Really? Blown away by a pocket radio? YES.
Online video reviews don't do it justice. Quite frankly, this type of receiver held no interest for me since I started listening to KHJ in Los Angeles back in 1966 as a kid. I took my 9v transistor radio everywhere. It was my most treasured posession. I could listen to it all day and frequently did. I suppose listener-fatigue wasn't an issue back then.
52 years later, I never thought this type of receiver was worth the time of day. I was so wrong, and this isn't just me taking a trip down memory lane.
#1 - Audio fidelity amazing - from headphones obviously. The buds that are supplied are really decent, but just as important is the radio that supplies that. What a combo. Not booming. Not hissy! Not nasally flat either! The key point that became immediately clear that I was no longer listening through a radio with it's own characteristic, but just the content itself. The radio disappears essentially.
I'm one of those crazy stereo dudes from the past, and things like listener fatigue, and audio response are REAL important. And no, my high-range hearing is still good, so I'm sensitive to hiss, phase distortion and the like. If there is a characteristic frequency response, it is from the station, and not the CC Pocket and it's earbuds. Wow.
FM stereo response so nice, but so is AM !!
The ability to choose between a wide 4K and narrow 2.5K filter for AM actually works! Audibly on most modern receivers, that *sounds* like an 8K and 5K filter. At first I was worried that 2.5 would be nuts. Once heard I understood.
BOTH filters are actually useful and do what they do *properly*. 2.5k narrow is fine for listening, and aside from what it was intended to do, and does not add any strange frequency response peak or dip to it. Narrow is usable - long term if you like!
Other notes:
Yes, the front speaker is small. But it is adequate for this type of radio. It's about as good as it's going to get at that size. Let's get real - freq response is ok. If you want hi-fi, you go headphones.
Headphone cord is an external antenna for FM and Weather. But the big point is that somebody was SMART about it, and has it totally disconnected (as an antenna) when listening to the internal AM loopstick antenna. So, you can actually wear the 'phones, and dx or rotate the radio without the cord distorting the reception pattern. That's BIG. And as a convenience, if you don't wear phones, they supply a little bit of dummy wire you plug into the headphone jack if you need it for FM or Wx - while still being able to select the external speaker.
Basically, there are no dumb engineering blunders with this radio and performance is really good. This, and the audio quality means that you truly WILL have it with you in your pocket more often than you think.
I mean, I thought this would be a fun toy to play with for an hour or so every once in awhile. WRONG - it is a really good radio. For either a picky audio fidelity fan, or for a dx'er needing a pocket TOOL, with no listener-fatigue penalty.
I'll fess up - I did relive the past by tuning into KSUR oldies (K-SURF) with all the same tunes I heard on KHJ back in '66. But with a "space age" radio now. Yeah, the CCrane buds sounded good when listening to the streaming service on my laptop with a nice pretty picture of the beach. Instead, have more REAL fun by taking the CC Pocket to the actual beach! BIG DIFFERENCE.
As a gift - if you have a youngster showing interest in radio (rare), don't saddle them with a piece of junk spoiling the experience at the start. Give them this *real* radio, and it just might make all the difference in the world. As it did to me 52 years ago.
Online video reviews don't do it justice. Quite frankly, this type of receiver held no interest for me since I started listening to KHJ in Los Angeles back in 1966 as a kid. I took my 9v transistor radio everywhere. It was my most treasured posession. I could listen to it all day and frequently did. I suppose listener-fatigue wasn't an issue back then.
52 years later, I never thought this type of receiver was worth the time of day. I was so wrong, and this isn't just me taking a trip down memory lane.
#1 - Audio fidelity amazing - from headphones obviously. The buds that are supplied are really decent, but just as important is the radio that supplies that. What a combo. Not booming. Not hissy! Not nasally flat either! The key point that became immediately clear that I was no longer listening through a radio with it's own characteristic, but just the content itself. The radio disappears essentially.
I'm one of those crazy stereo dudes from the past, and things like listener fatigue, and audio response are REAL important. And no, my high-range hearing is still good, so I'm sensitive to hiss, phase distortion and the like. If there is a characteristic frequency response, it is from the station, and not the CC Pocket and it's earbuds. Wow.
FM stereo response so nice, but so is AM !!
The ability to choose between a wide 4K and narrow 2.5K filter for AM actually works! Audibly on most modern receivers, that *sounds* like an 8K and 5K filter. At first I was worried that 2.5 would be nuts. Once heard I understood.
BOTH filters are actually useful and do what they do *properly*. 2.5k narrow is fine for listening, and aside from what it was intended to do, and does not add any strange frequency response peak or dip to it. Narrow is usable - long term if you like!
Other notes:
Yes, the front speaker is small. But it is adequate for this type of radio. It's about as good as it's going to get at that size. Let's get real - freq response is ok. If you want hi-fi, you go headphones.
Headphone cord is an external antenna for FM and Weather. But the big point is that somebody was SMART about it, and has it totally disconnected (as an antenna) when listening to the internal AM loopstick antenna. So, you can actually wear the 'phones, and dx or rotate the radio without the cord distorting the reception pattern. That's BIG. And as a convenience, if you don't wear phones, they supply a little bit of dummy wire you plug into the headphone jack if you need it for FM or Wx - while still being able to select the external speaker.
Basically, there are no dumb engineering blunders with this radio and performance is really good. This, and the audio quality means that you truly WILL have it with you in your pocket more often than you think.
I mean, I thought this would be a fun toy to play with for an hour or so every once in awhile. WRONG - it is a really good radio. For either a picky audio fidelity fan, or for a dx'er needing a pocket TOOL, with no listener-fatigue penalty.
I'll fess up - I did relive the past by tuning into KSUR oldies (K-SURF) with all the same tunes I heard on KHJ back in '66. But with a "space age" radio now. Yeah, the CCrane buds sounded good when listening to the streaming service on my laptop with a nice pretty picture of the beach. Instead, have more REAL fun by taking the CC Pocket to the actual beach! BIG DIFFERENCE.
As a gift - if you have a youngster showing interest in radio (rare), don't saddle them with a piece of junk spoiling the experience at the start. Give them this *real* radio, and it just might make all the difference in the world. As it did to me 52 years ago.
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