Sangean WFR-20 WiFi Internet Radio & Media Player by Sangean
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Digital camera reviews of Sangean WFR-20 WiFi Internet Radio & Media Player
Digital camera Review: Best Streaming Media Product I've Owned To-Date
Summary: 5 Stars
Great internet radio. While I've never tried a Roku Soundbridge Radio or Logitech Squeezebox 3, I own 2 Philips Streamium products and an Acoustic Energy Wifi Radio. So I have a good base of comparison.
The Acoustic Energy and the Sangean both run off the Reciva software/platform (Reciva.com), which I like. In addition to the station list Reciva maintains, you can add your own stations and podcasts to a "My Stuff" directory and suggest stations for their main directory. There are numerous other internet radio station directories which you can use to find stations. To find the often hidden URL's of stations you want to add (but aren't in the Reciva database), it's helpful to have a free program like URL Snooper. Otherwise, you often can find the station URL's by viewing the station information within your media player (e.g. Windows Media Player, Real Player, Winamp) once you've loaded the station.
I had problems with the Acoustic Energy Wifi radio (google "AE Wifi speaker crackle"), including low level speaker noise (known defect) and was awaiting the next generation of wifi radios. I found one with the Sangean.
I'm completely satisfied with the Sangean. Clean sound, decent volume level, base & treble adjustment, plus a remote control, which is really handy if you have the radio on a coffee table or bedside table. Plus, if you have a large music collection on your hard drive, you can also stream it via a media server (a good free one is Tversity) or Windows Media share. And the Sangean supports a lot of formats, including FLAC. Reciva supports Real Rhapsody, but so far that's the only paid subscription service they support. However, since Yahoo Music Unlimited recently announced they've sold to Real, when my subscription expires, I may switch over and this would be another use for my Sangean.
I've bought several other radios from Sangean (2 pocket radios and one portable am/fm) and I've never been disappointed with the quality and performance.
Note: The sound quality depends on the individual station's streaming bit rate. To my ear, 128 kps mp3 stations and above sound the best. Other codecs (WMA, Real Audio, AAC) sound good to me at 64 kps and above. There are stations that stream up to 320 kps (e.g. check out Shoutcast directory).
Also, note that some stations won't work (e.g. Clear Channel) due to geographic issues and/or they want you to see their ads on a PC, but there are so many (thousands) of stations that are available, there is something for everyone. And the Reciva database lets you select from either Genre or Country and you can stream from the "On Demand" shows on BBC which is great. Note: Stations sometimes appear and disappear in the database as stations make URL/Server changes or stop broadcasting altogether, but this is the fluid nature of internet radio. Especially the non-commercial stations on the Shoutcast network. I think Reciva does a pretty good job of keeping their database updated though with a daily "pass/fail" test which I assume is automated on their end.
All in all, I highly recommend this radio if you like to listen to internet radio streams and don't want to tethered to your PC.
Digital camera Review: Bought it thinking I'd probaby return it...
Summary: 5 Stars
...but I like it too much!
I listen to a lot of internet radio; this is my primary form of news and entertainment. My computers tend to serve the purpose of being $1200 radio station streaming devices and I use FM transmitters and 900Mhz transmitters (sorry to see the RCA Lyra Transmitter set discontinued--it worked really well). The WFR-20 frees up a computer, it sounds great, the output jack connects to one of my Sangean FM transmitters so I can listen to this all over my house and yard. The Reciva software can be a bit buggy--but mostly works quite well. I log on to the Reciva website, set up my favorite stations and they appear on the radio. The WFR-20 can also access files on the computers connected to the wireless network shared through Windows Media (a bit buggy) and PNP connections.
It's kind of a homely thing, but it works well. And it's smaller than you might think. Better controlled by remote than its single knob control.
Digital camera Review: DOA
Summary: 1 Stars
The first radio arrived DOA. The second radio played well for about 10 minutes before the display froze when I tried to input another station. It then went blank and never recovered. I was of the opinion that there was a bad batch of these radios and it was just my bad luck to encounter them. However, the replacement radio had a number of small scratches on the bottom and now I'm wondering if Amazon had shipped me a returned or refurbished item. I paid for a NEW radio in good working order, NOT a RETURNED or REFURBISHED item.Digital camera Review: Delivers as promised
Summary: 5 Stars
Out of the box to listening to internet radio - total time 5 minutes.
Easy set up, instinctive menu system on one dial/button combo. Good sound for table radio. Attractive design. The Receiva internet site makes it a breeze to drill down among the 1000's of choices to find what you want and customize your own dial. Next time you turn on the radio your personal menu with your choice of stations and streams.
Highly recommend
Digital camera Review: Disappointed
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm pretty disappointed by this radio. It was my second internet radio. The first one, a Tangent Quattro died after a couple of years. This one was the replacement. Although it has good sound, it's been completely unreliable as a clock radio. Since my bedroom is in the far corner of the house furthest from the wireless access point, every so often it fails to connect. The Tangent had the same problem, but would give me a pleasant little wake up cheep in the morning even when it couldn't connect. This one is silent when it can't connect in the morning. That makes it completely useless as a clock radio. After 3 months I replaced it with a Logitech internet radio which has only failed to connect once and which woke me up with a beeping noise instead. The Logitech is also a much smaller package on my little bedside table.