Customer Reviews

Sangean PR-D8 Portable Digital AM/FM Stereo Receiver with SD-MP3 Recorder and MP3/WMA Player (White)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Radio section works really well. You'll need headphones to hear stereo on FM. AM section does a good job of pulling in weak signals, but does not feature RF selectivity filters to control whistles and adjacent channels, just three audio filters (Music, Norm, News) which control tone. On very weak AM signals, the built-in MP3 recorder creates enough RF noise to add noise via the built-in antenna. The Scan button is extraneous, as holding the tune-up or tune-down button scans in that direction. The scan button only scans up in frequency. Radio will not automatically pick up and program the station presets, like good in-dash car radios often do.

Unit takes 'C'-size batteries, and seems to go through them pretty fast. Much, much shorter battery life than the C. Crane CC Radio which uses D cells.
The white finish seems to resist scratches very well, but will show smudges and dirty fingerprints. Key-lock feature blocks button inputs, but the volume control is NOT locked - it's a real potentiometer, not a digital volume control (pros and cons to this).

MP3 controls are horrible - really needs a firmware update to de-bounce the fastforward and reverse functions on the rocker. Will only go one speed in FF, when it would be nice to have it speed up after 5-10 seconds depressed. Navigation of folders and MP3 files is really crude. Records in 1-hour per file. You can't use the Fast Reverse to access the end of a file, and if you're patient enough to hold the FF to get there, any hesitation on the button will bump to the next file.

I ordered the Sangean PR-D8 months ago before it was actually even released, and after shipping delays, my order being canceled due to uncertain shipping date,etc., I re-ordered. I am glad I did! I love this radio (and I hate to call it that because it is SO much more!). The reception is fantastic on this (and I do not even put the antenna up!), the speakers are awesome and sound like a very large boom box is in the room, rather than this tiny radio. It is just unbelievable! There are 3 sound settings (news, music, and something in between which is what I usually use, as the music setting seems too boomy and the news seems to sound better for talk). Anyway, I just love the SD card player! I have looked for something like this forever!!! I put about 20 CDs on my 4GB SD card, popped it in, and it played them all w/out any problems at all. There is a search button that shows you all the folders on the SD card, so you can choose which CD you want to play. I have this stereo in our large bathroom, and it fills the room with music while I shower. I was considering the Sangean shower radio before purchasing this, but I really wanted the SD card feature, which that model did not have. I mostly use this on AC, but have tried it on batteries for an entire day and it did not really use them much at all (there is a battery indicator on it). Only 3 things I could wish for with this: 1) that when running on AC, the light should stay on (rather than go off after a set period of time) so I can see the clock from across the room, 2) I wish it had some way to hang it on the wall (ie. bracket or holes on back), and 3) the AC plug comes that out of the side should be an "L" shaped plug so it is more invisible when you are trying to hide the cord... it just sticks out way too far from the left side of the radio. Overall, I am very happy with the Sangean PR-D8, and I am so glad I waited for this model! You will not be sorry if you order one! In fact, I want a couple more for other rooms now!! (I just wish the price were lower though)

We use this in our newly remodeled master bathroom. FM reception is great. We have always had issues with getting good FM reception where we live and that is why I purchased this brand. The SD card option for mp3 is also perfect. I put in a Class 6 8Gig SD card and navigation around the sd card is nice and fast. The ONLY thing that this radio is missing is a handle. I knew that going into it. Everything else on my list was either satisfied or exceeded with this radio.

It's worth mentioning to prospective buyers of this unit that it DOES NOT have a user friendly recording interface. In fact, most people familiar with computers will be amazed at just how un-friendly the recording experience is. I purchased with hopes of recording and listening to talk shows- I thought it would be nice to fast forward past the 4 or 5 minutes of promos and advertisements. But, this radio makes that SIMPLE exercise almost impossible. Also, if you listen to say...45 minutes of a recorded program and you have to stop, you can not return to where you left off. You have to FF forever. And, on mine, If I try to rewind, it STICKS and returns to beginning! Very frustrating. I give it three stars because I simply remove the SD card and transfer the recordings to my computer so I can edit using audio software (Audacity). Seems counterproductive, doesn't it?

As a highly anticipated gift for Christmas, I received this radio/recorder for the specific purpose of recording Coast2CoastAM in the off hours for later enjoyment. It is a very good AM/FM receiver and has an equally good MP3 recorder built-in. It has all the necessary features to start and end recordings at will. One issue I have with the playback of MP3 files is the FF>> button is hard to keep from actually stopping and thus resetting the counter back to zero - very annoying. Also, the 3-way tone switch is not tailored to the sound frequencies I'm accustomed to. Finally, the price is high for a unit without an SD card and rechargeable batteries. Bank on spending another $50-$60 for those items. Although this is a niche device, I absolutely recommend it for the purpose I'm using it for and wouldn't be without it by my side. Throw in the batteries and SD card, then it would be a perfect 5!

