Revo Blik RadioStation review

Revo Blik RadioStation Review

Reviewed by: Rob Gillman

Reviewed on: 13 March 2008

There have been plenty of DAB/FM and Internet/FM combinations, but never a single product that delivers the ultimate triple whammy of DAB, FM and Internet. This dream is a reality with Revo's introduction of the multi-talented Blik RadioStation.

Strengths
The Blik is lightweight and compact, with a housebrick- sized footprint, so finding a spot for it on a bookshelf, worktop or desk won't be too difficult. It's also finished in rather natty matte black, which sets it aside from the usual boxy wood-finished DAB efforts. A white version is also available.

There's built-in Wi-Fi, so hooking it up to your home network is simply a matter of keying in the WEP or WPA key using the credit card-sized remote. The remote's buttons can be unresponsive and fiddly, so the fact that you only need to do this once is quite a relief.

Once you're connected, you can access over 9,000 Web radio stations from all over the planet. As with most devices of this type, the Blik groups them into genre and country to make browsing the list less daunting. If you get bored of these, you can also stream MP3, AAC, WAV, RealMedia, AIFF, AU and WMA music from a Windows PC or Mac.

Despite the lightweight plastic build and single speaker, the Blik delivers solid sound quality across its full range of abilities. Of course, much of this depends on the quality of the signal -- or the bitrate in the case of DAB and Web radio -- but we found the results more than acceptable whatever we were listening to. It's not going to have audiophiles going into raptures, but they can always use the line outputs to hook it up to a more sonically adept system if they want.

Speaking of connections, the Blik comes with a 3.5mm auxiliary input rather grandly dubbed the 'M-Port'. This is basically just a way for you to hook up iPods, MP3 players and mobile phones, should you want to run their contents through the Blik's speaker.

Weaknesses
As we've already mentioned, the sound quality on the Blik isn't the tip-top finest we've heard from a DAB or Web radio. The plastic body means that bass is kept light and airy, while the single speaker means you can forget about having a wide stereo separation. But this is strictly a basic desktop radio and the price tag reflects that.

Conclusion
The Revo Blik RadioStation is probably best described as the ultimate radio, as it's the only device we've seen that manages to serve up both DAB and Internet radio as well as FM and music streaming. It's a winning combination that ensures you've always got something to listen to, and the affordable price tag is the icing on an already scrumptious piece of sonic confectionary.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday