Tivdio V115 mini radio
.....which immediately was given to the recipient
and a new unsuccessful order (update in the end )
In April this year (17) I had a query from a very good pal to find a small radio and mp3 player recorder .She has a problem of dyslexia and possibly this radio could be a good solution to bypass her problem.
Though I originally proposed her to order for Q3 I thought then that tivdio V115 model could be more suitable for her for the reason that it shows the filename instead of the serial name Q3 shows .Hence this requires you to have a full listing in print of all audio files are included in the memory to know exactly what you are listening. This was the main to order it for her. For family reasons I preferred to order via express way advising her otherwise i sold for her after one plus month later She would pay the expenses once we meet her .More on this subject after. Its price is just15 GBP plus 10 for shipping.Tha time the selelr from Amazon was not affiliated with Tivdio nor Retevis.
The radio had a funny delivery curve. It was ordered on Friday but dispatched the next ...Tuesday delivered in Wednesday ! I cant understand why delays happen for no reason.
Immediately receiving it I made several tests and opened the very small box that included :
-OTG midi D cable for charging and connecting computer , the radio, Nokia compatible BL5C battery and 4GB miroSD inside the radio and earphones.
The radio is simply as a old fashioned menu driven 'archaic' MP3 players of mid 2000 with all-band radio version SDR included and the "Chinglish font" used on the LCD display proves it .
Her are some nice pictures of the radio :
A nice LCd display though seems nowadays very primitive
The connections of the right [side of radio .
Headphones, line in with provided cable , microSD card
and micro-USB connection for charging and more
Most of the important mp3 information ,
Number and name of file , spectrum curve , equalization (jazz),
playing point, song total time battery and file location on external Sd card
The radio set is little smaller than the Tecsun PL380 and its features are as follows as checked from its usage:
-FM - MW - SW radio . Its span is 68-108 MHz for FM 531-1620 for MW and 4.7-23 MHz for SW
-Micro USB socket for charging and computer speaker as the product sheet notices The speaker is less than1 Watt power (personal estimation)
-SD card socket that can support up to 32 GB as per company’s information
-MP3 player with separate 'old fashioned' mp3 playback menu
-Separate general menu with ability to change recording rates and folder play.
-Voice and line in recording or playback
-Operation while charging
Below you will find the results of my tests after experimenting with this GBP15 radio with BL5C 1Ah battery included (shipping excluded of 10GBP). They are written in just headlines in order to conserve space and writing time due to other writing and family tasks currently in charge. There are comparisons between Tecsun models PL380 pocket radio ($44 price my main DSP pocket radio ) and Q3 voice and line-in recorder ($24 price both bought from anon.co previous years )
Operation on radio:
FM :Fair to good reception nearby PL380 , Needs full detached antenna to have the best reception results Some signals are shown as 'dead' in case they are below the threshold level. Earphone cable greatly affects reception even the antenna is fully detached! I think cable wire needs receiver's isolation. Please read below about stereo reception.
-MW reception is rather poor to fair . I tested having much levels of internal noise that greatly lower signal reception unless signals are more than 26 db as tested with PL380 that translates into a fair to good signal . High frequencies with nearly same sensitivity while lower frequencies lack both . A mini MW loop such as Tecsun AN200 can greatly enhance reception.
-SW needs for sure external antenna for better reception Radio's internal noise is introduced in all bands. Sensitivity seems close to PL380 .Some signals have lower audio than nominal possibly due to QRM .Bad detection ?. Does not overload with long wires inductively wound over the antenna as happens with my PL380 .I m referring to my shack's inverted V of 2x16 and a nearly horizontal wire of 16 m. Still no overload found if a lengthy wire is connected to the radio's antenna. 5 KHz steps and abt 5 scan steps per sec. It scans all the frequency range .
Pass band /selectivity/stereo reception
AM pass band filter is quite wide close to 10kHz .That introduces QRM 'whistles' of 10kHz especially on shortwave and can be heard (only?) using the headphones
FM pass band is also very wide. QRM can be caused by strong stations as far as 200kHz Stereo sound reception for signals above 45 db with more than 20 dbS/N as shown the Tecsun radio. This translates into strong to local signals
Memories : Once you add memories you can't tune them unless you enter the frequency or press for bad scanning !Adding a memory is a bit weird . You have to press [5-memo] to activate memory then press >|| for storing it! Separate memories for each band to a total of ?? memories.
There is also ATS fro automatic bands can memorizing even the poor signals as PL380 , starting from 1 deleting any previous memories.
MP3 playback:
It plays MP3 and WMA formats for nearly all kbit rates .MY music collection has been down sampled to 44 kHz WMA that is enough for my ears. Let's see if the company enhances the chip to be able for mp4/aac recording or playback as today's smartphones do.
Operation menu
Music menu is made by pressing >|| key for at least 3 seconds to adjust : folder /play mode (repetition ) / equalizer (among 10 eq curves)
File name is shown. Very good for someone to know which mp3 file he listens. Q3 does not show anything except file's serial number
It s very sad that you have to press the key as many times as requested until you find the requested song. I could prefer that the company corrects also this problem so that FF or REW buttons can scroll the mp3 files as happen with other mp3 players.
Recording and playback:
Separate recording folders per operation : fmrecord/lrecord/mrecord with format radxxxx/linexxxx and micxxxx named files.Here is a photo
three mp3 recording bitrates: 64 96 and 128 kbit referred as superfine.
plugging the line in cable immediately enters the line in mode.
Some 64 kb radio recordings in shortwave shown to have 'moving panning' . 'Sound point' can wander between mid-left to mid-right channel instead of being always in middle as you hear it with head- or earphones .
All recording rates and mods have good audio response identical to Q3 recordings, as tested later in my computer. That means the sound problem comes from radio's internal amplifier as noticed below.
Audio :
Digital Volume change is smooth with 32 steps
The internal amplifier has a very bad design response adding trebles and totally lacking bass. This reminds me the problem with the Tecsun Q110 used for short time one month before . You need a bassy headphone to cope this lack. I also hope tat soon they adjust this problem.
Using the built in speaker audio seems nice and sharp
Charging :
After complete first time battery drain the battery seemed to be charged 'in full' in less than 1 hour using a 2 Ah mains adaptor .The battery however was not fully charged and after removing and putting it back to the radio it charged again for less than 30 minutes and still no fully charged .
It thus bvecomes sure that lower power chargers are required, not above 1000mA
I finally used an external Nokia battery charger to charge it faster and better.
Playback time:
I used for abt 3 hours in low volume (5-11). it has also recorded around 6 hours with zero volume four and half from shortwave and around two hours on FM before it shut down, saving the file .
Verdict : For 15 GBP including battery the radio is real value for money with lots of features, aimed mainly for entry or casual listeners /users . It needs only to have a redesign in the audio stages to correct the lack of bass for headphones and by a way the AM recording problem though it is less important. Downsampling it with a computer program is recommended.
Any way it is intended to a very good but dyslexic friend , part time employee ,who needs it for listening to voice clips on selling techniques and translate Greek texts using the built in microphone. Her parents 'stolen' her Q3 for listening to traditional music leaving her without the player. This is the reason I bought the second player for her. I prepared the memory for the Q3 with a very big audio collection with selling techniques from various free internet sources including podcasts. I subscribed to several sales coaches especially for her.
Her audio and radio requirements are very low. She uses an extremely bassy headphone from Degen. It adds of at least 9db awful spatial bass and very poor audio fidelity that sounds perfect for her but not me! I have used it once before and immediately removed from my heads .She now uses it as external speaker.
New model on 2018:
Tested a second item one year later , on June tht was bought via the eBay for around 13Eu . The item has been sent in less than one month delivered to the post office and immediately tested with the following problems
1. all bands are full from internal noise . the noise overweights the reception even in the Fm band .On SW and MW it is so string that only ‘local’ signals can be heard . That means it has to be connected to antenna so that the noise can tapped by the strong signals
2.Sound fildelity is the same if not even poorer . Bass is totally missing comparing to the ‘linear’ Q3 . It s from the bad amplifier design. Some of the recordings made and heard later in the Q3 have shown quite good audio but with unstable 'panning'.
3. The battery has been changed from Nokia 5C to 5B . Tthe only good idea as this offers higher capacity.
Verdict: the new version (?) I even worse than its relatively poor predecessor if not admitting for a total garbage. Item that "passed QC" (???) and instead them littering into the dustbin,is promoted under low prices.After having contacted the seller for returning it , they prefered to refund me with nearly the total amount.The radio however has not been littered into dustbin.Instead i use it in random as a backup radio used only with the AN200 antenna for MW and the magnetic SW antenna for shortwaves. It is good for making mini recption clips or for time shifted listening to the news.