I have been looking for something that does what the Sangean PR-D8 for a long time. I'm a big fan of NPR and I also listen to a lot of spoken word presentations like audiobooks, podcasts, and the such. I have my what my wife calls a fetish for radios and have over a half dozen radios of all shapes and sizes. When I do work around the house or relaxing in our hot tub, I'd like to be able to listen to a podcast or maybe baseball or football game. And listening off my MP3 player with earbuds is either impractical or a bit of a pain after several hours.

For years, I've wanted something to playback audiobooks or podcasts with an external speaker. I had been using MP3 playback CD boombox but had going through three of those over the past 5 years. I also had purchased an small MP3 player with an external speaker, but that little speaker just didn't have enough power to be heard more than three feet away.

There was just nothing on the market that did what I wanted -- that is until Sangean offered up the PR-D8. This is nearly everything I wanted and more. I now have a radio that plays back MP3 files with a robust speaker. Plus I also get a device that allows me to record over-the-air radio programs and has an Aux-in jack for recording. Woo-woo.

The speaker is mono-only, but that doesn't bother me since I primarily use it for play back spoken word presentations. The sound the speaker's put out is a real joy when I think back to having to wear earbuds in the past.

I also like folder style organization of files. The files are on the SD card just like a folder on your computer. And there's no need for music management program that forces you to do things only the way it will allow.

I have recorded a couple programs off the air and it worked quite well. I will be using it to transfer over a large cassette collection very soon.

I do agree with people who think that is sort of bulky. I didn't read the dimensions and was sort of surprised by its size. I was expecting something about the size of a portable transistor radio, but it certainly is not pocket-sized by any means. My biggest concern about size was that I was hoping to take it when travel and I'm not so sure that this will work.

My biggest problem with this unit is the fast-forward feature or really the lack of a practical one. Although, the controls look much like an early iPod controls, the rewind on MP3 back just doesn't work at all and fast-foward feature is almost impossible to use. I've twice been into a one hour program when I wanted to go back and listen to a segment. When I attempted this, the rewind took me back to the beginning of the segment. Then when I tried to fast forward, the player would jump forward to the next file 4 or of 5 times and when I did get the fast-foward to work it only creeps along at around twice the normal speed. One slip of your finger while fast-fowarding will also make you skip to the next file. Plus it has no bookmarking feature.

So, listening to long audio segments isn't always the most practical thing do on this device. Despite this critical failure, I'm still happy with this device as it is a long sought after device.

It also has a great sleep feature which I use every night. I'm sure I will learn more trick soon as I have only had the unit for about a month.

PROS
- MP3 play back with a decent sounding external speaker
- Good AM & FM radio reception
- tons of recording options with line in and over-the-air recording
- External inputs
- Uses SD cards which are plentiful and cheap
- takes rechargeable batteries
- lighted control panel (great for night work)

CONS
- It's a bit bulky
- Fast forward on MP3 play back is frustrating and almost impossible.
- No bookmarking of files

BTW: When researching this device before purchasing it, I actually called Sangean because their website said that they would be introducing the PR-D9 soon and I wanted to know if they were fixing some of the flaws with the D-8. I spoke with a representative of Sangean and he said they were not going to include MP3 playback with the D9. So, instead of waiting for something new to appear on the market, I went with the D-8. I just hope it gives me many years of service.

I was looking for a way to record talk shows while I was at work so I could listen to them after work or on weekends. I also wanted to be able to save certain shows on my computer. This radio is the perfect tool for that purpose. It's easy to record radio shows on the fly by pushing the record button or you can set it up to record on a schedule. I like the fact it saves recordings on a removable SD card and that it runs on C cell batteries so I can listen to my talk shows while exercising, working in the garage, etc. The recordings are very good. In fact, I have my radio set for the lowest bit rate recording and the recordings are virtually indistinguishable from live radio. Of all the electronic do-dads I have bought over the last few years I think this one will get the most use. I highly recommend this radio if you like to listen to radio shows on your own schedule rather than when they are actually on the air.

While not bad overall, the Sangean PR-D8 falls just short of perfect in several areas. Lets start with the minor issue of cosmetics. Black components are obviously far more common than white. Thus, when I could not find anything decent in white (mainly iPod toys) while searching for amplified speakers to boost the volume loud enough to be heard in my noisy workshop, I ended up with black speakers. The resulting white radio with black speakers is just not all that attractive.

