Verdict
An outdoor speaker / radio that ’s better than you might expect with its energetic , racy sound . Easy enough to apply and with firm build caliber , plus features for radio heads , the Pure Woodland compete well against its price rivals .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
If you go down to the forest today , Pure Audio has a overnice surprise . The audio steel launched a portable loudspeaker system in the Woodland with support for FM / DAB+ andBluetoothstreaming .
Designed and engineer in the UK , the question is whether this is a wireless speaker that can play radio , or a wireless that can be used alfresco .
reckon out the answer to that interrogation may determine whether you give this speaker a closer look , but whichever viewpoint you need to look at the Pure Woodland from , it ’s an accidentally just wireless verbalizer / wireless .
Design
Given the esthetics of Pure’sEvoke argument - up , the Woodland fit it by keeping thing comparatively simple – arguably even a little boring .
There ’s not much ostentate , if any , about how the Woodland looks ; but take it out into the Sir Henry Joseph Wood and it does sense a part of the environs with its timberland green finish .
It ’s suitably rugged too , the top surface made from hard , rubberised credit card , as is the bottom , and sandwiched between the two is a fabric stuff that covers the loudspeaker ’s drivers . AtIP67 , the speaker is water- and dustproof , which should be enough to survive fuddled conditions .
The buttons on the top airfoil are easy to distinguish between , some are slightly recessed , others protrude from the surface . Buttons cover playback , skipping / navigation , book , presets , Bluetooth coupling , king , and swapping between radio modes . Hitting the maneuver push button in radio mode mute audio ( leave it unmuted and the radio eventually turn off ) . harbor the skip push button ringlet through the place faster . It ’s all passably nonrational and promiscuous to pick up .
The 128 x 32 dot matrix backlit display is tiny , and not easy address unless you ’re hovering over . While it ’s bright there ’s not much information to be gleaned on the screen apart from the post , signal strength , and battery level . To be fair , the screen is not an aspect I ’ve relied much on in my metre with the Woodland . There ’s not much functionality that it offers , but what ’s provided is fine enough .
There ’s a strap for carry the speaker , and at 700 g , the Woodland feel lighter than I ’d expected . Around the back is the radio antenna and next to it is aUSB - Cport to charge the Woodland .
Features
Let ’s take care at the presets , which could be a somewhat puzzling area for some to sympathize . Pure says the Woodland has six presets , which is correct , and they are divide between three predetermined buttons . Where it contract awkward is that a button match one DAB+ and one FM preset – it ’s not a case of having six presets useable strictly for DAB+ or vice versa for FM .
As I ’ve hear , once you ’ve set a preset for DAB+ radio , if you seek to attribute another to the same preset it will overwrite the original . you may only have a max of three DAB+ and three FM presets . That ’s something you ’ll need to carry in the back of your nous about how the Woodland ’s presets maneuver .
The Woodland hold up Bluetooth 5.1 ( no mention of the codec it streams in ) , and connectedness is simple enough through the Bluetooth button . Press it when the speaker is in its wireless modality , and it ’ll pair with the last known equipment . There ’s no Party mode to bring together with other utterer – it ’s designed to control on its own .
Battery spirit is say to be up to 14 hour on a single charge . virginal mentions that it was measured at intensity 4 when listening to a radio post .
Radio place let in DAB+ and FM , of form , though I ’ve found that approach to wireless stations can drop in and out reckon on reception . Scrolling through the stations , some of the BBC stations were missing ( Radio 5 Live , Radio 5 Sports X ) but popped up again later on .
Sound Quality
I was n’t sure what to expect from the Woodland ’s sound recording . It ’s both aradioandwireless speaker , and while the two are close associate , they also have slightly unlike requirements . receiving set almost expressly focus on the spoken voice , while wireless speakers have to meet the needs of communicating the entireness of the frequency range .
Pure describes the performance as fertile , and there is a level of that warmth at lower volumes . But raise the volume up , and the Woodland becomes a slenderly dissimilar animate being .
Starting with a listen of Teddy Swim ’s Lose Control on BBC Radio 2 , and the Pure Woodland carries a productive sense of bass , a operation with vocals that gets the character of his vocalisation . All the sweeping undulations and soaring moments are reproduce quite well .
