Roberts Radio is an institution in its native UK and good enough to be endorsed by the Queen herself. Roberts has long moved with the radio times and has a prolific line-up, including several DAB+ models. This is one of the few fully-featured portable DAB+ radios around — pop six D size alkaline batteries in and away you go with DAB+, FM and Wi-Fi internet radio. Speaking of which, battery life is not bad either, stated at 35 hours.
Its display and main control knob make setting it up a breeze — the menu system is logical and the functions are worked through quickly and efficiently. The Stream 202's twin speakers provide stereo sound as well as good connectivity with Ethernet and USB ports round the back, plus a headphone socket and 3.5mm aux for hooking up an MP3 player.
In use, the Stream is a breeze to get your head and ears around. It connects quickly to a wireless network, with the radio streaming from all over the globe within seconds. Audio quality is excellent and the Stream 202 sounds much bigger than its portable dimensions. Although there are no tone controls or DSP (digital signal processing), they're not needed. FM, internet and DAB+ stations are all delivered with the same tonal qualities, namely a crisp and attractive sound. The Stream 202 is capable of playing at its top volume without the sound breaking up, especially with the higher quality DAB+ broadcasts. Male voices carry ample weight and substance, and broadcast music also benefits from this quality.
The Roberts Stream 202 is a great way to quickly get into digital radio. It doesn't have all the features that DAB+ has to offer and build quality is a bit too plastic-y for our liking, but it's still one of the easiest to use and best sounding portables currently available.
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