Sony XDR-C1DBP

My display is blank – Hard to operate and now my display is blank. It’s a very frustrating clock radio Show details

Clock radio - a major disappointment – I have had this for about 3 years I think. The display is almost impossible to see in daylight and the other day it just blanked completely. I have now turned it off and back on and it is working again in its dull display state, but not sure for how long. The controls are also very complex and not intuitive at all. Very, very, very disappointed. Show details

Terrible to set up – Terrible to set up. I have spent about three hours trying to set up this radio, I am not a genius but I am not a dummy either. I have given up on setting up this radio. I will have to try another brand.

A triumph of aesthetic design over function – Ah, it looks beautiful, is neat and compact as says it's a DAB clock radio. Sounds perfect. Sony have been making clock radios for decades, so they must know what they are doing. Right? But.... The set up is non-intuitive. If you need to read the manual, you've failed. Sony, you've been doing this for years. You know what works, now is not the… Read more

time to rethink the concept of a clock radio. There are buttons every where (font, back, sides and, probably bottom), but the labelling is cryptic. The off button is clearly labelled "alarm reset" and is tiny and sunken. Impossible to find when groping round to turn off the radio. The speakers face backwards. What? Yes, that's right - they face into the wall. The light has 3 setting. "Bright" lights up the whole room in the dark, and dim can't be read during daylight. An auto dimming function would go a long way to solve this problem. This is one present that will stay in it's box.

Not much chop – Bloody frustrating. I might use a hammer instead of my fingers..I can’t adjust the time!!!! I have been very patient , but it’s off to the bin ( after I get a new clock) Sony are my go to, or have been....

Excellent, but the display brightness – Absolutely great so far apart from the display. There are three brightness settings (plus off); the intermediate level is not that much different to full brightness and is much too bright at night. The low brightness setting is virtually invisible during the day. Much better would be a continuously variable brightness or one that adjusts to… Read more

ambient light.

That said, I love the dual alarms; particularly the ability to choose whether the alarm is active weekdays and/or weekends. Setting the alarm is very easy and the gradual increase in volume when the alarm comes on is very welcome.

The sensitivity of the DAB tuner is excellent. We live in a fringe area so prior to buying a DAB radio I borrowed a portable DAB radio (another brand) to test reception, which was acceptable. The Sony has much better sensitivity with zero errors notwithstanding the antenna orientation. (By the way, the DAB industry website [https://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/can-i-get-digital-radio] is poor, rating our suburb as 'no reception'; the coverage maps here [https://www.worlddab.org/countries/australia/history/coverage?page=2] are much better.

Scanning and presetting channels is easy. Obtaining the time from the broadcast signal makes setting time trivially easy and immune from errors from power outages. Sound quality is good particularly considering the small speaker size.

It would have an unqualified recommendation if the display brightness was adaptive and/or was continuously variable.

Two Duds – First unit's display stopped working (no time/display at all, blank screen) just inside warranty, replaced by Sony. Replacement unit did the same a year or so later - fine, I'll soldier on just turning the radio on and off. And now it's stopped even playing radio. Sony + Digital? Choose another brand. Show details

I Cannot Wait To Take It Back! – Despite reading the instructions I have found that I cannot set the time. It’s to say the least a very complex process of pressing tiny buttons at the rear and I just couldn’t get it set! Also setting the radio station via a minuscule window is another impossibly! This device is a very big DUD!  Show details

Display problems – Intermittently the display screen turns very dim, and the toggle bar won't fix this. The only way to fix the problem is to turn the unit off at the wall plug switch and turn it on again. This has to be a design fault, but for $147 it's a bit surprising Sony has not met its quality control standards before releasing this unit.  Show details

This is a very expensive piece of junk! – My other half and I have owned several Sony Dream Machine clock radios over the years and have been happy with them, so when the display recently died on his, we went out to purchase a new one. His job involves shift work and extremely early starts and a good alarm is imperative. We were attracted to this one, due to the time always being right… Read more

because of the DAB+ Radio and our previous experiences with the Sony brand. We got the first one home, the volume button wouldn't work, so back it went. We then got the second one home and thought that it worked, until the other half tried to set the alarm. We found we couldn't set Alarm A at all and Alarm B wasn't much better. This will be joining the previous one as a return, that's if we don't hurl it out a window first. It is a $149 piece of junk! The buttons are also extremely small and fiddly. Avoid!

Everything you need in a clock radio – This is a really good clock radio. It isn't particularly breathtaking in design, it's just a cube and it is rather expensive. However, it has all the features that make it worth considering. It is DAB, it has 2 fully customizable alarms, including adjustable volume which comes on gradually (very important if you don't want to be startled… Read more

awake). It is relatively easy to use, there aren't heaps of buttons and menu systems to figure out. The display has a few dimming levels which is great, I tend to put it on bright during the day so I can read it and dim it at night so I can sleep. The size of the time display is big enough so you don't struggle to read the numbers and you can also chose to show the day and date underneath. There are a few display options: Alarm info, radio info, date or off.

Using the alarms are easy. If they are on you will see an 'A' and/or 'B' in the display. Resetting them for the following day is as easy as hitting one button to turn the alarm off and leave it ready for next time. The snooze button is spread across the top of the unit so you don't fumble around trying to find it. It goes off after 10/20/30/40/50/60mins depending on how many times you press it. It also counts down in the display when it is going to sound again.

It is compact which means it doesn't take up much room on your bedside table and there is a USB charger on the side of the unit. The speaker is small but if you're only using it to wake you up, it's fine. It doesn't sound bad, it's just not stereo. It seems well made, it's got a slight brushed steel effect on the sides which makes it less of a dust magnet and it has a backup battery. What more could you possibly want?

There are a lot of clock radios to chose from out there but I think this one is excellent.

**6 months on and I thought I would add a note to my original review. The display has actually disappeared a couple of times. The alarm still came on as expected and it obviously was keeping time however there was no display. To fix it, I unplugged it from the powerpoint and plugged it back in again - very strange. Everything else is great, still extremely happy with it.