to scroll this content but I'll just hold my finger down and make tiny movements until I've 'grabbed' the content" after which you may as well toss a coin to see if the scroll will actually happen, although you probably don't have any coins left because you wasted them on an unusable radio with pre-alpha firmware.
This reminded me a lot of the nokia n800. Great idea, but a UI that just doesn't give the user what they want. If you have an iPhone you know what works and what doesn't.
ugly
it certainly touches the senses. man that is one fucking ugly piece of kit but than its exactly the kind of thing that some twat who twits would buy
Who designed this?
Absolutely hideous design.
For the same price you could buy a netbook and run widgets.. or anything else you wanted, and use online streaming which is no doubt superior to DAB. I can't even see the point
