Real cool radio with slight weaknesses

Bought as a substitute for a ollen clock radio this radio. My requirements were:
- FM reception for backward compatibility
- DAB + reception for the future security
- Internet radio reception via WLAN
- Integrated CD drive that can also play MP3's
-. Connection for example, a smart phone or other external devices
- A very sensible course alarm
- Neat sound well above Brüllwürfel level

In the prestigious / established manufacturers am I not find anything, a shame! I then me, after some hesitation for the - quite expensive - decided Sangean, even if my wife teased "DDR-62, which is the place of manufacture and the year?" ;-)
Previously this was a very good decision, even if the device has a few small weaknesses, the z. T. let off by a firmware update itself.

Pro:
- Play FM, DAB +, CD, MP3-CD's, UPnP shares in the network, Internet radio and an external source via plug. Only Bluetooth stood still on the wish list, which had for me but not a priority.
- IPod dock, need / I did not want to, there is the device as well as DDR-63 with Dock instead jack connector
- Play from SD card and USB flash drive (connectors available, but I have not tried)
- Ethernet connection (100 Mbps)
- Wireless connection (2.4GHz)
- Reveals itself as a UPnP server on the network
-. Output (jack) for connection to eg a stereo system
- Telescopic antenna with nice additional feature: The antenna can be removed and you get a regular antenna connector. Nice if you have an antenna Doese are in the bedroom
- For the built Lautsprecherchen (can be as large boxes pull the covers of the speakers and then gets the built broadband transmitter to face) an amazing bass. Here Sagean has pretty dug deep into his bag of tricks, so much bass you only get out by additionally aufpimpt the bass reflex enclosure and used in sloping deep frequency range neatly purely blowing performance in the little things.
- Alarm clock with dual alarms, once, daily, on weekdays or at the weekend. Comfortable!
- If the sound of the alarm clock is turned As slowly the box roars not immediately release.
- For each alarm separately programmable volume, no matter how loud you have previously listened to the radio.
- Clear IR remote control
- Myriads of Internet radio stations available, so determined will not be bored.
- Backlit buttons on the front, only the buttons will be turned on, allowing the currently also an operator
- Time via NTP from the Internet, no adjustment necessary
- The radio makes visually something forth.

Cons:
- The radio has no buttons on the front with haptic feedback, but only touch buttons. The operation above is not as secure as with "real" buttons. Sangean has sacrificed a few things to use the optical look. Form follows functions is not, unfortunately. I'm gone over usually to use the FB, here you have it easier.
- The built-up display is just a very, very sluggish, highly viewing angle dependent monochrome display. Something is out of date and at the price, a color LCD better convenience would have been possible. At least you could have saved the scrolling display content with such a poor display, here you can see that is simply nothing more. Something is really embarrassing.
- With Internet radio stations special characters are often not displayed correctly. Apparently the radio with the UTF encoding copes not always, though, in principle, etc. already exist in the character set umlauts. Bearable.
- The display brightness can be adjusted only in three steps + Fully-off. The lowest brightness level at night is actually still too bright. Here is an infinitely fine-grained or brightness control would have been better, even better, a sensor would have been, that adjusts the brightness to the ambient light. Had they been clever they have to use the DC component of the IR receiver and does not even have to block an additional sensor.
- To the alarm reprogram must be turned on the radio, could be improved with a firmware update. When switched off, the alarm clock can only switch on and off.
- If the current time the alarm goes As only very small displays in the upper right corner, because the majority of the screen occupied by the information on the sender. In the morning, the time is but quite interesting, I can stay still within 5 minutes? Here would be a large time display (configurable or via FB zusschaltbare?) Beautiful. We hope for a better FW.
- Programming of the one-time alarm clock a bit annoying. One has the possibility to enter a date and time. If you have used the function and once programmed it the next time, so is the date of the last programmed value, which is usually. a date somewhere in the past and therefore useless. So you have to first find out the current date (there is nowhere in Weckmenü and there is no button "today" or "tomorrow") and choose to have this, annoying! It is better if the clock was about to offer the current date, or at least a key for calling because a date in the past simply makes no sense would. Again, the call for a firmware update!
- The tone control of the radio is full-bodied than "Equalizer" touted, but consists only of a bass and a treble control. This is called loudmouthed minimalism!
- The default setting of the amp delivers to my taste much too much bass and too little treble instead. With the existing equalizer you can but fortunately back to a tolerable level reduce, Bass runtern, highs up and you get a pretty vernüftiges, balanced sound. Although I have something still under the impression that the rauskitzeln the last remnant low bass treble zukleistert from the small Böxchen z. T. something. Again, would have been more less, but it is with the above changes still acceptable and anyway 1000 times better than the old Plärrkiste that I had before.

Conclusion: A very useful, great radio, which is not found so when competitors. There remain some minor weaknesses, which should be possible to iron out such. T. via firmware and would otherwise be less of a drawback that you should not access here.

Edit:
Have the radio now for about a 3/4 year and am now essentially still satisfied. But here are a few (criticism) points that are in the meantime I have noticed:
- Playlists for MP3's are limited to (if I remember correctly) 500 titles. When a UPnP-released on the net one uses (eg., 64 GB flash drive on the router), then this limit is exceeded quickly. My intention here was "game to wake up just randomly something from my music fund" - but that's probably not Leidern!
- The advertising speaks at any point of a buzzer, which one could use to wake up. To the extent there are, however I can not see that!
- Sometimes you have the problem that once a transmitter fails. For FM you got here to hear noise in DAB or internet is of course completely dead trousers. Bad news, if that happens, if one is about to be awakened. It would have been good if the Radio has an option that automatically chooses with longer silent alarm mode phases in anything else. What exactly is not so important here one wants to wake up in the first place.
- Since I have the radio, there was of Sangean apparently still no firmware update and presumably. are also in the future can not be expected. Here to hope for an improvement of criticisms of the FW is presumably. Waiting for Godot ...
- What's the devil would have it, this morning not wake the thing. Am woken up at some point, is on display "A new firmware is available! Restart to install?" Something is obviously a rough farce !! Even Windoze leaves a work and asks only at shutdown, if updates to install. At least the crate should losplärren kindly even with such a demand! What we learn from this: (. Eg flyers in the South Pacific) At a date which must not be missed under any circumstances, then you had better make two alarms at hand ...
- I then later the angeprisene FW update tries einzuspielen. Unfortunately that was not possible, after downloading the FW is the (English) asked if you would like to burn the firmware. At this time, the device responds only no longer on the buttons on the remote, or on the on the front panel, so that can not start or cancel the operation. There's only plug out, restart and disable the automatic update search, otherwise the wake each morning torpedoed (see above). So a scrap I find the course cracker !!! Man looking at the support page of Sangean, so you will also find any new FW, the whole thing is very, very dubious. VLT. the device attempts to mistakenly install a firmware that is not intended for the DDR-62 and depends on this ??