Roll over Beethoven
The Q2 takes about 15 seconds for sound to arrive after switching on, or from deep sleep, while the delay between switching stations is between 3-8 seconds. I managed a respectable 13 hours of use on one battery charge.
Looks neat, sounds fine, a tad pricey though
Though it only has a mono speaker, the audio quality is impressive for the size. It’s quite resonant and largely free from distortion, even at high volume, but not very bassy. Even so, anyone coming into the room would be surprised to find that something so small was delivering such an output.
The best audio quality stations such as Linn and AVRO Klassiek stream 320kbps. 192kbps is more common but the Q2 does a pretty good job even with ones that are only around 48kbps.
It won’t handle personalised ‘radio’ such as Last.fm or, apparently, the on-demand ‘listen again’ content from broadcasters such as the BBC – just podcast versions or live stations. Also, you can’t pause podcasts; if you flip the Q2 in and out of standby it skips back to the start. However, if any of your selected podcasts are regularly updated, they can be picked up by the radio automatically without you having to reconnect to a PC.
Verdict
The Q2 is a piece of cake to operate and just as appealing. Though rather expensive at £90, its convenience, flexibility and unmatched user friendliness mean that it has the potential to broaden the internet radio niche out to a larger crowd. ®
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COMMENTS
actually...
...the price is also at the top of the review on the first page.
BBC stations yes or no?
Can I ask that you make very clear one REALLY important piece of information in Internet radio reviews.
Can you listen to BBC live radio on this (not world service but BBC R1 R2 R3 R4 etc.) I know the Reg is international but I am sure that for a sizeable portion of the readers the lack of this would make such a device a non starter.
These are some of the most listened to stations in the UK and the fact that, for example the Nokia HD-1 can not receive R4 in Internet radio mode is shocking.
Put simply can i get BBC R2, R4 or not with the Q2 as I am not sure exactly where live radio stops and listen on demand starts with the BBC.
From the FAQ on Q2's site:
'Can I add my own Radio station urls to the Radio?'
'No. Only the Radio stations listed can be added to the Internet Radio.'
....aaaand suddenly it's not so interesting any more.
Hand-motion controlled?
I have a few ot these.
I do have to touch the radio while I move my hand, but they work flawlessly.
Thank you
"The Q2 takes about 15 seconds for sound to arrive after switching on, or from deep sleep, while the delay between switching stations is between 3-8 seconds."
Excellent that you checked the Achilles' heel of most Internet Radio appliances. Some of them take many minutes to turn on, and the better part of one minute to change stations.
Thanks.
