I recently purchased both the Sangean WFR-20 and the Denon S-52 Internet/Wi-Fi radios, and having lived with them for about a month, have found them to be both joy and pain, with several deficiencies in both products. Although these two radios are not really meant for head-on comparison due to the sheer difference of price, feature set and function, I think they merit interface and usability benchmarking so potential users can make buying decisions based on facts beyond what their manufacturer marketers trumpet.

This review focuses more on usability and function than price. People who pay more than $200 (or more than $600 in case of Denon) care more about product performance and ability to deliver than price. Both these units are pricey, and I paid $244.99 for the Sangean, and $638.99 for the Denon, including shipping and taxes from amazon.com.

Sangean WFR-20

Pros: Excellent sound with clear and bright high notes and deep bass, simple menu system, fast connections to wi-fi networks, quick time updates from internet time servers, internet station selections on the Reciva site, ability to add custom internet radio stations, sound adjustment for bass and treble controls, user manual

Cons: Volume not adjustable easily from within menu system on head unit, cannot switch off alarm easily, tiny remote control.

The Sangean WFR-20 is a sleek black table-top unit. It is sturdy, except for the volume control knob, which although appears robust, tends to wobble a little bit, but should not be a major concern. It came packed with a clear and thick user manual, a remote with batteries, a power cord and a Wi-fi antenna that attaches to the rear.

Apart from Internet radio, the WFR-20 does not offer any other features like AM/FM, CD or iPod docking facilities, although there is an auxiliary input port on the rear that can be used to plug in an iPod or other audio devices. As shown above, the unit has an 10/100 Ethernet port, an audio line-out and headphone sockets in the rear. The front of the unit has a monochrome LCD matrix display which works well

in indoor lighting conditions. The unit dims automatically when switched off, showing the time with icons for active alarms. Once configured, the radio display defaults to a time view like a clock radio.

Setup was a breeze on my WPA protected Wi-Fi network. My DLink DIR-655 Wi-Fi router/gateway is installed in the basement of our home, in a room enclosed by concrete walls and the door always closed. Despite this, the Sangean can connect very easily, almost instantaneously to the password protected wi-fi network from anywhere in our home, even on the second floor. This singular ability of the WFR-20 puts it way above the Denon, because I like to take the Sangean unit wherever I happen to spend more time at home, sometimes to the living room, or sometimes to the master bath area to listen to Internet radio when I am in the shower, although I take care to leave it on the always dry bath counter which is a few feet away from the shower stall.

The menu is controlled by the single knob which controls both the volume and menu selections, depending on currently operating mode. The radio is switched on by pressing the volume knob. When switched on, it instantly connects to the last listened radio station, and the sound is full, rich and deep and I found the sound to be excellent and gratifying in all rooms in our home. The sound tone can be adjusted by the separate bass and treble controls that appear in the menu by pressing down the volume knob for a couple of seconds while listening. Surprisingly, the volume knob does everything else except control the volume handily, which is a big drawback because if you have kids who have gone to bed, or you want to turn down the volume when the alarm goes off, you have to hunt for the remote, because the volume control keeps defaulting to the menu navigation mode with no easy way to revert to volume control mode. The radio stations sound close to CD quality, with consistent tone.

The Sangean comes with a “slightly larger than a credit card” remote that is functional, but needs to be accessible at all times to control the volume. As seen in the picture, the tiny volume buttons on the remote require that the user be fully awake to use!

The Reciva web site can register the WFR-20 by it’s radio ID number which appears in the settings menu. Once registered on the web site, I found it easy to select and add radio stations that I prefer to a list of favorites. This list is automatically downloaded to the WFR-20 each time the radio is switched on, and available in a separate menu item called “My Stations”. I found this to be easy and convenient.

The alarm can be set to ring at set times on weekdays, all days, or specific days. The unit can either sound a buzzer, or tune itself to a specific internet radio station when the alarm activates. Although the alarm works well, there is no “snooze” button, and the unit requires that you read and select the function on the menu to either continue listening to the radio or switch it off when the alarm rings.

