A visual look
Practically identical in design to the ONE, the Classic carries the elite's satin-touch feel which, in addition to looking nice, adds extra grip to the unit. Build quality is first-rate; no squeaks or rattles anywhere.
The ONE Classic, however, is a mono radio that packs in a 3in driver which is rated to a maximum of 1.8W. That doesn't sound like much but it's enough to hear the dulcet tones of Radio 4 from 20 feet away.
Click on the above picture and you'll see eight chrome buttons, including the larger central one. Between them they control the Classic's setup, with each smaller button accessing a certain parameter and the central dial adjusting it. It's all easy-to-use, intuitive stuff.
30 stations can be stored in the presets, split over 15 for DAB and FM. and three separate timers can be activated. The ReVu function is something we've seen on the ONE Elite, and it can pause and rewind/fast forward up to 15 minutes of live radio - handy if you're nipping out for a call of nature or to answer the door.
Measuring 210mm x 145mm x 72mm (w x h x d) and weighing in at 710g without batteries, the Classic isn't particularly portable - it's designed to sit on the kitchen or conservatory table and be left there.
The built-in telescopic aerial is situated in a recessed space at the top. Such is DAB reception in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, that it needs to be pulled out and completely extended to pick up the vast majority of stations.
The rear houses the power-adapter jack and cover for installing either six C-sized batteries or PURE's own ChargePAK. The batteries are reckoned to give the unit an 80-hour portable life whilst the ChargePAK - a rechargeable battery unit that is kept topped up by the AC power - costing £29.99, provides half that.
Looking to one side, there are inputs for a mini-USB cable, for upgrading the unit's firmware, 3.5mm headphone jack, and, as an upgrade over the ONE, an analogue input for an MP3 player (iPod, for example). What it means is that you export the sound from your portable player and route it through the bigger speaker on the Classic. Kind of makes implicit sense, we suppose.
Interestingly, the unit can be upgraded to DAB+ - an evolution of the digital format that uses the far more-efficient AAC+ audio codec - in the near future, although no definitive timeframe has been given for the UK to switch on over.
