Hi Nigel ! Just out of interest, is there a brand these days who impress you with after-sales support ? Something that customers would appreciate ! There are some spares available for their products, so they are not adverse to people repairing radios. It’s also worth noting that music streamed via Bluetooth doesn’t sound quite as good as the DAB output. It’s only a little thinner, but there’s a slight reduction in the wow factor, especially if you’re used to larger Bluetooth speakers at the same kind of price point. Roberts Revival Petite review: What could be improved? Roberts Radios are just cheap made in China radios, and seem to have very little spares support now. The big surprise is how big and authoritative such a small unit can sound. I’ve tried previous radios of around this size from Pure, Sony and VQ, but even the best have suffered from a slightly tinny, boxy output, with little in the way of bass and most of the power in the mid-range and the treble. Some have been more listenable than others, and you put up with the audio compromises in the name of portability. With the Revival Petite, those compromises just aren’t that significant.

The big caveat here is that there’s a definite volume ceiling. Up to 75% (or 15 out of the Petite’s 20 levels) it’s great, but that final 25% sees distortion creeping in on bass-heavy material and the tone becoming strident.

Pros

It also has amazing levels of stamina. As I write, I’ve had it up and running with the volume around 50% for over 22 hours without a break, and there’s still a smidgeon of charge left in the meter. That’s fantastic if you want a radio you can carry around with you all day. Roberts Revival Petite review: How does it sound? For anyone looking for a reliable Bluetooth speaker with DAB and FM radio that you can throw into a bag and know that it’ll last throughout the afternoon and long into the evening, this little Roberts should be on your list. Any individual yet to invite the joys of the original wireless into their lives will find this device a compelling gateway product. It’s also a decent Bluetooth speaker, it offers wired listening, and it sounds every bit as good as anyone can ask for the price. Occasionally, a product ventures through our testing facility that not only surprises us sonically but makes its way into our everyday lives, to the point that we miss it when the time inevitably comes that we have to return it. The Revival Petite is one such device. I've never known anything about Pure, as far as I'm aware there was never much support from them, and they seemed to appear from nowhere. Always worth a try I suppose, but I'm dubious they would offer help - particularly to a member of the public.

The Roberts Revival Mini has rotary dials for tuning and volume control, which are very easy to use. You can also set and recall preset stations by just pressing a button, which is much easier than with most DAB radios where you would need to press a complicated sequence of buttons. Sound quality On first switch on it goes into a tune mode for DAB stations and it found 67 in my area. It defaults to the first found. For a truly tiny product, the Revival Petite sounds as big as you could reasonably hope to achieve; a credit to Roberts’ know-how when it comes to gleaning the best possible sound from a portable design. We listen to it outdoors hooked up to our old iPod. We listen to Capital FM radio in the kitchen, then talkSPORT DAB at our desk. We send a playlist to it via Bluetooth from our phone. Every source the Roberts relays is delivered with agility, textured vocals, pleasing depth and clarity. In Macy Gray’s I Try, Gray’s vocal is central, crisp and emotive alongside a regimented bassline in a cohesive, surprisingly detailed and musical mix. Listen to Debussy’s Clair de Lune and the keys feel three dimensional, with a generous sense of rise and fall through the dynamics. After my problems with the Solar DAB II, and learning far too much about Frontier Silicon modules and the "closed source" business model for my brain to handle, I built my own software defined radio which decodes all the regular broadcast stations, which is what I enjoy listening to - AM, FM, SW, DAB and DAB+. For DAB and DAB+, it uses the open source software Qt-DAB. It runs on a Raspberry Pi 3 and uses an RTL-SDR dongle.The Petite’s use of a micro-USB port for charging also feels a bit outdated when most of the competition are incorporating USB-C, but this is far from being a dealbreaker. Power: Mains operated or portable with 4 LR6/AA batteries (not included) Performance and design Ease of use The Roberts Radio Mini is a super-stylish bit of kit, with a stunning front grille that just screams “Radio history”, and a carry handle so you can take your investment with you wherever you go. The gold plating really makes the accents of this radio stand out too. The white goods suppliers seem to be a bit more hands on than the brown goods suppliers and a number still run their own network of service agents e.g. Electrolux's ServiceForce who may use independent repairers but are there to provide national support for their products.

The first button switches between DAB and FM. The second button is auto tune where a single press will move to the next station found starting at the lower end of the FM spectrum. You can manually tune in .5 increments using the right button. The third button is Favourite and this allows one DAB and one FM station to be tuned immediately on switch on. The forth is Info which has up to seven options for the second line of the display. The last button is Presets which are set by a press of the Preset button for a few seconds. Once in Favourite mode the second button just circles through favourites rather than them being assigned to a number or combination of button presses. The display could be better, as it’s very small, with text to match, which can make reading menus or finding out what’s playing a bit of a challenge. It’s also very bright, and while you can reduce the brightness level, you won’t get it down to levels you won’t notice in a darkened room.Well, at a glance, it’s exactly what you would expect – a smaller, more compact version of the Revival. There’s that fantastic retro vibe that made us fall in love with Roberts Radio in the first place. Now, the Roberts Revival Mini looks great, it sounds amazing, and it even feels good to carry around with you. However, Roberts is offering their smaller radio at a discount price, which also means that you have to compromise a bit on features. I suppose the thing with digital radios sold commercially is to "be happy with things that work moderately well"... Well, that depends. The Mini isn’t as compelling as the original Revival, but we can definitely see it has appeal. The Mini provides a portable and cost-effective option for people who want to become a part of the Roberts community. At the park (where listening to its radio will save on data eaten by pinging DAB stations from your phone to your Bluetooth speaker), in the kitchen, by your bed or beside your desk, the Revival Petite is a joy to use and sounds very good indeed. Verdict