Reviews of products are normally quickly run off by a journalist who’s unpacked it and played with it over an afternoon, not a long-term review based on real use. I find they’re of little use. So, instead, here’s a long-term review of the Pinell SuperSound II, an FM, DAB+ and Internet Radio, based on four month’s use.

Now, before we begin, you can’t buy one of these very easily in the UK, since Pinell is actually a Norwegian brand. The radio is easily available in Australia, though – and, one would suspect, from Pinell themselves, so this hopefully won’t be a completely pointless review. I should point out at the beginning that I was given this radio on a trip to Norway in March. I wasn’t asked to write about it or do anything else, and I don’t work with the manufacturer. Also of note, I completed my contract with PURE – a competing manufacturer – in July.

Now, as normal, I’m not going to describe the product much, just plough into what works and what doesn’t. I’ll split this into “Yay” and “Oh dear”, because that’s what works for me. Ready? Here goes.

Yay – the sound quality. Yes, it’s a mono radio, but I have never had a satisfactory stereo image from a one-piece radio. The sound has a sensible amount of bass, and works nicely in the kitchen, where it is. The speaker faces the front, not the side.

Yay – the remote control. Now, you’re probably thinking I’ve gone mad, if the next best thing is the remote control. But the remote control, simply, works. It is a fully-featured remote control – possibly too fully-featured (who wants to set the clock from a remote control?!), and is a chunky, well-built thing. I’ve had remote controls that are super-slim, ultra-crappy, bubbles-for-buttons which drive me quickly mad; I’ve had remote controls that are super-minimalist but have buttons that stick in (either physically or logically), causing the volume to go up to maximum as I run across the room trying desperately to turn the thing off. I’ve had remote controls for a top-notch beautifully-designed wood-surrounded unit that look as if they cost $1.50, and made out of horrid flexy plastic. But this one feels good and works as I’d expect, with sensible ways of switching channels, sources, and volume. Remote controls are often forgotten: for many of us, they’re the primary user interface. Top marks to Pinell for getting this right. (There’s a tiddly picture here).

Yay – the DAB radio. It’s a DAB and DAB+ radio, as is standard in almost every internet-connected device (the extra patent cost for the DAB+ bit has to be paid anyway to get AAC radio stations). Reception in my kitchen is okay, and this device seems more resilient than previous receivers I’ve had that occupy the same spot. I have never heard the bubbling mud much beloved of DAB listeners in the UK (which I had on other devices).

Hmm – the display. It’s a backlit, blue and black, LCD screen. I find it difficult to read when standing above the radio; but otherwise it’s functional. Radio stations will like the fact that the radio station name is always the biggest thing on the display when tuned in – so obvious, yet so ignored by many receiver manufacturers. Also good, too, is the livetext (the “scrolly text” that appears on DAB) which doesn’t scroll if it doesn’t need to. Thank heavens for that.

Hmm – the internet radio listings. I normally subject internet radios to the JACKfm test, which is to try and find the JACKfm in Oxfordshire or Los Angeles and see how easy it is. The service the Pinell uses – it’s Frontier Silicon’s wifi radio portal – simply returns a jumble of random frequencies with the words “jack”. Yes, I can dive in via US state, but for California that gives me “Jack 93.1 FM” and “Jack 93.7 FM”, and I’ve no idea which is the LA version, and which is the Sacramento version. (By the way – those aren’t the correct names for the radio stations either). Finding the Brisbane version of Nova actually requires a web browser to discover the frequency first.

Yay – the internet radio. Gripes about the listings aside, the internet radio is very good. Rock solid, it grabs on to the signal perfectly, and sounds great. Now-playing information is readable on many stations, too.

Dunno – the FM radio. Not used it at all.

Sigh – the compartmentalisation. I’m currently listening to LBC 97.3, BBC Radio 4, 96.9 JACK fm, Nova Brisbane, and 612 ABC Brisbane. Yet the presets are by platform, not simply by content. 96.9 JACK fm is on the internet, so I have to flick through the sources to find internet radio, then go to a preset. Flick back to LBC 97.3, and I need to flick over to DAB radio, then choose preset 3. As far as I’m aware, no receiver manufacturer has got this right: navigation is all engineer-based, rather than content-based. As radio becomes more multi-platform, users will demand an easier way to navigate. We must make this better.

Hmm – the radio’s looks. It’s not the prettiest radio in the world. The “SELECT” stamped in to the big tuning knob makes the radio look a bit cheap. (Is ‘Select’ a Norwegian word?)

Hmm – the clock. It’s consistently one-hour slow – whether we’re in GMT or BST. I can set it right, but then it seems to reset itself. That’s a bit annoying.

Overall, though, it’s a “yay”. Of the DAB+internet radio sets that I’ve used, this is by far the best in operation. Physical buttons and a decent remote control included for free make it a great device. I’d recommend it. If you could buy it.

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