Pure Pop Maxi review
Contributing Editor
These days, if you want expansive stereo sound in your home, you’ll either need an all-in-one radio system that costs a fortune and takes up half of your living room, or you’ll need to compromise. At least, that’s the case with most radio systems.
There are a handful of solutions out there that offer a comprehensive DAB radio with Bluetooth and stereo volume, for a price that fits your budget. The Pure Pop Maxi is a super-portable and highly convenient DAB radio that combines style and performance with exceptional quality.
One of the best value radio systems that we’ve seen from Pure, the Pop Maxi is an attractive piece of technology with dual stereo speakers and a price tag of just under £60.
Here’s what we discovered when we conducted our own Pure Pop Maxi review.
Pure Pop Maxi review: Design and build
The Pure Pop Maxi is the big brother of the smaller DAB radio from Pure, the Pure Pop Midi. As you can imagine, that means that the style is very similar to the other devices in the “Pop” portfolio.
You get a sleek black and white surface at the top of the radio, followed by a dual set of stereo speakers, covered in an attractive fabric that doesn’t muffle your sound quality.
The Pure Pop Maxi is available in a variety of styles, including the Pop Maxi Marius, which comes with a unique Scandinavian-style design. Although the extra appeal of the Marius was appealing to us, our favourite block colour option is probably the “Mint” which we think would fit well into a kitchen.
Despite being the largest product in the Pure Pop range, the Maxi is still a relatively compact DAB radio. It’s small enough to fit well on a bedside cabinet or table and should fit well into most parts of your home too – although we wouldn’t recommend using this device in the bathroom.
Additionally, like the Pure Pop Midi, the Maxi comes with the option to transform your device into a portable radio with the addition of either a set of AA batteries, or the Pure ChargePAK D1.
If you can afford to splash out the extra cash on the ChargePAK, it’s a worthwhile investment. Not only is the device more eco-friendly with the rechargeable option, but you’ll save yourself a fortune on batteries if you want to avoid having your radio plugged into a wall all day long.
Pure Pop Maxi review: Features
First and foremost, the Pure Pop Maxi DAB radio is a digital sound system. It’s stylish, sophisticated, and available in a range of three colours that will fit into virtually any design scheme.
From an aesthetic perspective, the Pop Maxi combines style and sophistication with compact convenience. However, while this is a product that’s great to look at, you see the true value of the product when you dig down into its features.
First of all, there’s built-in Bluetooth with the Pop Maxi. If you’ve been looking for a DAB radio with Bluetooth, the Maxi is just a tiny bit more expensive than the Pop Midi, and it offers a wider selection of features too.
With Bluetooth, you can use your radio as a wireless speaker, and stream music straight from your smartphone or iPod.
At the same time, if you just want to use the DAB and FM station signals that come built into your radio, then that’s simple enough too. Like the other products in the Pop range, the Pure Pop Maxi comes with single-button use.
All you need to do is hit the big button on the top of the speaker to turn it on, then twist to adjust the volume. The system also comes with a selection of 20 presets to save to your radio, and five quick-access buttons.
For a surprisingly small price tag, the Pure Pop Maxi DAB radio comes with features like:
- Kitchen timer / countdown timer
- Sleep timers to put your radio into standby mode
- Alarms for your bedside table
- DAB, DAB+ and FM radio
- 20 station presets
- 5 preset buttons
- Simple one-touch pop button
- Stereo sound with dual speakers
- Bluetooth connectivity
- 20 hours of rechargeable battery through the ChargePAK
Basically, you can think of the Pop Maxi as the bigger, more luxurious version of the other products in the Pure Pop range. It comes with more volume, the option to play music via Bluetooth, instead of using an aux-in cable, and all the great functionality you got from the Pop Midi.
If you have the space for a slightly larger sound system, upgrading is a no brainer.
Pure Pop Maxi review: Performance
Like most DAB radio with Bluetooth products from Pure, the Pop Maxi excels in terms of performance. The single pop button feature for managing volume and tuning on the device is a nice touch if you’re looking for simplicity.
Additionally, the alarms are easy to set too – so you can use your radio to manage your entire day.
You might have a bit of trouble setting up Bluetooth to begin with – but that’s common with a lot of digital devices these days. Additionally, we thought it was a bit of a shame that the Pop Maxi didn’t come with a remote control or app that you could use to manage your music from a distance.
On the plus side, the Pure Pop Maxi sounds as good as it looks. There’s so much more volume than you get with the Midi, thanks to the dual speaker system.
Additionally, the advanced audio processor in the Pure Pop Maxi Bluetooth radio means that you can adjust your listening to suit your needs. You’ll be able to turn the bass and treble up and down depending on what you’re listening too.
We thought this was an excellent extra with the device, as the Pure products can sometimes sound a little bassy when you first get them out of the box.
Pure Pop Maxi review: Verdict
The Pure Pop Maxi is an excellent upgrade from the Pop Midi, and a fantastic part of the Pure portfolio. We consider this device to be excellent value, offering the perfect combination of diverse listening functionality, and ease of use.
At the same time, we love the fact that you get the option to adjust your bass and treble, which wasn’t a possibility with the Midi.
Though there are some downsides to this device, like the lack of a remote control, for instance – it’s a great piece of kit all around, and it comes at a price that we just can’t argue with.
Just so you know… This article contains affiliate links. The commission we earn helps to cover our costs, and comes at no additional cost to you. For more information on our affiliate program, please refer to our disclosure policy.
