Pure Evoke F3 Review - Best Radios

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The Pure Evoke F3 is an FM/DAB/internet radio which you can use to listen to thousands of radio stations online or millions of songs from Spotify. It also has Bluetooth so you can stream music wirelessly from your smartphone or other device.

Features

Save up to 30 preset radio stations
Remote control
You can use your smartphone as a remote control using the Pure Select App
4” colour display
Dual alarm with adjustable volume and a choice of using either the radio or a buzzer sound
Stereo headphone jack
Bluetooth

Dimensions: 19.5 cm wide x 11.8 cm high x 11 cm deep
Weight: 1.5 kg

Pros

Pure offer a 3-year warranty
Quick and easy to set up, including using internet radio
Small sound, ideal for the kitchen

Cons

Setting the alarms is a bit fiddly and requires several steps in the menu
Screen is very bright, so it’s not a very good choice for a bedside table

Internet radio and Bluetooth

You can use the Pure Evoke F3 to listen to one of the 20,000+ radio stations available online, as well as podcasts. This includes the BBC and other national stations, but also thousands of stations from all over the world. It connects your wi-fi quickly and easily.

This radio also has Bluetooth, which is sometimes more convenient than using wi-fi, making it very versatile.

This radio is compatible with Spotify Connect, which lets you use your smartphone as a remote control while you stream music from Spotify through the Evoke F3’s speakers. While you can use your phone to control internet radio, you don’t need to—the radio connects directly to internet so you don’t need to connect any other devices to use it.

Ease of use

Connecting to the internet and Bluetooth is very straightforward and easy, as is listening to FM and DAB radio. Accessing preset stations using the remote is simple—you just have to press one of the digits on the remote rather than going through a complicated menu.

Using the menu can be slow and complicated at times, for example when setting alarms.

Sound quality

The Pure Evoke F3 has very good sound quality for the size. It sounds crisp and clear, and isn’t tinny in the way that other small radios often are.

Verdict

The Pure Evoke F3 is a very modern and versatile radio. It gives you a huge choice of stations and podcasts available online, as well as FM and DAB radio. It’s a small radio that would be ideal for the kitchen, and has a crisp, clear sound.

The Evoke F3 might not be such a good choice for the bedroom as it has a bright screen and setting the alarms is somewhat complicated.

Similar radios

The Evoke F3 is often compared to the Roberts Stream 93i, which has almost exactly the same features and a similar design. Both radios have great sound quality, though the Roberts Stream 93i probably has the edge in this respect. Both radios have somewhat unwieldy menu systems due to the large range of features they offer. Overall, we feel the Stream 93i is a higher quality product, but it is more expensive than the Evoke F3 at the time of writing.

Another similar internet radio is the Auna Connect 150. It’s very popular in Europe, but less so in the UK. Like the Evoke F3, it offers FM, DAB and internet radio, but the Connect 150 also has a USB port for playing MP3s from an iPod, MP3 player or USB drive. The Connect 150 is unusual in that it has two speakers on the sides of the radio and a woofer on the top. The Connect 150 comes with a European-style plug, which might be inconvenient if you don’t have a spare travel adapter.