Pablo's First Look at the Tecsun PL-606 and the Degen DE1126

(Re-post)

 

The two new Chinese toys are the TECSUN PL-606 and the Degen DE1126 (Radio,  Recorder and MP3 Player)

The sets arrives from Hong Kong as always, with an average 12 days trip from the other part of the globe.

First at all, I want to let it be clear that I didn't do any try on SW yet, so my first impressions are about the MW and FM bands.

Other important aspect is my location: I live in the downtown of a really big city, so in my house I suffer from all kinds of man-made noise as you can imagine. Plus the MW and FM spectrum is kinda anarchic, as you can find three or maybe four different stations on the same frequency as a general rule (specially on the FM band) so sensitivity and selectivity is required if you want to hear your favorite stations.

At least, I live in a house, so I don´t have any added advantage as you can get on an elevated apartment.

The Radios

I should say that both sets are wonderful radios compared with "normal" radios. I mean, standard radios do not allow me to listen to the selected "tough to tune" stations on MW and FM. That´s why I'm interested in this kind of receivers, despite the fact I don't listen to SW anymore (except when I do a trip to the countryside).

The PL606 and the DE1126 are different but share the common factor of above average reception on MW and FM. In my two hours of play with both sets I was able to tune and listen the "hard ones" easily, and I should say too that I did not found major differences between the Degen and the Tecsun in terms of sensitivity and selectivity on the FM band. On MW things are different and obviously the PL606 takes advantage of its bigger ferrite antenna but the Degen plays a very decent game due its form factor.

The 606 has other advantages over the Degen: better sound (again, due the form factor of the radio), better telescopic antenna and the capability to rotate it, and the 1 khz step on MW which let you to slightly detune a station to get a better reception, plus the chance to play with the bandwith (thing that you cannot do with the Degen, as it only has a 10khz step setting on MW)

But the Degen is a very capable receiver, with the plus you can load your music, podcasts, audiobooks etc all in your shirt pocket!

A lot of good stuff have been written about the Tecsun 606 and it's true..is a fantastic mini radio with IMHO better sound that other Tecsun´s ultralight (PL390, PL 310 etc). After my brief use, the only things I can say on the negative side are: a) the soft mute when tunning b) the strange behaviour of the tunning wheel (you need to get used ) and the "by step" volume control that change from no audio (position 5) to a considerable level (position 6).

The Degen DE1126 is relatively new (despite it has its predecesors like the DE1123 and DE1125) so I can say I like it in my short experience. It´s well constructed, has a nice rubberized body, the display is clear and is eye friendly, the interface is pretty easy and is multilanguage; it has a strong receiver on MW and FM that lets you deal with the most hard to tune stations and the sound is not bad at all considering that is very thin.

The MP3 and record interface seems to work pretty well, much better that the DE1121, which proves to be a nightmare in terms of use.

I´ve loaded some folders with music, podcasts and audiobooks and the interface handles them with speed and zero problems.

At first glance, the negatives about the DE1126 are: short telescopic antenna, erratic tunning wheel behaviour (needs to be turned with some patient to avoid skipping). the lack of the 1 khz step on MW, the bottom of the set that has a rounded shape so if you want to keep the radio vertical you must use the supplied back stand and some other confusing stuff on menu, like p.e. the radio is indicated as "FM RADIO" when actually that icon refers to all the radio section, not only the FM. Ahaa...I must say, I hate some icons used by Degen, like the Christmas Bells that show the volume control indication (?) and the little...Pony?? that tell you Bye Bye when you turn the set off..Degen designers, stop smoking strange things at work.

 

 

Comments

[John]

I have a new 606 and also a 505. I'd say both radios are excellent on AM and SW, and very competent on FM. The 606 'feels' smaller than the 505 but they are very close in size. I like both radios equally. Both are two AA cell radios, and perform very well in the rf domain. If you want high fidelity, well, there are bigger radios that will give you that. I don't have the Degen 1126, but I do have the Degen DE 15, and 17 and they both give very good reception on AM and SW, but a little digital hash, but--the sensitivity and size of these small radios more than makes up subjectively for the digital hash. The DE 15 is quieter than the 17, and the 17 is a little smaller than the 15. I do not own the 1126 but am tempted to try it out based on this reviewer's comments. What I look for is small size, with excellent AM and SW performance. Ease of use is not as important to me as is performance and small size. All these radios are DSP designs, and lack digital keypad entry, but they all have a tuning knob and a band switch.