Three months ago, I went on a radio bender. A dozen high-performance units—sleek, nostalgic, gloriously over-engineered—marched into my home like contestants in an RF beauty pageant. I was smitten, especially with the moody charm of the Tecsun PL-660 and its sibling, the PL-680. These were radios with pedigree, radios that whispered to my inner Cold War romantic. For a while, I was in a haze of knobs, bands, and signal strength meters.
But then, like a post-honeymoon couple stuck in IKEA on a Sunday, reality set in. The signal that won my heart, that actually delivered, didn’t come from one of my beloved Tecsuns. It came from the unassuming, utilitarian, tragically affordable Sangean PR-D12—a $75 plastic rectangle that now sits with smug superiority on my kitchen window sill, lording over its pricier cousins like a budget Caesar.
This thing grabs FM like it owes it money. No hiss, no dance of antenna acrobatics—just clean, full, gloriously consistent reception. Even plugged into AC, where other radios develop mysterious hums and hiccups, the PR-D12 remains unbothered, as if to say, “Try me, I’m built different.” Case in point: I tossed it into the master bathroom—aka The RF Dead Zone—and it casually pulled in 89.3 without even extending its antenna. That was the moment I knew: this wasn't luck. It was shielding. Engineering. Quiet confidence.
So now, while the high-performance fleet gathers dust like retired astronauts, the PR-D12 plays NPR in my kitchen with the humble grace of a champion. It didn’t arrive with fanfare, but it won the war where it mattered—between the toast and the coffee maker, where fidelity meets function.
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