The Steepletone Stirling is a 1950’s-style portable radio with a CD player with an attractive retro design. It has three radio bands (LW, MW and FM) and also lets you play MP3s from a USB drive.

Steepletone are a British company who are best known for their record players, though they also produce several radios and CD players like the Stirling reviewed here.

The Steepletone Stirling is available in cream or grey, and looks great if you like 1950s designs. Does its performance match its looks? Let’s find out…

Features

Dimensions: 35 cm wide x 20 cm high x 13 cm deep

Performance and use

While the Steepletone Stirling has a nice retro design that looks great in the kitchen, its performance is disappointing. The CD player is quite temperamental and unreliable, and in general the product feels quite poorly made. The power cable doesn’t attach very securely, and can easily become disconnected.

While the Stirling does have stereo speakers, the sound quality is mediocre and lacks bass. The radio reception is also disappointing, and it’s difficult to get a clear signal without buzzing and crackling.

One of the best things about this music system is that you can play MP3 files on both the CD player and from a flash drive using the USB port. However, some buyers have complained that they could only use the USB port for charging devices, not for playing MP3s.

Verdict

Apart from its looks, the Steepletone Stirling doesn’t have much going for it. This is a shame because the design itself is very aesthetically pleasing. As you can see from the long list of ‘cons’, this product has several serious flaws, so we’d generally recommend you go for a different radio/CD player.

Similar Radio/CD Players

If you don’t mind getting a more modern-looking radio, you should consider the Roberts CD9959 Swallow. It has more of a 1990s-style design rather than 1950s, but it is much more reliable and better made than the Steepletone Stirling. Like the Stirling, the Roberts Swallow has LW, MW and FM radio bands plus a CD player.

One retro radio/CD player with a very similar design to the Steepletone Stirling is the Auna RCD-70, which features a front-loading MP3 CD player, a USB port for playing MP3 files and an FM radio. Unlike the Steepletone Stirling, it doesn’t offer LW/MW radio.

The post Steepletone Stirling Portable Music System Review appeared first on Best Radios.

The Steepletone Bluetooth Brighton is an inexpensive retro 1950’s-style AM/FM radio with Bluetooth. It’s a good-looking radio which is available in a large range of colours. Let’s take a closer look…

Features

Dimensions: 30 cm wide x 21 cm high x 8 cm deep

Performance and use

The analogue tuning dial can be easier to use for visually impaired people when compared to radios with a digital screen. However, it can be hard to fine-tune compared to digital tuning systems.

The sound quality is decent for a small, inexpensive radio, but this forhealthylives.com radio is more about looks than sound. If you’re a real audiophile you might find this radio’s sound quality to be disappointing, though it’s generally fine for casual listening.

Verdict

The Steepletone Bluetooth Brighton is a very stylish little radio that would make a great gift. It’s not the best sounding radio, but it is fun and looks great. It’s also very convenient to have Bluetooth so you can stream music from your phone.

Similar radios

There are several other radios available with a very similar design to the Steepletone Bluetooth Brighton. These include the oneConcept NR-12, which looks very similar to the Steepletone Bluetooth Brighton but doesn’t have Bluetooth. However, the oneConcept NR-12 has the additional bonus of picking up shortwave (SW) radio in addition to AM, FM and LW.

Another similar radio is the UKayed Retro 1950s Vintage AM/FM Radio, which is cheaper than the Steepletone Bluetooth Brighton but also doesn’t have Bluetooth. One useful extra feature with this radio though is that you can connect a USB drive, MP3 player or SD card and play MP3s through its speaker.

See more retro radios here.

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The Steepletone 2 Band Dorset is one of the few digital radios to offer the MW (AM) band in addition to FM and DAB radio. The vast majority of DAB radios just come with DAB and FM, so this radio could be a good choice if you want both AM radio and DAB.

The Steepletone Dorset has a retro 1950’s-style design and can be powered using batteries or the mains. Find out more about what it can do and how it performs in this review…

Features

Dimensions: 30 cm wide x 21 cm high x 8 cm deep
Weight: 2 kg (boxed)

Performance and use

The Steepletone Dorset sounds good for a small radio, and has a nice tone quality and a surprising amount of volume. It generally has strong DAB reception, though sometimes other electrical equipment can interfere with the signal.

Besides the radio itself, the Steepletone Dorset doesn’t have many extra features. There’s a headphone jack and an aux-in socket, but there isn’t an alarm clock or more advanced features like Bluetooth.

There are 5 dedicated preset station buttons so you can access your favourite stations without having to scroll through a menu. The buttons let you access 10 stations (the first 5 just by pressing the buttons, and the second 5 by combining the preset buttons with the SHIFT button).

Unlike with some rival products, the Dorset’s instructions manual (available online here) is clearly written and helpful, though you probably won’t need it much as this radio is very straightforward and easy to use.

One of the best things about this radio is its retro 1950’s style design. The radio looks great in the kitchen but can be used anywhere. It also feels well made compared to most other portable DAB radios. However, it’s quite heavy, especially when used with batteries, and is fairly large for a portable radio (30 cm wide).

Verdict

The Steepletone Dorset has an authentic retro design and offers impressive sound quality and volume for the price. A lot of radios have nice retro designs, but their sound quality is often disappointing. Not so with the Dorset—Steepletone have managed to combine form and function while keeping the price quite low (see on Amazon). It’s also one of the few digital radios to offer AM radio in addition to FM and DAB.

You should be warned that this radio is bigger than you might expect from looking at pictures: it’s 30 cm wide and 21 cm high.

Similar radios

One similar radio to the Steepletone Dorset is the Goodmans Oxford, which is an FM/DAB/DAB+ radio with an attractive 1960’s-style design.

If you’re looking for a portable DAB radio and aren’t bothered about it having a retro design, you should consider the Roberts Play10. It’s one of the most popular DAB radios in the UK and offers good value for money.

If you’re looking for a kitchen radio, you should check out our roundup of the best radios for the kitchen. You can find more retro DAB radios in our review of the top retro radios.

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