Pure Evoke C-F6 Radio Review

Summary: The Pure Evoke C-F6 looks beautiful and offers plenty of features with excellent all-round performance.

Buy it online: See on John Lewis

The Evoke C-F6 is one of the most expensive and feature-packed digital radios in Pure’s Evoke range. The Evoke C-F6 is designed to be an all-in-one music system and comes complete with FM, DAB and internet radio plus a CD player and Bluetooth.

The Evoke C-F6 was released in 2016 alongside two other radio/CD player combos, the Evoke C-D6 and Evoke C-D4.

Find out how the Evoke C-F6 performs in this review…

Features

Dimensions: 38 cm wide x 14.5 cm high x 22.3 cm deep
Weight: 4.2 kg

Performance and use

Radio

The Evoke C-F6 offers an exceptional amount of choice when it comes to listening to the radio. It has regular FM and DAB as well as DAB+ and internet radio, which allows you to listen to the 20,000+ radio stations that broadcast worldwide over the internet. Having DAB+ and internet radio means the C-F6 is ‘futureproofed’ against any change that might happen to the UK radio network.

One great thing about this radio is that it has 3 dedicated preset buttons so you can quickly tune into your favourite stations. You can save 30 preset stations in total, and station from 4 upwards are accessible by turning a dial.

Sound

The C-F6 has two 3-inch speakers each with 10 watts of power, which combine to give 20 watts of stereo sound. This means the radio can go quite loud, and should be easily powerful enough for the average household. You can also listen privately using the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The Evoke C-F6 sounds warm and rich. If you’re not happy with the default sound you can select one of the EQ presets or adjust the levels to your liking. The volume levels can be different for different sources, so if you’re listening using the Spotify Connect app on your phone and then switch to FM radio, it might be a lot louder or quieter depending on the settings you had on your phone.

Connectivity

This radio has Bluetooth so you can stream audio from a phone, tablet or laptop wirelessly. There’s also an aux-in port for connecting devices that don’t have Bluetooth.

Internet radio is available via WiFi or using the RJ45 socket if you prefer to use a wired connection.

The Evoke C-F6 is compatible with Spotify Connect which means you can control Spotify from your phone, tablet or laptop and then stream it through the radio’s high-quality speakers using Bluetooth. This is a very useful feature to have if you’re a Spotify addict and want to enjoy your music through some top-quality speakers.

This radio also has an aux-in port which you can use to connect audio devices that don’t have Bluetooth.

Display

The colour TFT display shows information about the radio station and song being played, and will also read and display track information from CDs. It’s a good size at 2.8”, and is clear and easy to read, with intuitive menus.

Alarm clock

The Pure Evoke C-F6 has some useful alarm clock functions and gives you the ability to set two different alarms, which could be good if you want to wake up at a different time at the weekend, for example. You can choose to be woken up by a regular alarm sound, a radio station or a CD.

The C-F6 also has a sleep timer which you can set from 15 to 60 minutes so you can fall asleep while listening to the radio.

Design

The Evoke C-F6 is designed to be as attractive as it is functional, and it would make a nice addition to the interior of most homes. Like all radios in the Evoke range, the Evoke C-F6 has a beautiful wooden finish and feels well made and reassuringly heavy.

Control

The Evoke C-F6 comes with a handy remote control which is good for basic controls like changing the volume. The remote control uses watch batteries, which is a bit inconvenient when it comes to replacing the batteries.

You can also control the C-F6 using the Pure Select App, which can be used on both Android and iOS devices. The app is probably the best way to control the radio, as it makes finding internet radio stations much quicker and easier compared to scrolling through the radio’s menu.

Verdict

The Pure Evoke C-F6 might seem expensive, but given that it’s an all-in-one system with a great combination of features it offers, it seems to offer very good value for money. The radio looks beautiful and offers plenty of features with excellent all-round performance.

There does seem to be a quality control issue with this radio, however, as several people have published reviews online stating that they received a faulty model. This isn’t necessarily something to worry about though, as Pure offer a 3-year guarantee on this radio.

Similar radios

While the Evoke C-F6 is a great-sounding radio, Pure have compromised a bit on the sound quality in order to pack in so many features into the device. A better-sounding radio is the Ruark R2 MkIII, which is a DAB/internet radio with amazing stereo sound, though no CD player. If you can afford it you could get the Ruark Audio R4 MKIII, which does have a CD player and Bluetooth but doesn’t have internet radio.

It’s also worth considering the other radio/CD players in the Evoke range including the Evoke C-D4 and the Evoke C-D6. These radios have a very similar design to the C-F6, though neither have internet radio and the C-D4 only has one speaker.

For some other great radio CD players to consider, see this article: Best Radio CD Players.