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Perstel DR-601 portable DAB digital radio with FM review
Perstel's new DAB portable - the Perstel DR601 - is a mix of art deco styling and DAB digital radio technology. The Perstel DR-601 is both mains and battery operated, featuring ten memory presets, backlit six-line dot matrix display and both alarm and sleep functions. It picks up DAB digital radio stations on DAB Band III and can also receive FM, too.
The Perstel DR601 measures in at 290 x 160 x 130mm, weighs 1.5kg and accepts 6 x "C"-size cells for true portability. Battery life is claimed to be thirty hours.
The silver-finish unit incorporates twin speakers for stereo sound (at 1 Watt per channel) and a headphone socket and stereo line-out connection complete the picture.
Our review
The big plus point with the DR-601 is the easy-to-read display, mounted at an angle on top of the DR-601. This, combined with up/down buttons that enable you to scroll through a list of stations and a push-to-select button, makes choosing a station and viewing the list of DAB stations on the multiplex a cinch. There's no less than 6 lines of text on a backlit black-on-lightblue display. There's even a set of 5 hotkeys off to the left-hand side of the Perstel for jumping straight to a preset.
Another good feature is the ability to change the scroll speed of DAB text. You can even switch between large and small font sizes, via the menu system. As you'd expect, multiplex information is to hand; the DR-601 obligingly displays station bitrate information, too.
You can plug the unit into the mains, or pop in 6 "C"-size batteries to take it out and about into the garden or garage.
For a small enclosure, the Perstel DR601 offers reasonable sound through its twin speakers. Sure, bass isn't roof-raising, but then this is a portable player with limited-size speaker enclosure. It does have the added advantage of stereo phono outputs around the back, which means the output can be fed into a larger system. Plus, there's a headphone socket for other times. The Perstel DR 601 plays suitably loud for use in and around the home and we reckon it's an ideal kitchen radio. It will also look quite happy sitting on a bedside table, where its alarm and sleep functions will be of use.
Overall, the Perstel DR-601 is nicely designed and well-built. With the extra information it can display on-screen, it deserves to become a popular choice for DAB listening. The fact that it can pick up FM also scores in its favour.
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