Customer Reviews

Internet Radio Wood Finish

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought both the ASUS Air Internet Radio and the Tangent Quattro Internet Radio - both are well built and have good sound quality with the Tangent being a little better. Adding stations on the ASUS is possible with a most unhandy method of entering the streaming URL one character at a time from a scrolling list of numbers, letters and characters. An external USB keyboard would have been a great addition!!! The Tangent station list is better and with an email to the Receiva site they can add additional stations to the list. The ASUS has both WIFI and wired Ethernet, while the Tangent is WIFI only. WEP/WPA security can be used on both radios and it is entered on both via the above tedious scrolling list. The ASUS has a remote control making this task just a bit easier. I did find that some stations are resorting to having their own players (like KFI in Los Angeles) and do not make their streaming URL's available - probably so they can add visual advertising! In any case the ASUS is a fine product, but it is difficult to add stations that are not on their list.

Very stylish, and user friendly. Excellent idea, enormous number of stations to choose from. However it has a useless remote control, with a range of only 6cm.

Overall an excellent product.

This radio offers you very good sound quality, excellent finish, and an easy access to loads of pre-set radio stations with the ability to save up to 250 favourite stations.
Out of the box set-up is straight forward once you manage to navigate through the alphabet to enter your wireless network WPA access key using the volume knob.
The radio has up to 8-sec buffer capacity which meant an almost uninterrupted listening experience for the majority of the stations.
I gave this radio only 3 stars because of the following:
1. The inability to integrate with Reciva Radio restricts you from using the extended search and management of your own station list over the web;
2. Adding a new station is not an easy task which requires manual entry of the station url using the volume knob; and
3. Inability to access PC Media files.
Overall a very good radio that would probably benefit from a firmware upgrade to include additional features.

I have a Verizon Actiontec wireless router for my high speed network that works for all of my laptops, printer, etc. This radio COULD NOT connect wirelessly. I contacted the manufacturer to attempt to rectify the problem, and they were no help whatsoever. Borderline rude as a matter of fact. I did hardwire it and it worked, but I found the station availability to be extremely lacking without Reciva access. And I've read that adding stations is "quite the chore" on this set.
The good news is I was able to return it (out the shipping cost, however)
and I received full credit.
Look elsewhere, IMO...

The build quality is not what I've come to expect from Asus, but it's still good and looks great. In the dark art world of wireless networking, the radio was reasonably easy to connect to my home wireless. The wireless router and router are on opposite ends of the house, and I've only got one or two bars, but that is enough for it to work. It can cut-out if you soak up your bandwidth with bittorrent or a massive file transfer, but otherwise, no worries.

If you're a geek like me, it's a great toy. I've easily found several stations to ease into slumber with. Although of dubious value, it is cool to listen to the local news in New Zealand. If you think that sounds like fun, you're gonna have fun with this product.

Overall, I'm pretty tickled with it. I would not necessarily recommend it to a friend because they'd want me to come over and set it up for them. Such is the world of wireless.

The ASUS Air delivers a good set of features at a remarkably low price--the Amazon $89 price is the lowest one can find. Some vendors ask nearly double this price.
The English instructions are mostly clear. I ran into a problem at the enter-the-WEP stage. After entering the WEP security code when I pressed ENTER, instead of visually accepting it, the screen kept moving me back a step. I had to call ASUS to get help on this. I was promptly connected to a tech specialist who spent as much time as needed to figure this out. Outstanding service compared with other tech call experiences. Be prepared for dialing an (812) area code--it is not a toll free number.
The Air radio's sound is pleasantly balanced and good enough for casual listening.
The remote control is excellent, compared with the Grace and Sangean mini remotes--and it uses AAA batteries instead of buttons.

I also own the Sangean stereo (very nice sound) and Grace internet radio (comparable to the ASUS.) I have given a few of these ASUS radios as gifts and getting grateful and enthusiastic thanks......
Summary on the ASUS Air WiFi radio: Good enough is fine.

Charles Yulish

Got this item for XMas and it is DOA. I can't return it because I have exceeded the return period. Unfortunately I am not able to get help via either phone or email support (multiple phone calls and support requests). I am EXTREMELY dissatisfied with the product and complete lack of service thus far. If anyone from Asus would like to help me through this process I might reconsider, but for now consider this to be an extremely upset customer.

The negative reviews scared me away from this particualr radio at first, however, I bought the radio at a retail store. It had the most features of any I saw including wireless and hardwire Internet connections. Hookup was easy and straightforward. Yes, the controls are not the easiest to use, but once the radio is set-up, everything else becomes easy.