Sony XDRS60 Radio Review

The Sony XDRS60 is a portable FM/DAB/DAB+ radio that is available in three colours: black, red and white. It’s fairly expensive when compared to lots of other portable radios out there, so you’d expect it to offer something special to justify the price. Let’s see how it performs…

Features

Dimensions: 24 cm wide x 13.5 cm high x 8.5 cm deep
Weight: 1.3kg

Performance

Sound

The Sony XDRS60 has surprisingly good sound quality for a small mono radio, with decent amounts of treble and mid-range frequencies. It sounds clear when listening to speech programmes, and when listening to music it sounds detailed and neither muffled nor tinny. The speaker is fairly powerful, so the radio can go quite loud.

Ease of use

This radio is generally very easy to use, and doing things like saving preset stations is much easier than on many other DAB radios. To save a preset station, you just have to tune it in and then hold down one the 5 preset buttons on the top of the radio. You can then access it by pushing the button you saved it to rather than going through a complicated menu.

The Sony XDRS60 is easy to use for those with poor eyesight as the on/off button is clearly separated from the other controls and the volume control is a large dial rather than two fiddly buttons.

The radio auto-tunes when you first turn it on, finding all the stations available in your area on both FM and DAB.

Reception

The Sony XDRS60 has good reception on FM, and will usually perform well on DAB, though this depends a lot on where you use it.

Power

The Sony XDRS60 can be plugged into the mains using the 1.5m mains lead provided. You can also use it with three regular or rechargeable C-sized batteries. Unlike some DAB radios, the XDRS60 doesn’t charge batteries so you would need to use a separate battery charger or buy new batteries when they run out.

Sony claim that the batteries will last 16 hours on DAB/DAB+ and 14 hours on FM, though in practice batteries will usually not last so long.

Verdict

The Sony XDRS60 is more expensive than many other portable DAB radios, but it’s one of the best-sounding digital radios you can get for less than £100. It’s also very easy to use, with large buttons for the most frequently used controls, and dedicated preset buttons so you can quickly access your favourite stations.

The radio is great for those who appreciate good sound quality, as well as those who need a straightforward, uncomplicated radio.

One downside of the XDRS60’s simplicity is that it lacks some useful features such as an alarm clock and Bluetooth. However, if you just want a simple FM/DAB radio for using in the kitchen or living room, the Sony XDRS60 is a great choice.

Similar radios

Another portable Sony radio with excellent sound quality is the Sony XDR-P1DBP Pocket Radio. It’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but packs a punch when it comes to volume and also has a surprisingly rich sound.

If you’re looking for something cheaper, you should consider the Roberts Play10, which is one of the most popular portable DAB radios in the UK. It’s fairly easy to use and has similar features to the Sony XDRS60, though the sound quality isn’t as good. For more budget-priced portable DAB radios, see this article.