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: Great Radio, when it works
Summary: 2 Stars
First radio worked for 2 days and then died. The second one was DOA! Amazon wouldn't ship a third one, citing poor quality of the current shipment! Based on the two days that the radio was working: sound quality is solid, supports multiple streaming formats (http, rtsp etc. the main reason I ordered it), and Reciva O/S and web site is defiantly much better than all the alternatives I have seen so far. Easy to use web site, great community forum (the largest and the best) - Barring the quality issues I would have recommended the radio for the functionality at the current price point.Digital camera Review: Great customer service from amazon
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently ordered this internet radio from amazon. The one I received wouldn't turn on, however. First I telephoned the toll free number for Sangean America. The customer service person told me that I could return the defective unit to Sangean or to amazon.com directly (since it was brand new). I went to the "returns" section of amazon's customer service link on the web and was given a prepaid shipping label to put on the box, which I then took to my local UPS Store. Amazon e-mailed me that the replacement radio would be sent by UPS one-day delivery and would arrive the next day (just a day after my first reporting the problem). It did, was very easy to set up and my wife and I are both delighted with the amazingly quick service from amazon and with the radio itself. We used to live in London and were missing BBC Radio 4 and the UK radio station Classics FM. We are so pleased that we plan to order a second WFR-20 so we can have one in the kitchen as well as the bedroom. The sound quality is excellent and the radio is very easy to use. Thanks!Sangean WFR-20 WiFi Internet Radio & Media PlayerDigital camera Review: Great features but needs work
Summary: 3 Stars
I was looking at the Squeezebox, but bought this instead. The main reason I chose this product over the Squeezebox was the Upnp AV capability. This means I can have all my music on my NAS device at home and play it with this radio, and not have to run "SqueezeServer" on a PC all the time to play my music.
First thing I did was configure the wireless network and update the firmware, which I had no problem doing. Pandora setup was easy also in my case, although others have complained that they could not get it to work (missing menu option to use Pandora or something).
There are a few things that bug me with this product:
1) Delay when the unit is turned on. Every time the unit is turned on, it has to reconnect to the wireless network, which will take about 20 seconds. From what I read, this is a "feature" to save energy and comply with some European power conservation standard. I'd much rather have the unit stay connected to the network, even if it uses 2 watts more power.
2)When using Pandora (the majority of what I listen to), in between each song I hear about 5 seconds of "pop, fizzzzz, hissss" and then the next song begins. Pandora support tells me it's a problem with the radio and hope for firmware updates. I got no response from Sangean on the issue. This is especially noticeable when the radio is connected to a stereo using the line out jack - not so much when using the internal speakers. But really, the noise is louder than the music, and is very annoying. I may still return the radio if I cannot get this resolved.
3) Many times while listening to Pandora, the unit reboots out of the blue, in between songs. It does reboot and reconnect ok, but that gap between the songs is 30+ seconds, and that's why I notice and look over at the radio, seeing it "Connecting to network" and Pandora again.
Sound quality is good for the size of the speakers, and is what I expected.
Digital camera Review: Great for internet radio, a dud for streaming audio on home network
Summary: 3 Stars
I purchased this radio in January 2008, with high expectations. In many respects, the Sangean Wifi Internet Radio delivered.
Pros: Great look - sort of retro-meets-vintage with the modern lines and bakelite-like casing. The remote and radio controls are easy to use and intuitive. The sound is impressive. I am LOVING listening to a wide range of talk radio and music stations on this unit. Some stations come through with poor quality, but that is the fault of the streaming, not the radio. I love the Reciva.com interface. I can find what I want and add stations with a few clicks, and updates to the radio are quick and smooth. The Reciva.com forums are very helpful and interesting to read, as well. The fact that I have access to about 10,000 stations worldwide is overwhelming, but wonderful. I have been able to find some very interesting music options, including a dozen BBC channels, public radio stations from all over North America, and all kinds of news stations from everywhere you can imagine.
CONS: Although the online literature says that this radio can access and stream your computer-based music library through your wifi, I have yet to figure out how this is actually possible. I have followed the instructions and solicited help from users in the Reciva.com forums, to no avail. (And I am not the only one with this problem.) I finally gave up and transferred my library to an ipod, which I plug into the Aux Input on the back of the unit. Music sounds great through the input, but I would have preferred to keep the music on my computer and not buy the ipod.
Another big con is the range of the device's wifi. I have to keep my radio within less than 10 feet of the router to pick up the wifi connection, even though my wifi signal is strong enough to be picked up by my laptop two floors up and outside of my house.
Overall, this is a good unit that does a lot of cool things. I think they should improve the wifi range and work on the problems with sharing music from computer to radio. I haven't used any other wifi radios, so I can't compare them. I will say, however, that wifi radio is one of the coolest new gadgets out there. I am loving it!
Digital camera Review: Great product with less than desireable implementation
Summary: 4 Stars
I really like the ability to be able to listen to a much greater variety of programming than what is available on local stations.
Sound quality is quite reasonable.
I feel that they went overboard in designing a device with a single knob. For instance, it doesn't make sense to have to unplug the radio, then reconnect it to update the "MY STUFF" selections. I've no problem with the step down menus, but think that some functions such as clock and alarm functions could be more easily accesable with a separate control.
The display is too small and it looks cheap. Because the display can handle so few characters, the text is continuously scrolling which I find distracting. Also, if it were bigger, there would be space to display the time continuously. A color touch screen would have been a nice feature.
I find the credit card size remote with its miniature buttons to be way to small for my large hands. Also, discrete buttons rather that bubbles in the plastic would have been much nicer.
The first unit I received was DOA. Of course, not knowing how it should work I thought that I wasn't setting it up right and spent many hours trying to determine what I had done wrong. Its replacement immediately found my router as soon as it was plugged in. Entering the router key was tedious. Fortunately one only needs to do this once unless you change the key. After entering the key, it would not connect. I had to adjust some of the router setup settings to "grant permission" to connect. Not being fluent in router geek tereminology, this was a challenge, but somehow I stumbled upon the appropriate change and managed to connect. Laptops that I've connected wirelessly to the router did not have this issue.
Much later update:
I have subsequently purchased a Logitech Squeezebox Boom, which in my opinion is far superior. In fact, after buying the first Boom I bought another and am now in the market for yet another.
Programming the Sangean is very tedious and virtually useless in playing mp3s from my computer.
Buy the Boom. It is a lot better.