Home > Consumer Reviews > Pure EVOKE-2XT, Luxury DAB/FM Portable Radio with Alarm - Maple

The Evoke 2XT has a problem. If you leave the headphones plugged into the radio with it switched off, when the clock updates each hour (1 hour from when the radio was originally switched on) the radio starts to play through the headphones, although the radio display is still in standby. Pure are aware of this fault but have not cured it or warned customers of the fault

arrived very quickly and just in time to pack away pre birthday! Hubby set it up straightaway and without bothering to read the enclosed instruction booklet, which he always does, but no matter- the radio is virtually foolproof and in my case, completely husband proof! He was up and away immediately, flicking round the various stations, selecting his favourites etc etc - a real boy's toy! Quite apart from the childish delight this is sure to inspire in any man the sound is AMAZING! You just wouldn't believe that you could get a sound that good from such a small machine - overall, astounding value for money and great 'play' value for the man of the house!

It's a bit late to be reviewing this model now, but its successors are probably similar so it may be relevant to them too.

The Evoke XT 2 is a good radio, but not worth its original price. It sounds better than most table-top radios, with crisp treble and some surprisingly firm bass, but it's nowhere near hi-fi standard, lacking warmth and realism (my big 17 year old Panasonic CD/Radio is far better). The volume control is absurdly sensitive on radio (DAB and FM), playing at loud volume at less than 1/4 turn and making it hard to get low volume settings for night-time listening. In contrast the aux input is under-sensitive, so if you plug an iPod or whatever into it you have to turn the volume up, then remember to turn it down again before switching back to radio, or you get blasted.

Sound quality on aux input is strangely bad - almost as if it's digitising the analogue input signal, and not doing it very well (it sounds like a low-bitrate MP3). Again, playing the same devices through my old Panasonic gives far better results. The Evoke is very slow to switch between DAB stations (my iPod Touch can switch between internet streaming stations in half the time) and on my mine the station selector knob has a nasty, harsh action. That last point might sound niggly, but it just adds to what is basically a disappointing user experience, not what I expected given all the hype and 5-star reviews. There's a USB socket on the back, but this is, apparently, for software updates only (nothing as useful as being able to plug in a memory stick and play files from it). There haven't been any updates, and probably won't be now, so that was a waste of money.

Overall my feeling is that the Evoke XT 2 had its good points but wasn't fully sorted as a product, and was heavily over-priced when new. For the refurbished price though it sounds much better value, and may be a good buy.

I have several Dab Radio's and this one blow's them all out of the water for performance and style. I do not want to get technical about my radio but it's easy to use, looks great and the reception is the best I've seen. Don't forget'' Buy cheap, buy twice''!

Great looking and sounding radio, but as has been mentioned the socket where the adapter plugs in the back have come loose and you have to 'jiggle it a bit' to get the radio working.