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: Sealed box to BBC in 5 minutes or less
Summary: 4 Stars
Its already been accurately said; Sealed FedEx box to listening to the BBC in 5 minutes or less. In 10 minutes I'd checked out a few Irish FM stations and some beautiful bluegrass music.
My earliest memories of radio are of listening to my dad talking to 'Eskimo's' on shortwave radio and the shiver of a cold war. It took me years to understand that the artic wasn't like Disney and that igloos weren't melting all over their radios. Now both the war and ice sheets are thawing and the hobby of listening to the world via shortwave is drastically changing, if not also melting away.
The good news is Voice of Russia, Deutsche Welle (Germany), Swiss Radio, National Public Radio, WSM, and thousands of others are alive and well on the internet.
Here's what I've found out about the Sangean WRF-20:
Pros:
Its simple to operate for anybody who's ever opened a file folder on a computer; very Intuitive.
Breaking news in a country or town, you might be able to tune in to their local news and get it first hand.
Have you ever listened to traditional music from China? Rock from the Netherlands or Belgium? The defiance of Cuba? Heres your chance.
It's smaller than picture looks, and a handsome unit
I've read reviews complaining about too few buttons. If 1 works, and 1 does, 2 would be too many. Zen baby.
I really like the remote, though it's small and could be trouble for a home with kids and a playful puppy. I'll eventually look for a 2nd unit knowing I'll do something stupid to this one.
Its very easy to operate in the dark with phones on, not disturbing your mate.
The clock is huge and easy to read, the sleep timer is excellent. I haven't tried the on-off timers but they look simple and highly customable, if thats a word.
I haven't hit a function I couldn't do with the remote, I'm not aware of any but others may. Perhaps functions related to Reciva setup.
I have a friend with a $49.95 XM receiver; I paid $250.00 for Sangean. He pays a $15.00 a month subscription, I pay $ZI.PP. (We both pay monthly broadband Internet service) He has 160 channels; I have at least 2500 to 10,000. Some of his channels are commercial free, dedicated channels; some of mine are too.
Sound: I'm used to shortwave radio; this is beautiful! I'll let the audiophiles review this aspect.
Cons:
12 presets, only slightly more than the am radio in a 1967 Volkswagon Bug. I want 100!
The headphone jack is in the back. This makes it look pretty, but makes you fumble in the dark n dust to plug in the phones. Or dust! (my wife's suggestion)
No clock when listening to the radio. Common with many good radios.
Some drawbacks are those of Reciva and web streaming, not the Sangean. Buffering is the new static and fading that shortwave and AM radio suffers. If it does it on your computer, it may do it on the Sangean. The Sangean's memory isn't competing with a My Kittens or Hawaiian Tropics screensaver. Personally I've been pleasantly surprised how little buffering I've had to deal with. Its not Sangean's fault you can't sort by language. And having too many stations is like having too much money; nice problem to have!
I give it 4 stars. Would go 4 1/2 if I could. Its not perfect, but its great fun. Its a small world after all.
Minus my beloved hams and shortwave pirates, it's the new shortwave radio. Enjoy!
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I'm now owned this radio for a couple months. I wouldn't change a thing I've said. I love this radio and play it daily, it's my primary radio, and I own many. I'm a proud freq. geek. I would like to add a few observations to my original review, here goes:
Whether it's the site Reciva or the radio itself, and I don't know which,there are occasions when you cannot access a genre or 'favorites' area of the radio. I've always been able to correct this by unplugging and replugging in the radio, essentially rebooting it. There is so much to listen to, I don't always do this, sometimes I just tune in something else. Theres sooooo much to listen to.
I love the alarms and timers. Highly customizable and very easy to do with the remote, very intuitive. For example, you can set it for Wednesday, 8:35am, Folk Alley, once or every Wednesday. You might want Tuesday set for everyday, 6pm, WSM. IT'S EASY!
You can easily add podcasts and live audio streams thru Reciva. It will automatically give you access to podcast archives, real sweet! There is a growing list of police scanner feeds for some major (and minor) cities that will stream too. NYC, LA, Edmonton to name a few.
Not to plug Logitech, but I added a $40.00 set of Logitech computer speakers to this radio and the already good sound is incredible! 2 built in speakers in the Sangean, 2 satillite speakers with 2 speakers in each, and a subwoofer. Nirvana! Full range sound! If ya got a few dollars left over, this really enhances the music. There are $20.00 speakers, I've heard them, they're not impressive. These are. They'll work on your computer and ipod too, very versitile. I've got about $300.00 in the system, I feel its worth more.
Buy this radio. Buy the extra speakers if you can. ITS FUN!
Digital camera Review: Superb Radio
Summary: 5 Stars
I set up this radio a few days ago. Setup and operation are reasonably intuitive. One minor criticism would involve the flimsiness of the remote control (very typical of many current products) and the use of a single know on the radio to operate the whole thing.
This radio enables you to access thousands of radio stations and sound streams located all around the world. I use if for favorite French and Spanish stations, as well as local stations that typically are received poorly. All come in with flawless digital fidelity, although sound levels will vary and volume adjustments have to be made.
Although it is possible to dowload lists of stations and manually sift though them on the radio, I would recommend using the Reciva web site to search for stations and then upload these choices directly to your radio. (I did crash the radio at first while trying to download a list of over 3000 stations originating in the US.) The Reciva site makes this rather easy to do, although the site could benefit from some redesign. Thanks to Reciva suggestions, I have discovered several great stations.