The soundstage is as magnanimous as the width of the speaker , but music does n’t feel too choke off . When commentators are confabulate , the affectionateness of the utterer issue forth through more obviously , with a smoothness and weightiness to what ’s say . The Woodland – at least at low intensity – avoids the midrange crispiness of ‘ indoor ’ radios such as theGroov - einsteinium Zeus .
Switching to Jazz FM , there ’s a rich sense of expression to the trumpets in the Ezra Collective ’s Footprints . The talker find enough particular to describe the high-pitched bank bill of the piano with decent raciness . I observe it a very piquant listen with its tender sound .
And when you raise the volume , the verbaliser becomes a slimly dissimilar proposition – one that I like but I ’d wager some may find iffy . At higher volume , the midrange sounds crisper and leaner .
It could be that this 10W Mono speaker sound a little strained – perhaps even thin – at higher volumes , but I feel it work in its favour more often than it does not . It does n’t change its character when listening over Bluetooth or needs an extra portion of volume in its Bluetooth mode like some radios do .
In Vanessa Carlton ’s A Thousand Miles there ’s a crispness to the cymbal crashes and punchiness delivered to the drumbeats – so the Woodland is not all about being a smooth manipulator . The chimes read as bright and shrewd so it ’s able to dig out point in the upper frequencies than slather them with smoothness .
With Montara ’s Blue science lab Beats the speaker describes the trebles of the vibraphone with clarity and brightness that surprise me a little . The bass is immobile , punchy , and rich but does n’t distract aside from the good piece of work in regain contingent from the higher frequencies .
With Lianne La Havas ’ Bittersweet , the Woodland absolutely belts out her spokesperson with all the vigor and contact it can come up for a cleared , elaborate , and up-and-coming public presentation . There are time where its vigour get the undecomposed of it – The Comet is come ’s Summon the Fire is crisply turn in to the point of being harsh . In which case a jog down on the mass is needed .
compare to the likewise pricedMarshall Emberton II , the Pure Woodland conveys more blast : it ’s a fully grown , more open , and direct audio , absolved throughout the frequency chain whereas the Emberton II sounds sanded off with its smoother approach . With Metronomy ’s The Look it go along a good cycle with the path ’s round , the midrange is clear and there ’s just mutant to its bass . It ’s a more fluid - sounding wireless speaker unit .
Granted , the Woodland has some scratchy edges . crowd the volume too high and it can sound coarse . The verbalizer cabinet can rattle with bass voice distortion when playing a few track such as La Havas ’ Bittersweet and Kanye West ’s Good Morning .
Where there ’s audio noise in a stream , the Woodland does little to strip it out , and there are times where the speaker seems slightly bamboozled by what it ’s play , going more for force and heft than clarity . It can go fairly loud in an outdoor setting , but theJBL Charge 5is a better consideration if loud medicine is what you want .
That said , I liked this wireless speaker / wireless more than I think I would after powering on . Indoors or out , the Pure Woodland produces an engaging sound up there with its monetary value competitor .
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Should you buy it?
In the past , I ’ve regain the Bluetooth performance of radios to let down . That ’s not the pillowcase with Woodland which sound consistently good with Bluetooth audio .
The Woodland is a picayune grating around the border , a little too crisp at gamy volumes , some bass distortion here and there . There are caveats to its sprightly carrying out .
Final Thoughts
A radio that ’s a wireless speaker or vice versa – it does n’t really matter in the final accounts as the Pure Woodland is adept at both . The audio performance is both rich and clean , with a just vocal carrying out ; and as an outdoor speaker its hard , tough build quality will help it come through most inclement atmospheric condition or water - link mishaps .
The price initially seemed expensive , but up against rivals such as theMarshall Emberton II , JBL Charge 5 , and even theSonos Roam SL , the Pure Woodland position up a unspoilt battle . The radio receiver features add something unlike , and it is well worth putting on your shortlist if you ’re after an outdoor verbaliser come rain or radiance . Check out ourBest DAB RadioandBest Bluetooth Speakerlists for more option .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every outdoor speaker we review thoroughly over an lengthened period of time . We use industry received tests to equate feature properly . We ’ll always tell you what we encounter . We never , ever , accept money to review a product .
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FAQs
The Woodland talker only outputs in mono , with no two-channel support .
