Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #113450 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Pure
• Model: VL-60631
• Released on: 2004-03-10
• Dimensions: 4.41 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Beautifully styled with a machined aluminium front panel and cool blue LED indicators, PURE DRX-701ES features the latest third generation DAB technology for stunning audio performance and improved usability.

In addition to crystal-clear reception and digital-quality sound, DRX-701ES displays additional information such as track listings, artists’ names, traffic and news bulletins on its LCD screen.

With its unique PAC-IITM technology, station selection by name, USB connectivity and an impressive 99 presets the PURE DRX-701ES is a major step forward in the evolution of the hi-fi tuner.

Customer Reviews

check out this quality dab tuner
I bought this full-sized DAB tuner recently. Before I bought it I checked the UK hi-fi magazines to see what they rated was good. This 701 tuner came out "tuner of the year 2002" in a leading magazine. Despite being released two years ago there wasn't anything else that met my criteria of a DAB tuner that I wanted.

The sound quality is excellent with all stations picking up a signal of 90-100 (100 being the maximum), some even 100 itself. Though I only live four miles from the local DAB radio transmitter, which was only put up 8 months ago (check the BBC web site for details on transmitter locations).

I would advise simply tying the T shaped ends of the Aerial to a bamboo stick and position in a vertical way for a clear reception. Or if you live some distance to a transmitter you can buy aerial accessories from Pure Digital for low and mid strength areas, though I didn't need to do this.

Another big feature is the 99 presets (with different choices on types of preset options), which makes it easy to move from one station to another. I have seen another DAB radio mini-tuner from a different manufacturer with only 10 presets and it was a real pain to move from one station to another (that mini-tuner was very poor overall).

The 701 tuner also has a quarter inch headphone socket with remote control volume adjustment if you wanted to listen to it, without the need for an amplifier and speakers.

DAB radio has plenty of choice with the normal radio stations you can receive on FM and AM and much more, with all the BBC stations 1-7 including the BBC World Service and Virgin radio in crystal clear sound.

A minor weakness of this 701 tuner is that the tuner broadcasts in Band III only (UK broadcasts). The European mainland broadcasts in L-Band, so if you wanted to take your tuner to the continent for a trip, it wouldn't be able to pick up European radio stations. Also the UK will additionally broadcast with L-Band from 2007.

But this 701 tuner is future proofed via USB and RDI connections at the back; thus you should be able to add an L-Band add-on at a later stage anyway if you feel you need to. If you register with your warranty card giving your email address, you can get software updates with the USB connected to a computer.

If you want a quality DAB tuner with L-Band in-built for these future UK broadcasts, you could always buy the more expensive Pure Digital DRX-702. But I decided not to buy the 702 as it has AM and FM in-built which I now consider redundant, with more things to go wrong inside the tuner as well.

Another minor weakness is DAB radio itself. At the moment a few radio stations broadcast in mono only (the 701 has a stereo light indicator), these are mainly non-music radio stations such as radio 5, but anyway radio 5 (with radio 5 extra) sounds a damn sight better in DAB than in AM.

The 701 is a very good buy and no white elephant, it also comes with a two year guarantee, check it out.

Blown away by the sound!
What a great tuner! I bought the black model, which comes with a silver remote. Looks pretty cool with the blue leds and blue lcd display. Very simple to plug and play with my existing Arcam amplifier and selecting stations couldn't be simpler. The sound is crystal clear, like I've never heard before from radio. I cannot fault this tuner. It's a must-buy at the price.

It does what it says
I have not had a DAB tuner before so I do not have anything to compare it with - but I cannot fault it - it does exactly what I expected and even more.

Sound quality is fantastic and the optical connection to my MD deck works a treat.

Easy instructions and as it tunes itself you can just sit back and enjoy.

I used to listen to Terry Wogan and Drive Time but this now opens up a whole new world of enjoyment / entertainment. Ditch the TV and spoil yourself with one of these units.

Radio has never been so goooooood.

Santa had good taste this year.