We are currently updating our kitchen with new units and appliances. I want to replace the Roberts DAB/FM radio with something that will use internet radio as the DAB quality where we live is not very good on some stations so we are currently listening to radio on FM. Positioning of the FM aerial is unsightly and I want something that looks cleaner although the kitchen the environment will always cause things to eventually acquire a sticky layer of dust so being able to clean the outside would be useful. We listen to the BBC radio channels as well as local radio such as Imagine Radio.

 

I am considering the Sonos One Gen 2 which has both Alexa and Google Home built in but I would welcome members views on the subject. The only other "Smart" device that we have is the Gen 1 Hive Heating so we have nothing else for a smart speaker to connect to and our music is on CDs. I quite like the idea of using voice commands to change radio stations but it also must be easy to turn the microphone off as well for privacy.

I'd go for some Amazon Echo 3rd gen if you can still get them. They just connect to your WiFi so quite easy to set up.

The sound quality belies their price. 

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into it.

I’ve just sent back a Sonus One. The Amazon Alexa integration was poor, it was much worse than standard Amazon Echo’s. The sound from the speaker was great though.

Kitchen? How much premium sound do you need there? Sonos may be overkill.

I've got a Google Nest Mini (Small and Mighty is their tagline). It sounds perfectly fine for my smallish galley kitchen. Ideal for BBC, Times Radio, Spotify, Podcasts, Audiobooks and such. Very good for timers for cooking, you can set multiple. Asking for ingredients for dishes, adding items to shopping lists, setting reminders etc etc. Amazon Echo Dot in the bedroom does all the same things in Alexa style, usually on offer.

 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Echo-Dot-3rd-Gen-Charcoal/dp/B07PJV3JPR/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1XH6TJ13WSK66&dchild=1&keywords=google+nest+mini&qid=1611181833&sprefix=google+nest%2Caps%2C165&sr=8-6

 

Edited 20 January, 20215 yr by Pilotguy

Thanks for all the replies. You have given me food for thought.

We have a Google/nest hub and a home mini in a group in the kitchen. No they don't sound amazing but yes they sound good enough for most things (music, radio, podcast). I would suggest looking into what else you might use it for as just changing the thermostat or radio may not be enough. Especially as you have your music on CDs.

I have a gen2 play 5 in the kitchen. Play 3 in the living room. Play one’s in the garage, washroom and 4 of the bedrooms that we use. The cinema room has a connect wired to my processor. I either listen to internet radio or I have my iTunes account linked to the Sonos app on my Mac desktop, which I’ve stored all my CD’s on over the years. 
The play 5 WiFi connection quit on me last year and they replaced the entire unit without hassle. I get very little drop outs or connection issues, and when I do it’s normally the router needs reset rather than the speakers. 
you could buy one from CEX a bit cheaper than a brand new one, and you’d then have their 2yr guarantee as well. The app is also quite handy and easy to navigate. 

We actually got a one SL that lived in one room, but got migrated into the kitchen when the pure radio was moved elsewhere.

I didn't want the amazon integration or other voice control, so quite happy with this.

 

In terms of the sounds quality, better than the echo plus I used for a few months and so much better than the standard echo.

There are usually good offers on them at least once a year.

We have Sonus 1s and Amazon Echos everywhere with the latest being Amazon Echo Show 8. We subscribe to Amazon Music and get all music on every speaker. In fact I am based in Herts and am listening to Imagine Radio right now. If you have a Ring doorbell you can link it to the Echo 8 and see and talk to visitors

Honestly, avoid "Smart" if you can.

Smart deviuces rely on the manufacturer to keep supporting them or they will just stop working and manufacturers have a habit of dropping support a long time before the devices are worn out.

