Passport to World Band Radio 2009

What’s never been available before is a handy pocket radio-recorder to give world band listeners something akin to a TiVo experience.

Well, it’s finally here, thanks to China’s Degen Electronics. [UPDATE, Jan. 5: Now offered by Kaito, too—see end of review.] Read on…

**3/8
Degen DE1123

Price (1 GB version): via stores.ebay.com/RadiosCN and other eBay vendors, including worldwide AC adaptor: $77.99 including air shipping from China to the United States.

Pros: Built-in WAV audio recorder/MP3-WMA-WAV player for i.a. off-air recording and playback (see Cons). Several handy tuning features, including 225 nonvolatile station presets—100 for world band, 100 for FM, 25 for mediumwave AM. Auto-tuning storage (ATS) automatically loads active stations into presets; functions on all bands. Meter presets for quick access to individual world band segments. Good world band sensitivity, even with short telescopic antenna (see Cons). Relatively good selectivity on all bands, even though only one narrow bandwidth per band (see Cons). Good image rejection. Punchy audio (see Cons). Digital signal-strength indicator performs well. LCD has good contrast and easy-to-read icons (see Cons). Excellent 15-second LCD illumination. Most keys have good tactile response (“feel”). Digital volume control uses 32 precise steps. 12/24 hour clock displays seconds, day and month when radio off. Sleep timer, 5-90 minutes. Four-bar battery indicator. Single-event “on” timer activates radio or MP3/WMA/WAV files (see Cons). Travel lock switch. Good FM sensitivity. Earbud cable seconds as FM antenna. Coverage 64 to 108 MHz includes all global FM frequencies, including those in Japan, Ukraine, Russia and Bulgaria. Includes three “AAA” Ni-MH rechargeable batteries, worldwide battery charger, short USB cable, earbuds, thin cloth pouch, carrying strap and Chinese-English owner’s manual.

Cons (except recorder/player): Apparently not currently sold outside China. Quality of materials and assembly appear substandard, including among other things a flimsy band/mode switch. No tuning knob. Poky frequency slewing. DSP noise degrades signal-to-noise ratio, limiting weak-signal reception. Narrow selectivity and DSP noise result in poor audio quality, especially on world band and mediumwave AM. No EQ or other tone controls. Cabinet resonates at louder volumes. Front-end selectivity barely adequate, so local mediumwave AM stations can mix with world band signals if supplementary wire clipped onto telescopic antenna. Limited dynamic range and no attenuator, but adequate with unenhanced telescopic antenna. Telescopic antenna does not swivel or rotate. Frequency display in nonstandard XX.XXx MHz format. LCD a strain to read in low ambient light unless illuminated. Shortwave coverage, 2.3-23 MHz, excludes virtually unused 25 MHz (11 meter) world band segment. No snooze. Clock and user settings vanish in a mere five seconds when batteries removed or die. No external antenna jack. Fair-to-poor mediumwave AM sensitivity. Uses only USB connection for external power input; no traditional DC input for AC adaptor. Included USB cable inconveniently short (30 inches, 706 mm). Included battery charger not UL listed.

Cons (WAV recorder/MP3-WMA-WAV player): On-only timer inappropriate for turnkey recording of broadcasts. Records only in low-quality 32 kbps WAV format (4 bit/8000 Hz sampling rate). Player lacks shuffle. Manual folder access sluggish. No alphanumeric text support. Struggles to play large MP3 files. Volume must be at maximum for proper off-air recording.

☞ Our first sample arrived from traditionally dependable eBay vendor “RadiosCN” with intermittent reception and defective LCD illumination. The vendor asked us to perform various tests to prove to their satisfaction that the radio was, in fact, defective, then indicated a replacement would be provided once the initial unit had been received back, albeit sent at our expense. We thus coughed up $22.50 for Priority International Mail to return the defective unit to China, then in two weeks received a properly working replacement—indicated by the vendor as the latest version, ca. 12/08. Although return shipping put us out 29 percent of the purchase price, this bested our earlier experience with alternative eBay vendor V-Com Collections (“Liypn”), which although having charged extra for insurance wouldn’t act on a radio that was received damaged. (A third and new vendor, Anon Co, hasn’t been tried yet; ditto yet another, Aeriepx, which charges slightly more.)

☞ The intermittent reception issue, which Degen insists didn’t apply to our unit, has surfaced elsewhere—at least on early samples. From Internet users’ reports and our own disassembly of the original unit, it appears that a small soldered wire can stick out slightly from the metal LCD shroud to make contact with the telescopic antenna. Degen has attempted to insulate this area with a small piece of masking tape, but this has not always been up to the task. As of now we have no way of knowing whether later samples are faring better, but it wouldn’t require rocket science for Degen to remedy.

Verdict: The new DE1123 is another mixed bag from China. In many respects its performance is quite decent, and it is attractively priced for all it does. Yet, its primary feature, built-in recording, comes off dismally. Add to that various DSP and audio shortcomings outside FM, and the DE1123 generally disappoints.

Nevertheless, it comes in a package small enough to tempt frequent travelers. For some this will be the deal maker that earns the ‘1123 a place in their pockets. —David Zantow

Footnote: What on the surface looks like a DE1123 but sans recorder/player may be in the works as the DE15. —D.Z.

UPDATE, January 5: The ‘1123 is now also available from Kaito in North America as the Kaito KA1123, $89.99. —D.Z.
January 9: Now also appearing at some Kaito retailers at the same price; presumably other dealers will follow suit in due course.
January 9, Later: Amazon (USA) now sells it for $79.99 with free shipping.