Radio fidelity is good given the small speakers, but I use the line output fed directly into a sound system. The line output does not mute the radio, so it is necessary to turn the volume down. Sound quality through the sound system is great.
Altogether, the radio is well designed and the menu system becomes easily understood after a few tries. I use a wifi connection, but the radio can also be connected directly to a router through an ethernet cable.
If you are a radio fan (as I am), this is the one to own.
Digital camera Review: has some issues
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a revised review after a month's use; I'm less pleased than I was. Although I still think it's a good product for many uses, I regret that I didn't return it while I still had a chance to do so.
One issue is that the radio has a very hard time connecting with BBC world service. This is one of the stations I most wanted to listen to (because it is no longer broadcast to North America), but I haven't been able to connect to it for over two weeks. The sangean/reciva combination will sit there "retrying" for an hour with no success. But I have no difficulty connecting with my computer. So the problem is with Sangean or with reciva. There is a sluggishness, an uncompetitiveness about the machine; it seems that it puts in a request about once every 5 seconds, and when refused it goes through a long slow checklist before it tries again. In any case the performance is poor. If you expect to want to listen to popular stations, this is probably not the right product.
Another issue, widely noted, is that the sangean/reciva system is rather buggy. "Internal error 1104" is a pretty common sight when you try to change the station, and the radio freezes up for 20 or 30 seconds. This freezing-up is a frequent occurrence (not always accompanied by an internal error). It can be annoying if all you wanted to do is lower the volume. If the knob is occupied waiting for the radio to reset itself or update itself, you just have to wait.
I'm thinking now that the better option might be the clunky old-fashioned one of running the internet radio through the computer. Sometimes I think that internet radio is never going to work, or that what will be permitted will be profoundly unfree, but other times I think that its triumph is inevitable. Who knows? It's a cool technology and a cool gadget. But I miss the subversiveness of short wave, and the straightforward jamming of unwelcome thoughts.
Digital camera Review: As of this moment, the best internet table radio.
Summary: 5 Stars
I rated this 5 stars not because it is perfect, but because it works very very well for a first generation device. I guess since the Reciva system has been around a while it is not technically first generation, but it amazes me how well it does what it does.
I am a radio nut who truly mourned the loss of shortwave radio broadcasts as a way to travel the world in your imagination. Here is all of that good fun back in a format that sounds better than ever.
The integration of the Receiva website as the basis for programing favorite stations/ podcasts and the like works great. There is no way a simple radio display could do it this easily. Once programmed, you can access all of your favorites with a couple of touches.
I expect firmawre updates, and greater familiarity with the controls to make things even better. What a great toy!
Build quality and sound are what you would expect from Sangean, top rate.
Digital camera Review: Does well what it is advertised to do
Summary: 5 Stars
This internet radio does well what it is advertised to do. It took me five minutes to set it up to work with my Linksys wireless router. I was able to save a large number of favorite stations as "My Stuff" after registering the radio at the Reciva Radio Portal. The single button/dial system is not difficult to use and, at night-time, in the dark, offers advantages over multi-button sytems.
Pros: Ease of use and set up; the Reciva linked system which enables easy access to thousands of radio stations and streams without having to use a computer; Real audio enabled, which the Roku R1000 is not, allowing listening to many streams, especially great BBC on demand streams, that cannot be picked up the Roku R1000.
Cons:
1. Low power speakers - will be sufficient for many listeners,but audiophiles will want to connect higher powered speakers, i.e. Logitech or Creative, via the auxilliary line out.
2. Does not accept DRM protected files. This deficiency is clearly stated in literature about the radio, and was, thus, not unexpected. Thus, Napster, and other media service files cannot be played on the radio. I do not think there is any device that plays both DRM protected files and Real audio streams, thus, when purchasing internet radio devices, it is necessary to choose between a device such as the Roku R1000, that plays premium service files, but has limited radio stream access, and a device such as the WFR-20 that does not play premium service files, but has extensive radio stream access. This is probably the most difficult decision that any purchase of these devices has to make. Since I enjoy listening to on-demand BBC streams, I opted for the for the WFR-20. I may one day add on a Roku M1000-like device so as to be able to access Napster, especially if Reciva does not add access to DRM streams, as they are, apparently, trying to do. The WFR-20 is not the right device for someone uninterested in international radio broadcasts seeking a device to wirelessly play their premium service playlists/downloads.
3. The clock is only visible consistently when the radio is in standby mode (off).
4. It would be nice if Reciva expanded the genres, eliminated radio stations that failed their listening tests, and subdivided the US stations by state.
5. Some reviewers on the internet have complained that this radio does not pick up analog AM/FM radio stations. I do not see this as a disadvantage. The internet radio probably picks up the local stations digitally via the internet better than most analog radios can pick them up, and a much less expensive conventional radio can be used to pick these stations up.
It can be useful, when looking for reviews, to know that the Sangean WFR-20 is the same as the Roberts WM-201 internet radio. The Roberts name is used in the United Kingdom, and the Sangean name is used elsewhere, including in continental Europe. Although the manual has pictures of the radio with 220 voltage input, the radio, as sold from Amazon in the U.S. has the U.S. 120 voltage input.