Ruark Audio R1S Smart Radio - Mid Grey

This is a high quality small radio that is ideal for small bedrooms and kitchens. When I first listen to it there was no WOW!, but from turning it on, it just sounded 'right' and over a few hours of listening I realised just how musical it is. There is pace and rhythm and voices and instrumentation sounds 'real'. depth of bass is limited but, throughout the soundscape you hear deep into each note so you get all the emotion of real bass. You also get a window into how the artists are presenting each note and this helps transmit the emotion behind the music. Given its size it just creates beautiful sound. I am a audiophile and I am very sensitive to the quality of sound and the R1S is the first radio small portable radio that has caused goose bumps and just joy from its presentation. Whilst cooking my wife and I have ended up dancing in the kitchen. Previously I had a not too shabby Roberts radio, but the R1S beats it by a mile in every way. If you just want background music then go for something cheaper, but if you want to experience the emotion from the music then just buy the R1S. My highest recommendation. Pros Very well built. very small footprint. great set of functions and they all work without a hitch. easy to set up. Works faultlessly The sound is not big and brash, but beautifully natural, balanced and so so musical. Good with all genres (pop, classical, jazz, speech only) doesn't distort the music at high volumes. can use a downloadable phone app as a remote control. get extended warranty if you register it with Ruark. does have bass, treble and midrange adjustment, but I think that the standard set up is best. wi-fi reception is strong and stable. Cons. No remote supplied, but you can buy one from Ruark for £15 and it works really well. The phone app is ok, but it does have to keep reconnecting to the radio so it is a bit slow to use. very basic FM aerial so poor reception. No Tidal app for music streaming (but it has got spotify and deezer) Could not test the DAB as I don't get reception in my area. Control buttons are on the top so difficult to operate manually if its on a kitchen shelf. If you want loud and bass heavy music then look at a bigger radio.

It’s everything I expected it to be. High quality, very simple to set up and sounds fab. I have the Oktiv app which helped to set pre sets ect. I also registered it with Ruark so you get the 3 years warranty. I’d had a Pure that failed after 7 months, tried a Lumie that got sent back the day after (To snooze and to see the time in the night the glass on the Lumie needs a fair old wack which is not good) I’m confident that the Ruark will give me years of service but these guys will repair really old units which is reassuring. I’ve taken off the telescopic ariel and added a 3 meter wire type which looks better next to the bed. This radio is highly recommended 👍👌😊

Ruark customer service second to none. Initially had problem loading BBC stations on internet radio, turned out to be a problem with my router, Ruark assisted me in identifying the issue and it was resolved within 24 hours. Radio itself very good, nice sound out of a small compact box, ideal for the corner of the kitchen where I use it, a lot !

Just a perfect bedside radio. The audio quality is top notch and it’s a nice looking unit. Very straightforward instructions.

An expensive purchase, but you certainly get a sound and build quality that reflects the price. Audio quality is excellent at both low and high volumes, with a deep rich bass and crisp high notes. The bass and treble can be altered to taste, and there's a loudness function which boosts the overall sound far higher and deeper than you'd expect from such a small radio. The display is sharp and detailed, with an option to brighten or dim the display to low levels for night time listening. The functions are very intuitive and easy to use, and the inclusion of an alarm clock is extremely useful (and very loud if you want it to be). The ability to select between DAB, Internet radio, FM, Podcasts or Bluetooth, means that you have literally thousands of radio stations and content available, and the overall sound quality on DAB, Bluetooth and internet radio is crystal clear with no background noise at all. Despite personally being very happy with the radio, there are a couple of minor issues that might put some buyers off, which is why I only rated it 4 stars. The FM reception is fairly weak, and seems like an afterthought. Not really an issue if you have DAB reception, but if you are only able to pick up FM frequency then I wouldn't recommend it for that purpose. Also if you're using traditional headphones, the headphone jack is inconveniently placed at the back of the radio. There's also the minor issue of the radio only having Spotify Connect, Amazon Music and Deezer integrated into it. It's not a big problem as you can connect to your preferred streaming service through Bluetooth, but it would have been nice to have integration with Tidal and Apple Music also.

Teuer aber sehr gut

Ausgezeichnete Technik, schickes Design, sehr guter Klang, großer Funktionsumfang - das Gerät besitzt alles, was man sich als anspruchsvoller Musikliebhaber wünscht. Hervorzuheben ist insbesondere die einfache und problemlose Inbetriebnahme und die sehr einfache Bedienung des Geräts mittels der Funktionstasten und des (Farb-)bildschirms bzw. auch mittels der beiliegenden Fernbedienung. Die Einrichtung ist intuitiv und man benötigt vorab keine App, wie bei anderen Geräten, sondern steuert alle Schritte über die Tasten und den Bildschirm. Auch die zugehörige App lässt sich problemlos installieren und läuft stabil. Ich hatte vorher ein Gerät von Bluesound, dessen Einrichtung wesentlich mühsamer war und dessen App sich auf dem iPhone in unserem Netzwerk auch nach unzähligen Stunden des Experimentierens nicht installieren ließ. Ganz anders bei Ruark: App heruntergeladen, installiert, mit dem Netzwerk verbunden, das Gerät gesucht, gefunden und verbunden, fertig! - ohne Probleme und in nicht einmal 5 Minuten war alles erledigt. Großartig, danke Ruark, so soll es sein! Die Auswahl der unterschiedlichen Audioquellen (FM, DAB+, Internetradio, Streaming-APPs, Bluetooth und USB) ist für meine Zwecke ausreichend und mehr als andere Geräte bieten. Besonders praktisch ist die Speicherungsmöglichkeit von bis zu 8 Favoriten für die einzelnen Quellen, sodass man nicht nur seine Lieblingssender sondern auch seine Playlists speichern und mit einem Tastendruck aufrufen kann. Praktisch ist auch die Anzeige von Interpret und Titel oder dem Cover beim Abspielen, und die Anzeige von Datum und Uhrzeit im Standby Modus. Sollte das Gerät mobil eingesetzt werden, kann es mit einem optinalem Akkupack ergänzt werden. Ruark hat wirklich alle möglichen Bedürfnisse berücksichtigt! Einziger Verbesserungsvorschlag für die nächste Generation, der mir einfällt, wäre eine Zugriffsmöglichkeit auf Musiktitel im lokalen Netzwerk über NAS. Das würde das perfekte Gerät komplettieren.

Sounds good, sieht gut aus, internet radio great, bluetooth not so good.