Acoustic Solutions Portal 2 DAB/FM Review

Overall Rating

Cheap (currently £50 in Argos).
Easy to use.
Cool styling.
Possible to connect external antenna.
Line Outputs to use as a Hi-Fi tuner.
FM sound quality better than expected (but hissy).

Case vibrated beyond what could be tolerated, even for a very cheap radio, at 'getting into the music' listening levels.
That handle is really very flimsy and uncomfortable to hold for long, because it is too wide for the hand and has funny ridges.
Appalling distortion on speech.
Sound problems persisted via the line-out socket through a VERY high-end audio system.
Stupid rubber non-removable phone/Line output cover (minor niggle).

To be fair I'm hard to please, and I suspect that my Acoustic Solutions Portal 2 DAB/FM radio may have been defective, at least I hope so.

The sound of this unit was atrocious. No ifs or buts.

The case rattled very badly at normal speech listening levels, and for any rock/pop music it was constantly vibrating at normal levels, and to cap it all there was a load of distortion, especially on speech via the line-output through a very high-end hi-fi system (which was what I primarily wanted to use it for).

There was no problem with signal strength, and I was getting extremely high signal strength - I should hope so too... I live in a rural area, about 30 miles from the centre of London, almost at the top of a hill, which is the highest point for 120 miles in any direction! (So the Portal 2 had no excuse based on signal strength).

I should add that my listening consists mainly of Classical and Radio 4 type broadcasting, however I also listen to some hard rock, and bands such as Tool, Faith No More, Metallica, quite a bit of Jazz, and general rock/metal. Mostly it's classical though.

I am new to DAB, and I love the vast selection of channels. I'm hooked and I will be getting another DAB set, but not one of these. I had grave reservations before I bought it about buying a cheapie, but budget dictated the choice. Now, however I'm willing to double the budget and get the Evoke 1 XT Tri-Band and hope that will be better. I may however beforehand 'sample' the Sony XDR-S1 which Salisbury's are currently selling online for £75 incl delivery, but if that fares no better, then I may just give up and start saving for an Arcam tuner.

Incidentally I liked the styling, although I know not everyone will, but I didn't like the silly rubber thing covering the output sockets, I didn't like the flimsy handle (it really is very flimsy) which would also be uncomfortable to hold whilst walking for long, as it was too broad to fit comfortably in the hand and had some indents in it that would annoy further if holding for long. I also felt the antenna rest/stay (for when not in use) was ugly/vulnerable.

The features were good, and the fact that you could remove the antenna and fit an external antenna (by design) was a good idea, as was the fact that there was a line output socket (although I'd have preferred RCA phono connectors).

I am not impressed with this unit at all. I imagine it may turn out to have had a defective pre-amp section or some such, but even so, the case rattle was unacceptable. Shame really as the tonal quality at low levels through it's own speaker was quite pleasant.