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Overview:

Listening to internet radio stations is not a new concept, but the idea hasn’t taken-off as many had predicted in the early days. Advertising revenue on traditional radio stations far surpasses that of internet stations, and this can be linked to accessibility and usability issues. It’s easy to tune into KissFM, just press a button on your car radio/home radio/mobile phone radio or mp3 player to scan through some stations and within a few seconds you’re laughing along to the breakfast show. Well radio makers such as Tangent have noticed a gap in the market, and have made an effort to popularise an already attractive range of radio stations. Have they done a good job at their first attempt at an internet capable radio player?

Review:
We've all enjoyed the benefits of internet radio at work by using it to drown-out the boss whenever he's ranting about people taking lunch breaks that are longer than 15 minutes. Well
thanks to the Tangent Quattro internet radio, you can now enjoy listening to a range of music and talk shows from all over the world to drown out people at home as well! This great idea takes the portability of a traditional radio and mixes it with the choice and variation of internet sources to give you a product that makes life just that bit more interesting.


The Quattro is the first internet-capable radio from Tangent and it has set the benchmark high for their future endeavours. It connects to thousands of internet radio stations without you having to switch on your PC, meaning that the medium of internet radio has just become very easily accessible. This is great news for anyone who fancies themselves as a bit of a mix-maestro as this development of radio players with internet capabilities can only mean more people listening to a wider range of music. This is also a boost for broadcast media diversity, which has long been complained about as only originating from a small group of media outlets.

The Tangent Quattro works by tuning into your Wi-Fi network and will update itself using the Reciva website, which is very easy to navigate. There also has an Ethernet option so you can easily hook it up to your home network if ever your wireless is down. Once set-up, you can scan for radio stations by either global location or genre. If you opt for searching by country, you can again break this list down into genre or just scan every station available. If you particularly fancy listening to something from Seychelles or the Ukraine- great. If you decide to search for a station in the USA or UK, then the list is a long muddle of stations which can easily get confusing.

The difference between the Tangent Quattro and many other internet radio players on the market is Tangent's high quality design. While the walnut finish doesn't really do it for me, it is still a undeniably beautiful machine and also comes in red, black and white. There is a retro quality to it which keeps the design young, and gives it the flexibility to fit with any kind of decor without looking either too up-market or too cheap. One downside with the Tangent Quattro's design is that there is no remote control which really does keep it a bit behind the times, especially as a lot of people like to sit back and relax while listening to the radio, and not have to trek to the other side of the room just to turn up the volume for a good song.

There are many important features to a radio, but none so much more than the noise it produces. The Quattro has excellent sound quality, with a particularly good bass. You just need to match the quality of what you’re streaming to the ability of this device. The rigid casing is aimed at improving the sound by reducing resonance, and it is a theory that has been very successful in the Quattro. As we all know, great sound from such a small appliance is always a winner in the music world.

Another style concern does crop-up at this point though, with the placement of the speaker on the top of the radio instead of at the front. This makes positioning options in your house just a bit more limited, as you don't want the sound to be lost from placing the radio too high above your head, and you don't want it muffled from placing it somewhere with a shelf above it.

Placement problems may continue with the weight of the radio. At around 4kg it’s not going to be a device to follow you into the bathroom and then out into the kitchen like many portable radios can. It is designed to be a stable piece of furniture, which makes it a very good thing that it looks so polished.

An added bonus with the Tangent Quattro is that it will also stream music files from your PC and play them, making it quite a multi-function piece of kit. It can either play your music in order, shuffled or it can run through a pre-prepared play list. It also features a built-in clock with an alarm function which I think is a basic element that every new radio should feature, and those that don’t are just a little bit too arty for my practical life.

All in all though, the Tangent Quattro internet radio is a brilliant gadget and one that I can easily see sitting on my kitchen bench, seeing as I am equally indecisive about choosing music and deciding what we're going to have for dinner. With thousands of listening options, I feel well catered for by this device.

The Gaj-It Verdict:
Design 7/10
Usability: 8/10
Features: 8/10
Value: 7/10

We say:
Priced at around the £170 mark, the Tangent Quattro is at the higher end of the internet radio shopping scale, but it performs just like a well made device should. The top sound quality and design makes this radio well worth the investment for the thousands of new internet stations that you’re going to have quality access to.

Shop for it: Amazon

More info: Tangent

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An absolute tech junky, I graduated from the University of Manchester with a degree in Computing and now live on the outskirts of Leeds working with you guessed it, Computers. I love all things gadgety but really dislike wires. For those of you who haven’t worked it out the name of the site is a combination of my nickname (Gaj) and the pronunciation ‘Gadget’.
UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping
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