Sony XDRS50 Portable DAB Radio Black

Although many DAB portable radio sets tend to be power hungry, the Sony XDRS50 seems to suffer more than most. Sony tell us it will do 9 hours on a set of 4 AA batteries, which we found to be a reasonable assessment.

If you do decide to use rechargeable batteries you can expect not much more than 3 hours use between charges so you would probably be wise to invest in Ni-Mh cells rather than ordinary rechargeables and nothing under 2500 mAh.

The Sony XDRS50 Portable DAB Radio has decent sound quality but the volume is barely adequate if you like your music above ‘chat’ level.

It’s hard to call the Sony XDRS50 a true DAB portable radio because of the battery and volume issues. If you are out in the park on your own for a few hours, no problem. Take it to a BBQ with other guests who want you to crank up the volume for an hour or two and you might be struggling.