For a brief, shining moment, the Qodosen DX-286 reigned supreme as my official “Bedroom Radio.” Its speaker sound outclassed my Tecsun PL-660, and for three glorious days, it performed like a champ—pulling in FM stations with ease, flexing its signal-grabbing muscles, and making me question why I hadn’t promoted it sooner.
Then, the cracks started to show.
While listening to Madeleine Brand on KCRW’s Press Play, I noticed something unsettling: her voice sounded garbled, like a bad cell phone connection from 2007. The station itself was booming in loud and clear, so naturally, I blamed KCRW—surely the problem was on their end, not my radio’s.
But today, history repeated itself: same show, same station, same digital distortion. My curiosity piqued, I conducted an impromptu radio showdown. The Tecsun PL-680—blessedly DSP-free—rendered Brand’s voice in perfect clarity. The Tecsun PL-880, which does use DSP, produced a mild warbling effect, but nothing egregious. The Qodosen? It still sounded like an AI-generated voicemail.
My verdict? The Qodosen’s DSP is so aggressive in its filtering that it mangles human speech, rendering talk radio unlistenable. But give it music, and it performs beautifully—rich, warm, and clear. In other words, it’s a great DJ but a terrible journalist.
So, while my Qodosen remains a capable FM warrior, it has been unceremoniously demoted. The Bedroom Radio Throne is currently the Tecsun PL-680.
Update:
I toggled from Voice to Music mode and the garbling effect is so diminished that I can put the Qodosen back on my bedside table. Sorry, Tecsun PL-680.
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