HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Having bought an internet radio "tuner" I'm now wondering if anyone else bothers with the medium. I don't think I've ever seen it discussed here - beyond the obvious Radio Paradise - by anyone.

It's early days for me, but the amount of amazing stations available is gobsmacking. My own tuner's 'UNDOK' search app threw me at first but soon became quite simple to navigate. One can search by Location, Genre, Popular, and even "New" stations. There's also a text input box to name a station directly without using any of the other search parameters. Genre is my "go-to" so far. Under "Prog Rock" I actually found a station that plays nothing but Pink Floyd all day - the perfect fallback when I can't decide what else to play.

Mostly, though, I bought the tuner because wanted to be able to use my second system to be able to explore some of the blues stations - playing esoteric and off-piste choices - rather than being tied to PC playback via the Q5, and on that front, the tuner has excelled. I'm currently more or less wedded to the imaginatively-named Blues Radio, and it's brilliant.

The only downside to the UNDOK software is that the station identifier/logo/whatever takes up the majority of the screen real estate and the artist/track info is restricted to a small-print single line of static text.

If anyone's interested, it's a fun new option, and my Majority Fitzwilliam definitely seems the most reasonably priced toe-in-the-water dipper. As I said, elsewhere, it was literally plug-in and go. It even discovered my NAS storage with no prompting required, which means I can play my own stored music through it if I so desire. Alternatively, a lot of more upmarket streamers come with the facility built into their software controller.

If I find any interesting stations (once I can drag myself away from Blues Radio, and if anyone's interested ) I'll post names and addresses here.

Blues Radio - bluesradio.gr/

Exclusively Pink Floyd - uk.radio.net/s/exclusivelypinkfloyd

That "Exclusively..." link also hosts links to other Exclusive stations, so if Johnny Cash, Kylie, Kate Bush, Abba, or Barely Musical Barry Manilow (there are more) is your bag...

I would be interested to know if anyone else uses internet radio though, or if I'm ploughing my usual lone furrow here.

I have not gone beyond Radio Paradise where the sound quality is very good. Would be interested in other internet radio stations if the SQ is of a similar standard. As I use the BubbleUp app I have to copy the URL and save it as a play list.

Not strictly internet radio, but I've just found another bonus with the Fitzwilliam. The free Spotify player recognises it as a device, consequently, I'm now listening to a nice bit of Mozart played by Hilary Hahn and Natalie Zhu through my second system, which is far superior to listening through the Q5 hooked up to my PC.

Spotify Free recognises my Fitzwilliam as a "device", in the same way as it does all of my Amazon devices, and my AV amp.

I've just found a neat little app, which is available in the Windows Store and is called RadioRemote, that does exactly the same job as the iPad app I've been using for controlling the Fitzwilliam, but on the PC. Although the information relayed is exactly the same, the layout is much more aesthetically pleasing, and the text size of the info on-screen does not threaten eyestrain every time I look to see who's playing what.

And it's pinned to my taskbar now.

Whether this is the final "refinement" I obviously can't say, but with the amazing variety of music I now have at my fingertips without actually paying for a streaming service, Internet (and DAB+ and FM) radio is proving to be a resounding success as fat as I'm concerned.

Well, that was a surprise... The King of the Daft Bids strikes again.

I've just picked up one of these...

https://www.audiolab.co.uk/6000n/]https://www.audiolab.co.uk/6000n/"

...for two hundred and sixty quid and a couple of pennies.

It was my long-term plan to end up with one of these, unless, or until I could justify a Cambridge Audio CXN (V2) to myself, but it seems to have turned into a short-term plan, possibly even an endgame purchase.

It ticks all of my boxes, and then some. It even streams Amazon Music and Amazon Music HD.

My Majority Fitzwilliam has lasted about as long in my system as The Right Honourable Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng MP did as Chancellor.

A new radio turned up yesterday at casa slinger, a Roberts 94L.
www.robertsradio.com/en-gb/stream-94i#stream94l
www.whathifi.com/reviews/roberts-stream-94l

It instantly found my network, and it's playing FM, DAB, and Internet Radio quite happily.

I wouldn't want to listen to it as a main source, but for background and bedtime, it's absolutely brilliant. I've tested it with Radio Paradise, Classic FM, Jaxx FM, and a selection of internet-based blues stations, and it now lives on my bedside table where it's chatting away to a TP-Link RE550 AC1900 MU-MIMO Dual Band Mesh Wi-Fi Range Extender plugged into the same mains block that powers the radio.

The "Undok" app, which I've used before, is simple, free, and fairly comprehensive, on both my iPad, Ipad-mini and my Android tablets and phone. There's actually a new "version" of it now, named Oktiv, which I tried, briefly, last night. It's a bit "prettier" than the old "Undok" but on the surface not hugely different. As well as controlling the volume, both apps also have basic bass and treble sliders, the settings of which can be saved once you've tweaked them to your liking, or you could just use one of the six or seven presets, but where's the fun in that? .

The radio also has a full-function remote.

I haven't tried out Spotify or Amazon Music yet, but it handles them both.

All in all, a success I'd say. It looks reasonably stylish, and a little bit retro, plus if I ever do away with my current bedside Amazon Echo Show 8, it doubles as an alarm clock too.

I did have a little chuckle to myself when I read that one of the "improvements" over the previous mode is a "faster processor". Processor? It's a fekkin wireless for feck's sake.