While browsing the shelves LP discovered that while the number of home HiFi DAB sets had exploded there were few truly portable sets available and until recently Pure had the market pretty much to themselves, but Philips have at last put their toe in the water with the DA1000.

The Philips DA1000 DAB Radio brings the benefits of clear sound and improved reception to a pocket sized package, while it will fit in a pocket its not quite walkman size weighing 100 grams and is comparable to some of the more bulky MP3 players which is a shame as you expect a radio to be a much smaller size. It runs on two AA rechargeable batteries (supplied) and its quite simple to plug in the charging adaptor, sadly we did find that the batteries take quite a hammering by the DA1000 lasting just about 10 hours on a charge and do not last anywhere near Pure's pocket DAB (16hrs).

Audio quality of the Phillips DA100o is quite good despite being hampered by the poor quality headphones supplied in the box, we quickly replaced these and managed to get good results. Of course being DAB there is no fading of signal and hiss but you can't forget that it is compressed audio which is noticeable on classical music, while testing we did also notice that if you lose signal (which is possible with today's DAB coverage) you get a kind of digital screech which is annoying.

Perhaps one downside of the DA1000 is its ability to hold onto a signal, in central London it coped well but on the outskirts (still within DAB coverage) it did struggle and lose lock when moving around, which is not desirable for a portable radio, its not too bad though and only a little behind the pure pocket DAB in performance. Of course its backwards compatible and if you get stuck you can switch back to good old FM transmissions but that is no good for DAB only stations like 1xtra and BBC6 music.

Where it wins over the Pure is in style, the Philips is smooth almost glass like in appearance its 3 line backlit LCD display scrolls the names of stations and tracks / artists currently being player. Navigation is via a joystick and 4 buttons function buttons, this allows you to scan for channels by name and managed the 20 presets, audio levels and also the in built 6 preset equalizer.

The box contains the DA1000, 2 x AA batteries, charger, carrying pouch and headphones, it retails for around £140 and is in ready supply.

Overall its on a par with the Pure pocket DAB, perhaps technically it holds onto  a DAB signal with less tenacity and is supplied with a cheap set of headphones, but it is far better to look at and hold than the Pure and navigation and ease of use are marginally better. We guess which one you choose is very much a matter of taste but if you plump for the Philips DA1000 DAB radio you won't be disappointed.

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