Getting the Creative Soundworks 500 out of its packaging revealed a rather boxy looking lump of consumer electronics, creative have not exactly broken the mould with the design of the 500. The dark wood finish has more than a touch of the eighties Argos ghetto blaster about it and the control inset in the top looks almost shoehorned in. This control panel works in conjunction with the 2 line LCD screen which is mounted into a silver panel on the front of the unit making for a less then logical operation. The build quality is as solid as it looks and is unlikely to be damaged even in a busy home, however this does seem to be traded for the rather dull uninspiring looks.

After a relatively quick auto set-up we were able to use the large scroll wheel on the front of the Soundworks 500 to scroll through that station names available. Like all DAB radios station names and text area available on the LCD screen, the Creative is a small 2line jobby which although backlit in the customary blue is fairly basic. There are 6 presets for you to store DAB stations however we did find this almost redundant given the textual nature and ease of selection provided by the DAB services.

Audio quality was somewhat of a surprise, we were expecting the sound to be weak and nasty a bit like the quality of the case, but the 2 speakers and subwoofer do a good job of making speech have plenty of body and presence.  Testing on a mixture of stations including 6 music and Radio 3 we came to the conclusion that the acoustic qualities of the Creative's case are quite good and this in turn produces a sound which while not rich in bass has more than most low end DAB radios. We can't compare the Soundworks 500 to most of the Pure digital range "the woodies" who's sonic quality is about the best we've tested, but we can say it does compare favourably to the new plastic Pure One portable radio.

RF and reception performance is very good and we were able to get DAB signals in a marginal area where we have tested before and the FM reception is very good with signals from Kent coming in loud and strong in the wilds of Essex.

When it comes to features the 500 is a bit lacking, its main selling point is the fact that it has an FM tuner as backup in areas where the DAB signal is weak or for stations not on DAB. Given that contracts have recently been awarded to further improve DAB coverage this first selling point is soon to be largely irrelevant. It also has an aux input which will allow your MP3 player or other portable audio device to use the Soundworks as an amplifier.

But that is about it, there is no record feature, no enhanced EPG, no MP3 playback, no intellitext, this is a basic unit that sound ok and looks, plain. We know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover or perhaps a DAB radio by its case, but when you have to look at it each and everyday it's not good to be reminded or the eighties.

The RRP for the Creative Soundworks 500 DAB radio is around £95 however we note that our partner Amazon is selling them for £40, at this low price we have to recommend the 500 for its good sound quality and overall value for money, at £95 we'd be telling you to look elsewhere.

Published - 24/06/2006

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