At just under $1000, the Pure Avanti Flow digital radio is not for everyone, but its well-crafted design will make it a must for the high end user. Steve Ahern reviews the radio/multi-media player and discovers the broadcast bit-rates of various stations in this radioinfo equipment review.
What first strikes you about the Avanti Flow is the sound, it’s great. The unit has two good quality stereo speakers at the front and a sub-woofer in the base for extra grunt, all mounted in a very solid casing. It is raised high enough on its feet to create a nice resonance when placed on a wooden surface.
But don’t think you will be carrying it around with two fingers. It is heavy and obviously made to sit on a table, a bedside chest or in your stereo cabvarchar(15).
The digital radio DAB+ tuner is strong and pulls in the new digital stations well under normal conditions, although it did experience some dropouts when ‘pressure-tested’ in known digital dead spots in a large building. However, its long antenna recovered the signal quickly when moved around.
The display screen shows text across several horizontal lines, making it easier to read than a single-line scrolling text screen. Autotuning and station scanning is similar to most other models.
The screen display on this model uses the latest OLED technology, which makes it clearer and easier to view than standard LCD screens.
The unit also displays all technical data, allowing technically minded consumers to learn that the digital radio stations currently on air are using bit rates of between 40 and 120 kilobits per second for their signals. Many cheaper units do not show the bit rate, assuming probably that most consumers won’t know or care about this element of digital radio. They are probably right.
Stations like Koffee and Radar are on-air at bit rates of 57 Kb and sound just as good as Triple M at 116 Kb or ABC Country at 80 Kb.
ABC ClassicFM is broadcasting at 72 Kb per second in Melbourne, and 80 Kb elsewhere, which seems a little too low for a quality music network. 2GB Sydney is broadcasting at 116 Kb, using up all its capacity on talk, presumably while it works out what to do with its digital channel strategy.
A message to music directors. Remember the old saying “rubbish in, rubbish out!” If you still have crappy audio in your playout system, get rid of it. While AM will mask poor quality audio, digital transmission will show it off in all its inglorious shame. 2CH Sydney, broadcasting at a bit rate of 79 Kb, is an example of a station that has done the hard yards and made sure its playout audio is top quality. Magic in Melbourne is also putting out great audio on digital with a bit rate of 57 Kb. The same cannot be said of at least one other AM station, which will not be publicly shamed here on radioinfo (yet).
Another special feature of the Avanti is the remote control. The infrared remotes for my other stereo components require me to contort my aim around furniture and corners to get a clear line of sight to the unit. The Avanti’s remote uses radio frequency technology, not infrared, so it can shoot through walls and has a range of around ten metres. A nice touch for any audio couch-potato.
The remote control is very functional and a good way of accessing the more complex features of the unit, such as pausing and rewinding/forwarding through stored media. A pity the controls on the top of the unit are not as friendly. While the remote has circular mouse-like functionality, the selector on the top of the unit has a clumsy selector button with plus and minus buttons on either side of it.
Avanti has an easily accessible iPod dock on the top and can also access a computer or media storage drive on the same WiFi network.
The WiFi network is quite complicated to set up, compared with the Revo Blik which was reviewed last year. To access stored media in a computer you need to install an access program, which provides good functionality, but is not as easy as the plug and play access of the Blik.
The support website however, called The Lounge is easy to use and does offer good benefits to users, such as automatic software upgrades and a constantly updating list of internet radio stations.
The radio also offers an FM receiver and an auxiliary input, but no AM. The only digital radios with AM are very expensive HiFi component models, no other models offer AM either.
The radio has a clock display on the front when not displaying station or song data, and there are various alarm memories. There is an alarm snooze button and a handy speaker mute button.
The ‘back’ button on the front of the unit is a simple but very useful idea that is not seen in many other radios, making menu navigation easily accessible.
The Avanti does not offer pause and rewind for live radio signals, which is surprising in a model at this price range. Pause and rewind functions are available for stored audio.
The Avanti Pure is a high quality multi-function audio unit, which is worth its high price tag for those who will use all its features to their fullest capacity.
