- All In One, Internet Radio/FM-RDS/Aux-In/CD/USB/SD/iPod Cradle
- iPod Cradle Charges and Plays iPod/iPhone
- 10 presets on FM Band and 99 Station Presets on internet Radio
- Full Function Remote Control
- MP3, AAC and WMA Compatible
While I would not say that this item is perfect, it does stand alone in a sea of mediocrity. When you consider the impressive range of features that it offers, it's really easy to overlook the minor shortcomings. It's also hard to find much to compare it to, since there are only 2-3 units available that offer all of these features at such a reasonable price point.
First off, it's really nice looking. Piano black is a good description, as it is a deep, high gloss, black finish. This is complemented nicely by the blue backlit display (which is adjustable for both brightness and contrast). It feels solid and of quite good quality. Also, since neither this site nor the manufacturer's website describes it, it DOES include a full size remote control. Happily, it is not a tiny credit card type of remote. It is full sized and has real buttons. The remote feels a little cheap, but at least it offers those two features. I'll try to upload a picture of the remote at some point. The touch sensitive buttons on the unit itself do not offer any kind of tactile feedback, but do have nice blue lights, and seem to be responsive. I anticipate using the remote more often than these buttons.
The Pandora integration is really great. It does not seem to offer a way to "like" a song (as you can on the Pandora site) but it is easy to set up and use.
***UPDATE, 2/29/2012: I can't stress enough how much I enjoy using the Pandora integration on this radio! It is truly a joy. We use it in the kitchen, and if an artist or song comes up in conversation over dinner or breakfast, PRESTO! we can look for them/it on this radio! You do not have to log in to Pandora using a computer to create new stations.
The iPod integration is nice. It seems to work pretty well with my iPhone 4. It charges the phone while playing music. The remote control can be used to control the iPhone/iPod too, which is nice. The unit comes with a plethora of plastic adapters to get a secure fit for different kinds of iPods, but I have not tried them. The unit does not display the song info, but of course it is displayed on the iPod.
CDs take a few seconds to initialize, which is one of the minor drawbacks I mentioned before. And it does not display info about the CD such as track names, etc. It only displays track numbers and elapsed time. Not a huge deal I guess.
The Internet radio is very cool, and presents a whole world (literally!) of stuff to hear. It does not display info about individual tracks (another minor drawback). Instead it can display the name, description, genre, country of origin, reliability of connection, bit rate, audio codec, and sampling rate of the station. Nice!
FM reception seems good. I live close to a city, so your performance may vary. It does display station names, track names, artists, or whatever RDS info a station is transmitting (if anything).
Sound quality? Oh yeah, sound quality. Well, I'd say it's really good. I'm not an audiophile (if I were, I probably wouldn't even consider a tabletop radio) but I do have some musical training, a somewhat discerning ear, and a somewhat geeky mentality when it comes to audio/video stuff. So I'm going to say the sound quality, as perceived by a person such as myself, is an 8 or 9 out of 10. I'm using it in a kitchen with lots of acoustically bright surfaces and felt it was a little bass-heavy out of the box, but there are several EQ presets, and a personal EQ setting, which lets you adjust bass and treble.
Another minor drawback that I've noticed, and the one that seems to bug me the most, is the inability to power on and go directly to the mode you want by pressing the appropriate button on the remote. You always have to press the power button first, whether on the unit itself or the remote. You then cycle through the radio modes by pressing the "Radio" button, or for the other formats you press the "Media" button to cycle through CD, iPod, etc.
I have not tried the USB, SD card, or Media Player software, nor have I tried the recording capabilities. I wanted something with FM, CD, Internet radio, and iPod integration. As far as I'm concerned those other features are just gravy, and it will probably take a while before I try them. If they are important to you, leave me a comment and I will try to use them and report back.
In closing, you can't beat this unit at this price. Please buy it so Sangean keeps making cool stuff!
***UPDATE #2, 12/19/2012: I'm still pretty happy with this item, but over a period of 2-3 months this past summer I was having a few problems. At one point the FM radio would just go silent after listening for a while. The exact duration of listening required to see the problem would change, but the sound would only return after unplugging the unit. I contacted Sangean and they said I could ship the unit to them for warranty repair, ALONG WITH A CHECK FOR RETURN SHIPPING. Seriously? The item they made went bad so I have to pay shipping both ways?? Even Apple will pay shipping both ways for warranty repairs on laptops (at least they used to). Another problem was that the touch controls on the unit stopped responding to touches for a while. Both problems seem to have cleared up, at least for the time being. Still a cool item, but not without its problems.
Buy Sangean DDR-63 All-in-One Table Top with WiFi Internet, FM-RDS/Aux In/ CD/USB/iPod Cradle in Acousti Now
We were looking for a replacement for a Boston Acoustics Micro System CD whose CD stopped working. Boston Acoustics no longer offers a radio with a CD, otherwise I would have just replaced it in kind, as the sound was great from top to bottom. Without going into the boring details, I will tell you I had the opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison in my kitchen of the Sangean DDR-63, three different Bose Wave Radios ranging from 3 to 10 years old, a new Cambridge Soundworks i765, and the Boston Acoustics whose radio still worked. Since this is a review of the Sangean, I will focus on that.
