According to the prestigious London-based business news daily Financial Times, there are five gadgets available in the U.K. marketplace that “will transform your audio experience.”
None of them are bargains. But, one of them is a radio. It’s a pricy one, but is perhaps one of the most revolutionary with respect to service offerings in an easy-to-use box.
Introducing the Ruark R2 Mk4. It sells for $623.99 USD, as of Friday’s exchange rate with the British Pound.
Who would spend upward of $600 on a Radio? It’s not exactly your father’s AM/FM device.
As Financial Times notes, Ruark Audio is a family-held business, one that has been “quietly making beautifully designed, exquisite-sounding audio products for the best part of 40 years.”
Now, it has brought to market a fourth-generation model of its “supercharged” radio unit, the R2. “It comes with a completely revised look, featuring a slatted wood grille that’s faintly reminiscent of a kitchen-top ’70s model,” the publication notes. “Its features, however, are bang up-to-date.”
And that is what is most noteworthy of the Ruark R2 Mk4. It not only comes with FM, but also the U.K. digital radio standard, DAB+. There’s also easy access to Spotify, podcast platform Deezer, Amazon Music and “access to thousands of internet radio stations and podcasts.”
Notably absent from the conversation: Medium Wave, or AM, radio, which is a rarity across Europe in 2022.
Financial Times isn’t 100% in love with the device. “Given the smallish screen and single dial, it’s less hassle to call the latter up on a smartphone and play them via Bluetooth,” it says in a review published last week.
That said, “Its sound .. is as gently rounded and as sophisticated as it appears.”
To learn more about the R2 Smart Music System, please click here:
https://www.ruarkaudio.com/products/r2-smart-music-system
