Aria A3000

Have tried a few portable dabs for walking/jogging and the Aria A3000 is clearly the best. Reasons being:- It's the lightest, has better signal retention than the others though some built-up areas are a problem as are indoors areas, but if out and about it does what it's designed for.

Bought an Aria A3000 and liked it as it was compact and sound reception was fairly good in an area where DAB reception varied. Two batteries are better than three because you buy or recharge them in twos or threes. However battery compartment cover became loose and eventually lost and I have tried for two months to get a replacement. I have emailed suppliers who do not seem willing to get spares and have emailed ARIA on a number of occasions over four weeks without reply. Very disappointed as I have to use a rubber band to secure batteries.

In a nutshell it is a convenient size and has good reception but poor customer service.

I bought my Aria A3000 to listen to BBC7 on my way into work on the train, however reception in Leicestershire is not good so have not been able to use the unit frequently (on trains anyway). However on cycle rides or walks in the country the unit is great. Good sound, easy to use a lot of presets, and it also can recieve some of the DAB bands in europe (long band) that some current UK portables can not. Battery life is a concern, I can easily get 8 hours out of a set of rechargables, and the unit has an inbuilt charger. Just need to remember to charge the unit at the end of the day. DAB reception in leicestershire is poor in built up areas, I have walked round manchester and london with the unit and had good recepton, but try Leicester and the reception is poor. This is more a complaint of DAB signal strengths though rather than the unit itself. I do find I still use my analogue philips portable when in built up areas specifically because of this problem. Overall pretty good and with long band it is more futureproof than some units. DAB still has a bit of a way to go though to convince me.

Although the Aria A3000 looks very easy on the eyes and very easy to use no matter where I took it around the Liverpool area the reception very rarely came through. I have both a DAB car radio and a DAB home radio which both boast a 100% reception throughout Liverpool. Therefore the Aria A3000 would appear not to have sufficient power to receive the signal. Not only did I trouble with radio It took me several months to get my money back from the supplier www.ariadigital.com. All around a bad experience.

When using the Aria A3000 Personal DAB digital redio around the house reception is close to non-existent. Once out of the house reception is OK if I let one headphone hang down whilst listening on the other. Since I am listening to BBC World Service that is not really a problem. As I cycle out of Sunningdale towards Chobham reception improves and I can use both headphones.

I am not convinced that Digital Pocket Radio is ready yet. I suspect that another 3 to 4 years will be necessary before the reception for a reasonable power consumption will work.

This Aria A3000 is the best personal dab digital radio that money can buy. It is small, attractive and sexy!

This is DAB at its best. Digital radio is the best invention since Television!

I got this Aria A3000 - Personal DAB Radio last year as a present and I am very impressed with it. The design is unusual although it is small, light and very easy to operate. Its features include an FM radio as well, so you can have 10 presets for both DAB and FM. It has an equalizer set button and a hold switch. I am using 2 rechargable AA batteries as the unit can recharge these through its built in charge facility.

Compared with other personal DAB Radios on the market I feel this is the best one. Changed the supplied headphones as they look daft and using Sennheisers MX 500 instead as they give better quality reception and excelent sound.

I have had my Aria A3000 - Personal DAB Radio for a few weeks now and am really impressed. Styling amd size are very good, and despite having dropped it (oops!) still is fine and solid. Sounds absolutely excellent through supplied headphones, not as good but ok with other walkman phones. It's easy to use, works well on my daily commute into London and fits easily in my pocket.

FM not as good as DAB but it's a bonus to have it.

All in all, very pleased.

Volume control toggle switch was intermittent 'out of the box' and failed after two days use, battery cover is a poor design.

I rate the present version of the Aria A3000 - Personal DAB Radio to be of pre-production prototype quality.