Sangean WFR-1 WIFI Internet Radio Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)An internet radio opens up an almost overwhelming number of broadcast streams and for someone like me, who enjoys classical music, there is a wonderful choice of commercial free stations worldwide. I own (or have owned) a number of internet radios;a Slim Devices Squeezebox(!), a Roku Soundbridge R1000, a Revo Pico portable, a Receiva AE and a Sangean WFR-20, but the new Sangean WFR-20 is almost the best of the bunch (I will explain why it is not unequivocally the best in a minute!).
The Sangean WFR-1 is beautifully finished with a polished wooden case, an array of controls on the front panel, including on/off, volume and equalizer (tone control). They are not particularly intuitive but better than the single knob on the WFR-20. There is also a substantial and full function remote control, resembling that of the Roku, rather than the credit-card sized devices that come with Pico and the WFR-20. The amber display is larger than those found on any other set but the Roku (more about this later).
Set-up was very easy (I use an ethernet wired connection to my router but it works with my wi-fi network) and it was playing within a few minutes of unpacking. There is also an FM tuner with a separate antenna. Sound is excellent and far superior to any of the other sets I have owned except Roku, which is almost as good. For this unit, Sangean has gone to Frontier Silicon rather than to Receiva for their streams. Nevertheless, there is an abundance of stations, including Real format so I can get all the BBC channels (a big negative with Roku). There is little delay in receiving streams after switching on and Frontier has a good website where you can set up favorites and add new stations. Playing stored music from my computer via Windows Media Player has been easy and more consistent than with the WFR-20 or AE.
Now for the downside. Despite a larger display that claims to offer four lines of text, there is no control for format (as Roku provides) or for brightness (which the WFR-20 offers). Most frustrating is that Frontier do not stream program information with the station! There is plenty of room for this on the display and such information on content is invaluable because some stations do not provide this audibly; the WFR-20 does this well because it uses the Receiva streams but it would require reprogramming of software by Frontier to have this on the WFR-1. Frontier tell me it is being discussed but they have no plans for implementation! Surprisingly, Sangean, although the 800lb gorilla here, do not seem inclined to pressure Frontier. I have had several conversations with the amiable Selwyn, whom you reach quite easily when you call up technical support at Sangean, and he agrees totally with me and suggests that I contact Frontier (which I did) or write a review to make this point - which I am doing!
So in summary, this is an excellent product with great acoustic performance but marred by small, but irritating, shortcomings in the display. As a result, I gave it 3 stars rather than 5.

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