Sonos has tried some really dirty tricks over the years to try to force customers to buy new kit (https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/5/21166777/sonos-ending-recycle-mode-trade-up-program-sustainability)

Amazon stuff has so far been quite well supported but the damn things listen to you all day every day.  Unless you are comfortable with Amazon monitoring your every move "for quality purposes" I'd not touch em, https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2019/04/12/amazon-confirms-staff-listen-to-alexa-conversations-heres-all-you-need-to-know/https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2019/04/12/amazon-confirms-staff-listen-to-alexa-conversations-heres-all-you-need-to-know/

 

We got a Roberts internet capable DAB radio from Argos - https://www.robertsradio.com/en-gb/smart-radios/stream-94i#STREAM94I

 

We're in a low signal area and this one had reviewd that it could cope. It does do better than my expensive Ruark R4 but not as well as the £30 Tesco DAB radio my son uses.

However the internet Radio on it is good, if a little fiddly to choose stations.

It's in their "Smart" range but it's not smart. It doesn't talk to Alexa or Google.

But the sound is good as well.

Edited 1 February, 20215 yr by Aspman

It's funny that you should mention the Roberts Stream 94i as I have been looking at it. It comes up as the best buy for the money in a number of reviews that I have read and I gave even downloaded the instructions. As I do not have a NAS disk I could RIP all of our CDs onto a low profile USB stick and plug that into the back of the 94i.

 

We currently have a Roberts radio in the kitchen. I don't remember the model number but it looks like a bugs head with 2 big eyes. The CD has stopped working, I think that the grease in the air and lack of use have gummed up the mechanism,  and the on/off switch needs a bit of a waggle when using the radio otherwise the sound is not very loud.

 

The only problem now is getting a £180 radio through the committee! Being a democracy both my wife and I have one vote each but as she is the chairperson of the kitchen committee she gets the deciding vote in the event of a tie. I think that her questions will be:-

a) Is there something else cheaper the will do?

b) Is the 94i easy to use?

Edited 1 February, 20215 yr by Liger1956

The Amazon Echo 3 is still available. I've a mixture of Amazon and Google devices and I find Amazon devices perform slightly slicker and integrate very easily with other smart things, but Google is much more able overall as you don't have to use key phrases. I guess this comes down to it's super advanced speech AI stuff. The Amazon stuff sounds a little better than the Google stuff overall I think (although not a huge amount in it), but in a busy and noisy kitchen, smart speakers are quite useful when you ask them to perform"louder" to overcome extractor fan noise and your hands are full/wet and you don't want to touch the speaker. 

 

There are other options like the Google Home Hub, which is a small tablet with built-in speaker. It doesn't sound great, but you could Bluetooth link it to a Bluetooth speaker of your choice and control the audio with voice commands from the google device. That way you get the best of both worlds and a handy voice controlled tablet to boot. 

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/amazon-echo-3rd-generation-smart-speaker-with-alexa/dp/B07V1KH27C?th=1

On 01/02/2021 at 18:27, Liger1956 said:

The only problem now is getting a £180 radio through the committee! Being a democracy both my wife and I have one vote each but as she is the chairperson of the kitchen committee she gets the deciding vote in the event of a tie. I think that her questions will be:-

a) Is there something else cheaper the will do?

b) Is the 94i easy to use?

 

Yeah it is expensive and tbh it probably isn't £180 good.

My Ruark was £500 (down from £800 as a Grade A used) but it utterly blows my socks off and feels worth every penny..

 

The Roberts is good. it does everything you need but the sound is good, not amazing.

It is easy to use but there is a knack to it. We like the internet radio stations, we regularly listen to some stuff we'd never have even heard of before (Radio Nula (funk and soul), Boot Boy Radio (Ska) and quite a few foreign stations too. you can search by genre as well as name.

It also lets you play BBC Podcasts directly as well which is good.

 

It does have a good reception for a low signal area (it's really bad here).

 

If you've spotify you can use that with it (we do but we don't if that makes sense) and the bluetooth works well and I often play my phone through it.

 

It's pretty repliable as well for a 'smartish' thingy. It has crashed but only a handful of times in a year and that's probably down to our poor connectivity as well.

 

So I'd suggested the functionality might get you £180 of value from it if it does everything you want but you'd get a better sounding speaker for £180.

 

But as said we're quite anti smart speaker in our house.