The front of a car, an air-conditioning unit, one of those heaters your gran has by her feet… the Roberts WM201 certainly makes a statement. It’s just unfortunate that statement is “I have no aesthetic sense whatsoever”. Luckily we’re not so shallow to hold that against this most wonderful of Wi-Fi radios.
Like some of the girls we know, the Roberts WM201 may disappoint on an eye-pleasing level, but performance-wise it’s the exact opposite. Musically it belts out tunes with volume and authority, with bass powerful enough to keep the most demanding low-end enthusiasts nodding along happily.
There’s a remote control for committed couch potatoes, but otherwise the knob in the middle of the car grille-esque front controls everything, and keeps navigation surprisingly simple. Connecting to your network is equally easy, with support for Mac and PC streaming. It even receives BBC Listen Again and live broadcasts online! Say it’s ugly, but you can’t say it hasn’t got the goods features-wise!
Okay, there are a few downers, like the fact it works with only 802.11b and g networks, rather the latest n standard signals, but you can get around this by plugging it in direct to the router with an ethernet cable.
Apart from that, and its fugly looks of course, the Roberts WM201 pleases us no end with its thumping sonics and awesome feature set. Bravo.