With the mention of speakers, now might be a good time to talk about audio quality. The sound provided by the tiny speaker within the radio is fairly typical of a small radio - good enough for casual listening, but clearly weak and tinny. That said, a set of external amplified speakers improve sound dramatically. Amplified speakers designed for either computers (like mine) or portable devices will likely work just fine.

If the Sangean PR-D8 has a true Achilles heel, it would most certainly be the absence of genuine tone controls on either the radio or MP3 player. Individual bass & treble controls are replaced with a three-position switch to adjust sound for news, music, or normal. The music setting does help the sound of the internal speaker somewhat, but the result seems a bit unnatural. The normal setting is adequate through the internal speaker, but improves dramatically with external speakers attached. Haven't found any use for the tinny news setting. Real tone controls would obviously provide greater options.

The MP3 player within the Sangean PR-D8 has a limit of 999 music files on each SD card, regardless of memory card size. Thus, a large music library exceeding 999 files must be spread across multiple SD cards. In other words, forget the notion of having a huge music library on a single SD card and listening to selections from that entire library at random. You can group similar MP3 files into folders (99 max), but that 999 overall file limit evidently cannot be exceeded (the player will not play the extras).

My music library is spread across three 8GB SDHC cards, roughly nine hundred 192kbps music files on each card. Another card is used for my much smaller country music collection, with still another used to time-shift recorded talk radio shows. A different SD card is selected at the start of each workday in my woodworking shop. Not a big hassle, but still not as nice as all on a single memory card.

While the MP3 player does remember what you were listening to (radio, MP3 player, etc) when switched off and will return to that when next switched on, options such as random play must be reselected each time. Likewise, to start listening, the "Play" button must be pressed each time the MP3 player is selected. A single button ("Play Mode") is used to select the main options (random play, etc).

The filename (not ID3 tag) scrolls horizontally across the MP3 display while music is playing. Longer names (exceeding roughly 39 characters) are cut off. How long a song has played is shown, but not time remaining. Finally, the display also shows the current folder, the song's bitrate, and a cute left/right output indicator. Because the display is small, most of this info cannot be read further than a few feet away.

The ability to record is by far the best feature of the Sangean PR-D8. One can do so in stereo from the AM/FM radio, an external device via the 3.5mm "Aux In" jack, an SD card (basically duplicates a file), or the built-in microphones. The result is an MP3 file (64/128/192kbps) written to the SD card or added to a card with other files already present. Recording from the radio is especially useful for time-shifting radio broadcasts. Great stuff.

A 120v (only) power adapter is included, which is a bit strange for a radio with international time formats (12/24-Hr), international radio formats (9/10kHz AM, 50/100kHz FM), and a multi-language owners manual (English, French, German, Netherlands, etc). If you plan to travel overseas to use those international options (or live overseas temporarily as I do), you'll need to purchase a universal 120/230v power adapter (9.0v DC, 700mA, 2.2 diameter center tip, center pin positive).

In a nutshell, I like the Sangean PR-D8 well enough overall and expecially like some features, but the old adage saying "nothing is perfect" still applies.

The main reason I got this device was for recording talk radio shows and then fast-forwarding over the local station's obnoxious commercials. Unfortunately, the fast-forward button doesn't work. No matter how carefully I press it and hold it, it frequently ends up rewinding the file back to the beginning.

I suspect the problem is that 1) they use the same button for rewind AND fast-forward (an unbelievable design flaw) and 2) the slightest bit of contact noise while holding down the button causes it to think the button has been released and re-pressed. Once the file is rewound, I have to hold down the fast-foward button for an eternity to get back to where I was; and while doing this, the same problem frequently recurs. I couldn't get much further than 15 or 20 minutes into the first program I recorded; so I sent the device back for a refund.

I'm now the proud owner of four rechargable C cells--and this is the only device I've ever seen that uses this size.

Even though the reception is excellent, I bought the unit for the timed recording feature. I tape Coast to Coast every night & listen when I can. The SD card does not always show files when you select the sd function after recording & You have to cycle throught FM,AM, & back to SD to show the files. The worst part is,however, the fast foward and the reverse, FORGET IT! The sensitivity of the botton makes it impractical to fast forward where you left off. The unit does have a good pause, but if you don't finish your current file, and set the recording again that night, you will go through hell trying to find your spot on the previous file you were listening to. The fast foward for the SD and the reverse are WAY TOO SENSITIVE! It just skips to the next file unless you have an extremely light touch, even then, it's a frustrating gamble causing you to miss alot of what you recorded.