Best DAB radio for 2020: Get your daily digital radio fix
Don't tell Spotify, but radio is far from dead. Even though people are flocking to streaming music and podcast platforms in their multitudes, millions of people each day still tune into radio shows to get their fix of news, music or chat shows.
The fact is, the radio still holds us captivated sometimes, and having a nice speaker that can access it - preferably through the DAB standard without needing an elaborate antenna setup - is a real home comfort for many people.
DAB stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting and is a near-global standard for broadcasting digital radio, although it's not used in North America. Here are our favourite DAB radios for your listening pleasure.
Our pick of the best DAB radios to buy today
Roberts Stream 94i
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Roberts is best known for its retro-look radios, but we're actually most impressed by its more modern devices, in particular the Stream 94i, which takes our top spot. It's a great radio that boasts both Bluetooth and Spotify Connect to make it borderline a smart speaker with radio built-in.
Those two front drivers are augmented by a subwoofer on its back, making for excellent sound, while the carrying handle makes it a doddle to move around with, especially if you add an optional battery pack to make it portable. For the combination of functions it offers, and its clean design, we think this is the best radio you can buy right now.
Pure Evoke H2
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Pure has a big range of digital radios of all sizes, and we've got another more sizeable one down below, but our top pick from the brand is the Evoke H2.
We think it's the best combination of feature-rich and appropriate sizing. You're most likely not looking for a radio that can fill an entire house with booming audio, so a diminutive but rich-sounding little unit is a great option.
As with a few on this list, the wood construction gives the H2 a timeless quality, as do its big dial controls and low-key information display. It's the sort of radio that will work for you but also for your Grandma, and that's saying something. It helps that it sounds great for its size.
Pure Evoke C-F6
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Perhaps you want something with a little bit more oomph when you whack on your daily does of the Today programme, though. We like how the Evoke C-F6 actually looks a lot like a traditional boombox, just hewn out of wood and with a more modern, refined aesthetic to it.
The option to play CDs adds to that impression, making the C-F6 a great option for someone who wants to be able to play music by Bluetooth but also has a disc collection they're attached to, and likes the radio. The sound is as great as that bigger footprint would suggest, too.
Ruark R1 Mk3
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Of a similar size to the Evoke H2 we picked earlier, Ruark's R1 Mk3 is another really impressive small radio. Unlike that other model, it has Bluetooth to bring to the party, too. That makes it a great adaptable speaker. With its control unit mounted on the top of the speaker, it's also one of the very simplest to use on this list.
It isn't exactly cheap for its size, but it's also really nice to look at and boasts really impressive sound.
Sony XDR-S41D
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If you're looking for something a bit more reminiscent of a portable radio from the 70s or 80s, Sony has a really interesting and impressive little radio that fits the bill with some obvious updates to the 21st Century's standards. Light enough to be really portable, and available in a range of jazzy colours outside the black pictured above, it's battery-powered.
That means you can move it around with you or throw it in a bag for when you need it. It won't exactly blow you away on the sound front, but if you're looking for a simple radio that can be used in a variety of settings, Sony's made just that in the XDR-S41D.
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