Reviews: Gear4's KRG-D50 DAB Radio with iPod Dock

The KRG-D50 is one of the latest additions to gear4's line of speakers. It's an iPod dock, FM and DAB radio and an alarm clock all in one. In fact, the KRG-D50 is gear4's first DAB radio system. I have been using one for just over a couple of weeks now and thought I would share my experience.

Gear4 claims it features a stylish design that combines retro elements with an updated modern look, making the KRG-D50 fit perfectly into any interior, from kitchens to bedrooms. I however thought it looked and felt more like something my granddad would have owned, especially with the retro antenna that you have to pull out from the back when you want to listen to the radio. Once I got past its looks however, things got better.

As soon as I plugged the unit in, it automatically started scanning the air waves for DAB stations. As someone who has never owned a DAB radio, I was pleased to see it had automatically set the time and date as soon as it had tuned into a DAB radio station. That, is a feature I wish a lot of other devices had. The sound quality doesn't disappoint either. Despite only having a single speaker, the sound quality is really good and the bass very strong for a radio/iPod dock this size.

The blue LCD display shows the name of the radio station as well as the name of the song or programme playing when tuned in to DAB radio. When on stand-by, the display changes to showing only the time and date and it automatically dims which is a nice feature, specially if you plan to use the unit in a bedroom.

The KRG-D50 makes it really easy to change radio stations by simply rotating the retro type knob. From a usability standpoint however, I think that it would have been more intuitive to have the knob control the volume rather than the tuning, especially when the average user is likely to adjust the volume more often than he or she will change stations.

When in iPod mode however, the knob does quite a good job of controlling the iPod user interface. Rotating the knob is the same as moving your finger along the iPod's click-wheel. You can use the knob to choose and select tracks. Pushing the knob in has the same effect as pushing the centre (select) button on the iPod. For the volume however, you still have to use the buttons on the main panel of the KRG-D50. Increasing the volume on the iPod itself has no effect on the playback volume through the speaker. The unit ships with three iPod dock adapters in the box and it supports the iPod touch, iPod Classic, iPod, iPod nano and the iPod mini. It doesn't officially support the iPhone although I managed to connect my iPhone 3G to the dock connector on the unit. It was a tight fit however and I definitely wouldn't recommend docking your iPhone to it on a regular basis as it might damage the dock connector pins on the iPhone.

If you really have to connect your iPhone (or any other audio device) to the speaker on a regular basis, the KRG-D50 offers a line-in port at the back that will accept a 3.5mm audio cable (not included). If you plan to use it with an iPhone, you will want to have Airplane Mode turned on or the speakers will pick up the radio interference.

Last but not least, the alarm clock. The KRG-D50 has two programmable alarms that can be set to either wake up to DAB radio or FM radio or iPod or the built-in buzzer alarm sound. You can even programme the volume of the alarm and it has convenient settings like daily, once, weekdays and weekends. So, you can quickly and easily set one alarm up at a specific time for every weekday and another set up at a different time for the lie-ins at the weekends.

Overall, a reasonably priced DAB radio at £79.99 that also has an iPod dock and line-in input. If it's a DAB radio you are after, this is definitely a product to consider, specially if you also own an iPod. But if it's an iPod or iPhone dock you want, then it probably should be the last thing to consider as there are many better alternatives for this price on the market. The KRG-D50 is a DAB radio first with the added option of connecting up an iPod rather than an iPod speaker with built-in DAB radio.

Yes, I thought I might get away without having to pull up the arial too but it didn't pick up a single DAB station with it down. You might have better luck in an area with better coverage.

FM radio plays just fine without the arial though.

hi

is there a dock with DAB radio for the iphone 3G ??? I cannot seem to find one