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Pure Chronos II

£64.09 from Amazon
£69 from John Lewis

First the all important dimensions these are of course maximum 19x17x6cm, the 19cm width is only 3cm at the rear. Under the unit is where the power adapter enters and where the aerial wire exits. The power lead is an adequate 1.8metres, the aerial lead is a barely adequate 60cm. In fact I would describe it as less than adequate as I live in a good DAB reception area but some of the stations had distortion until I twisted another 30cm of wire on the end of the aerial wire to give a longer lead and now reception on all stations is fine. I am not a huge fan of wire aerials but of course they are a lot cheaper than the older telescopic option but why say a one metre length cannot be supplied giving you far more options as to where to tether it.

See also: DAB Radios

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Should you wish to listen in stereo there is a earbud socket on the top back of the unit. All the other controls - apart from the display dimmer button that is on the back - are on the front of the top a total of thirteen rod style buttons of different sizes the largest is of course the central one of three in the front row the snooze button.

I think the only item you are likely to need the 18 page manual for is to set Presets. The DAB section allows ten presets and so does the FM section and while scrolling through 50 channels on DAB does not take long moving from one end of the FM scale to the other does. Unlike some other manufacturers Pure set the default setting in the centre of the FM spectrum but setting presets on FM saves a lot of time, I think the likelihood of you listening regularly to more than ten stations on FM is remote.

The display is large at 9.5x2.5cm and is yellow on black, very easy to read each of the two lines is 16 characters long. When switched to standby the time display is easy to read and only the 4 looks strange but as the other nine digits are easy to read the 4 is easy to identify.

Mine arrived without and documentation but while this could be a pain I was sent by email a PDF version (brave or perhaps foolish given my dislike of reading other than paper documentation) however it is 18 pages and clearly written with good illustrations, of course should you not have a PC with Internet connectivity ? still given that the number of Pure items I have reviewed I am sure it was an oversight.

You can have up to four different alarms (maybe a little over the top) but they are easy to set. There is of course also a sleep timer that can be set between 15 and 90 minutes.

Setting the Presets is straightforward once you know what to do and as stated I think these are all but essential for the FM band as this would otherwise be a long slow tune.

This is the second unit that gives you an option to have a lower power usage in standby you select it as an option during the initial scan. You save power by it not collecting Intellitext while in standby mode. Another feature on DAB is DRC that can make quieter sounds easy to hear at a low volume or in a noisy environment.

I liked the sound quality through the top mounted speaker and even could hear things clearly in the next room without having to ramp the volume level up. My only complaint the short aerial lead easy enough to solve but double the lead length and it would have no faults.

Doing my Internet searches found the Chronos II at a best price of £64.09 including free delivery from the first link below.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000VKCYOY

http://www.pure.com/Products/Product.asp?Product=VL-60909