The WFR-20 automatically synchronizes it’s time with an internet time server. The synchronization is quick and transparent, and it worked automatically to switch to DST. The unit also updated it’s firmware automatically.

Apart from the volume control usability, I find the Sangean WFR20 an utterly functional radio, and since I stopped listening to over-the-air AM/FM several years ago, this radio has been a welcome addition to my playlist driven waking hours.

Denon S-52

The $600+ Denon S-52 is a feature behemoth when compared to the Sangean WFR-20, and is priced accordingly. It has numerous features, including an iPod dock, internet radio driven from a custom Denon web site, AM/FM/HD Radio, Rhapsody client, a CD player that plays MP3/WMA encoded files, a USB port to play audio files on a USB flash drive, an XM radio port and an aux input port. It is a heavy unit that is about 50% larger than the Sangean WFR-20. The picture above shows the Denon’s size compared to an iPod.

Pros: Feature set that includes pretty much all audio sources covered, jog/shuttle wheel on head unit that mimics the iPods wheel.

Cons: High price, pathetic user manual, flat numb sound, no bass/treble controls, no jog/shuttle wheel on remote unit, weak Wi-fi connection, poor Denon web site to add radio stations, lousy menu system, poor time synchronization, no way to deactivate default onboard Audyssey equalization.

The heavy Denon unit arrived in a box along with a flimsy user manual, a remote with batteries, a wi-fi antenna, AM/FM loop antenna and a power cord. The unit itself is heavy, and not as portable as the Sangean. Initial setup was a pain, because it would not see my wi-fi network even after multiple, time consuming scans. Once the network was found, it could connect through the WPA protection after several tries. Once connected, it stayed connected until switched off, and it takes several minutes to re-connect to the network, even when placed right in front of my DLink DIR-655 router. I finally had to connect it using a network cable to the 10/100 Ethernet port at the back of the unit, so it could download and update it’s firmware. The updated firmware still does not fix the wi-fi connectivity problems.

Once connected, the menu system is activated using the buttons on the top. The icons in the menu are self-explanatory. The unit can synchronize it’s time from an Internet time server, but only when connected using the network cable. I was unable to synchronize time to DST using the wifi connection. The unit’s clock remains set to the time when the unit was switched OFF, and when switched ON, it failed to reset it’s time to the current time, showing an out of sync blinking clock. I hope Denon rectifies this annoyance soon.

The biggest problem on the Denon is the sound. There is no way to control the tone or equalization, so the sound always is flat with deep bass, and almost no treble. The unit sounds like cheap sub-woofer driven audio inside a truck. The much touted Audyssey sound equalization actually hinders the tone more than it helps.

The unit has an internal list of Internet radio stations, and I could register the unit using the MAC address of the radio in the vTuner driven radiodenon.com web site. Once registered, I could add a list of stations to “My Favorites” which appears in the S-52 upon each successful network connection. The radio stations themselves sound like they are streamed, with poor audio quality and wavy undulating sound.

The iPod dock by itself appears robust, but requires that the iPod remain in a slanted vertical position. This is prone to accidents, and an inadverdent knock to the iPod could break the dock connector easily. Once docked, the iPod can be controlled using the jog/shuttle wheel on the head unit, but sadly, the remote does not provide a similar wheel. In order to get better treble, I had to set the iPod’s onboard equalizer to “Treble booster” to improve the sound on the S-52 head unit.

The unit comes with a free 30-day preview of the Rhapsody music service, but I have not tried it yet.

I have tried to listen to HD radio on the S-52, but have not had much luck with any stations in our listening area.

While not completely satisfied with the Denon, I decided not to return it because of the iPod and internet radio integration, and for it’s inclusion of a CD player that can play MP3 CDs. I am hoping that Denon will release a firmware update that fixes the numerous problems in it’s menu, network connectivity and sound customization.

Denon, while being a manufacturer respected by several audiophiles, has personally not mesmerized me with it’s sound and usability on this unit.

Finally, here is a photo that shows both the Sangean and Denon units side by side for comparison.

To conclude, the less expensive Sangean WFR-20 beats the Denon S-52 handily, especially for someone looking for top notch sound from a good internet radio device.