Much more than a radio?
Turn the EVOKE Flow on and its five-option home screen instantly shows that the device is more than just a run-of-the-mill DAB unit by letting you choose from DAB radio, The Lounge, Media Player, FM radio and Auxiliary input.
DAB and FM function just as you'd expect on a PURE radio, and there's room for 30 and 10 presets, respectively. In Lawley Village, Telford, our EVOKE Flow scanned and found numerous stations in a matter of seconds. As with other PURE products, it's capable of decoding DAB modes 1-4 at bitrates of up to 256kbps and will be upgradeable to DAB+ via future firmware upgrades. In standard FM mode, it'll support both RDS and RadioText.
Its standard functions, then, are easy to use and accessible to users of all age groups. For the networking youngsters, though, there's more.
What separates the EVOKE Flow from PURE's previous radios is built-in 802.11b/g wireless. The system supports WEP and WPA/WPA2 encryption, and setup is a breeze. Scan for a network, enter any applicable network passwords, and you're up and running - the process is identical to various other wireless devices, and entering characters is fairly easy via the front-facing dials.
Once connected, the EVOKE Flow becomes a whole other beast and there's two areas that help it shine; Media Player and The Lounge.
Media Player
If you've a music collection residing on your PC or Mac, the EVOKE Flow will allow you to stream audio via any UPnP software. Using Windows Media Player 11, we were able to pick up and stream our Vista-based MP3 collection at the touch of a few buttons.
The EVOKE Flow can stream audio in MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, MP2 or Real Audio formats, and it's a very well executed solution. The on-screen interface displays track information, and there's an option to search your library for artists, albums or songs. Handy.
It's a simple-but-solid solution that allows access to all of your PC-based music in another room, but there's one small caveat - the EVOKE Flow has no Ethernet port and relies solely on its Wi-Fi. Not a deal breaker by any means, but something to be wary of.