Size-wise, the unit was very similar to the Cambridge i765, both being slightly larger in depth and height compared to the Bose and the Boston models. The Cambridge model required the use of a power brick AC/DC adapter which added to the surface clutter, whereas the Sangean and Bose models just had a standard AC cord running from the unit to the wall plug. The Sangean was probably the nicest looking of the group, at least to my eye. However, the LCD display was also my least favorite. I found it harder to read than the others. The integrated iPod dock looked great and worked fine a very nice feature. Setting up the wireless connection to my router was easy and straightforward since both radio and router supported WPS. However, sound quality was paramount to me, and the Sangean did not measure up, at least to my ear. It lacked the terrific bass response of the i765, and it also lacked the sparkling mid-range of the Bose units. Overall it just sounded a bit 'muddy' throughout the spectrum in comparison to the others. Not terrible, just not as good. None of the radios was perfect. The Bose lacked bass, the i765 lacked mids. Since internet radio was the least important feature to me, the Sangean was the first radio I ruled out and returned. I will say that Amazon's return policy and process is excellent and is a key reason I do frequent business with them.
Read Best Reviews of Sangean DDR-63 All-in-One Table Top with WiFi Internet, FM-RDS/Aux In/ CD/USB/iPod Cradle in Acousti Here
We looked for several months for a small, good sounding device to replace our big old stereo system. After finding the Sangean DDR-63 we read the specs and reviews before finally committing to buy it. It was fulfilled by Vann's, and we got excellent service from them. The machine arrived in 3 days in perfect condition.
What I really like about the Sangean:
1. Setup was a breeze, even connecting by WiFi which I've had problems with on other devices. Within 5 minutes the clock, internet radio and Pandora were up and running.
2. The sound is GREAT. I don't know what some reviewers have done, but we're very happy with the sound. I have experience with what Bose Wave machines sound like and although I haven't done a side-by-side comparison I know they are in the same league. Clear, crisp with clean bass. We usually leave the equalizer on "Flat", but some poor recordings do need adjustment to sound their best. We're not looking for window rattling volume, but the Sangean can get quite loud.
3. Great looks. Yes the description of "piano black" is a good one. It takes up a small space with no extra wires and cables cluttering up the living room. The touch panel is sensitive without the "bump" buttons sometimes found on lower cost products. The remote is a real full sized one with real buttons. Range for the remote easily allows use from across a large room.
4. Pandora! We've had a Pandora account on our computer but never really used it much. With the DDR-63 we've added stations and discovered a lot of new music. It's perfect for a dinner or a party, non-stop music any genre you want with no hassle.
5. Lots of input options. The DDR-63 has FM, CD, IPod dock, line-level, SD card and USB inputs. Wow! The WiFi connection also lets you read from a shared drive on your computer, so your personal music library is available, too.
6. Recording. You can record from CD or FM or Pandora or internet radio onto SD or USB devices. This was a big bonus for me. I have a Soundfly (FM transmitter) in my car that accepts SD cards. I can record music from Pandora onto an SD card and play it back while I'm driving!
7. Line-level output. This lets us connect to a wireless speaker transmitter so the music extends to our patio. Another Wow!
All in all we love it and have no regrets. Would definitely buy it again!
Want Sangean DDR-63 All-in-One Table Top with WiFi Internet, FM-RDS/Aux In/ CD/USB/iPod Cradle in Acousti Discount?
Been playing with this item for a few weeks now, after searching for a shelf system with CD/FM and internet radio all-in-one, which is pretty hard to find surprisingly enough.
It's a bit pricey compared to internet only systems, but has everything I need.
Sound -pretty good for such a small box, no problems with static 4/5
Integrations -hooked up my Pandora account, MP3 library on my computer, and general internet radio stations in just a short time. Takes a few seconds to acquire original connection to wifi, but after that, everything works seemlessly, quickly, and without any drops, even with my router on the other floor. Only nitpick is would like to be able to save pandora stations to quick numbers. 5/5
Interface -remote is ok, its tough to enter characters searching for internet stations or pandora creation, but I've never seen a really good interface for doing that on a system like this. My young kids have already figured out some pieces of it in a few days, so can't be too hard. 3.5/5
Overall -has all the features I wanted, and will be buying some wireless speakers soon to expand the sound to another room/floor. Already been listening to more music in the last two weeks that we had in the past year. Recommended if you need these features and the price doesnt scare you off. 4+/5
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We got this for the kitchen / dining area and it is an excellent choice for a small area. The sound quality is very good but it is limited in how loud it can play. At lower volumes it plays clean and clear full bodied sound, as good as the Bose Wave system.
The control panel is touch sensitive and works well, although I did manage to confuse it and had to power down to continue. Not all features are accessible using the front panel, and you must use the remote for Preset stations and EQ settings. Not a big deal if you lose the remote...
The CD player is like any other units you have used and has the best sound quality of all the inputs I have tried.
The ability to play Pandora radio stations / playlists is a great feature, just create an account with Pandora, link the radio ID to the site, create the music lists at the website, and those list show up on the radio. It is the feature my wife uses the most because it plays a variety of similar artists and style to the radio station you picked.
I have not used the Internet Radio as much, but I see this feature as a way to get a different perspective on news, music or talk shows. You can pick from 100s of radio stations / podcasts around the globe.
The microSD slot also works well. I moved the memory card from the mp3 player to the DDR-63 and all your music files are there. It shows artist, song name on the display. It allows you to move from file to file, but you must go past all songs in the current file.
I have not tried the USB or the Ipod slots.
The FM and the WiFi antennas work well and there is a signal strenght indicator to find best position.
Overall a great product with lots of music input choices and a reasonable price. Much better deal than the Bose
