OXX Digital Breeze digital radio

A small and portable entry-level digital (DAB+) radio

PC World

The OXX Digital Breeze is a small and portable digital radio that can also tune in to FM stations. It's an inexpensive unit compared to most digital radios out there and its quality is commensurate to what you pay for it, but it's nevertheless a fine radio for the kitchen or workshop.

Pros

  • Can tune Digital and FM stations
  • Can run on AA batteries

Cons

  • Poor buttons
  • Weak speaker

Bottom Line

The OXX Digital Breeze is a simple radio that can tune in to either digital or FM broadcasts. It's also a portable unit that can run on four AA batteries. Basically, it's a decent entry-level digital radio for the kitchen or any other environment where you want some background music (or talkback shenanigans) to help you get through your work.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 79.95 (AUD)

The Breeze has a basic design with a little curving, a pull-out antenna and a range of buttons at the top. Its buttons don't feel crisp or responsive when pressed, and you have to press them quite forcefully, but if you have a favourite station that you always listen to no matter what, the chances are that you'll rarely need to press them anyway. On the front you'll find a two-line LCD screen, which provides information about the station you are listening to in a sometimes very slow scrolling fashion.

The front also has the single speaker, which isn't very loud and which doesn't supply great audio quality. It sounds very flat and quite similar to what an old 'mono' radio from years gone by would sound like, which is funny considering the digital technology inside the case. That said, if you just want a radio that will be on in the background while you work, especially if you listen to talkback, then it will be perfect.

You can even use the Breeze while outdoors — perhaps while doing a spot of gardening; all you'll need is a supply of four AA batteries. These batteries will need changing every few days depending on how long you run the radio (you'll get around 10 hours out of them).

Setting up the Breeze isn't hard. It scans channels in only a few seconds the first time you switch it on, after which you are ready to listen to your favourite station (our was definitely Mix 80s). However, station changes are very slow and it can take a long time to sample all the stations to find something you want to listen to — it doesn't help that there are so many stations these days either.

You can place your most commonly listened to stations in presets; up to 20 presets are supported, 10 for digital stations and 10 for FM. To add the station you are currently listening to as a preset, all you have to do is press the 'Presets' button for a couple of seconds until it flashes, use the up and down arrows to select a slot for it and then press the 'Enter' button. You can then access presets by pressing the 'Presets' button and using the up and down arrows to find the station you want.

There's not much more to this radio. It may not supply great sound quality through its single, 1W speaker, but you can always plug in headphones, through which the Breeze can sound great. We like the portability of the unit thanks to its willingness to run on AA batteries and think it's a fine, relatively low-cost choice for anyone who wants a digital radio for the kitchen, office or workshop. Because the radio supports the DAB and DAB+ standards and runs on batteries, it could also potentially be a good travel companion while visiting Europe and the UK.

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