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It is semi circular in shape with the front being a flat edge. The dimensions are 15cm deep with power lead inserted, 17cm across and 7cm tall. Whatever iPod or iPhone you insert will add to the height as the dock is on the top.

The rear has aerial socket, auxiliary input, headphone/earbud socket, USB (for upgrades) and finally the DC input.

The power lead is 1.5metres which is okay, the aerial lead is .6metres which is not enough simply to keep this extended needs a longer lead and as I did with the previous Roberts unit I reviewed I attached a second piece of wire to provide a better aerial length and also to give a bigger choice of where you can attach it to what.

The curved sides of the unit are the speakers. The front has the 8x3cm display and an infra red sensor for the remote.

See also: DAB Radios

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All the controls of the unit are on the top. Any ‘i’ device is inserted in the dock towards the rear of the top. Two rows of four well marked buttons are split by a large circular button which is surrounded by a three way rocker surround and finally the front edge is the all important snooze control. The circular button is flush when off but press in and it pops up, twist it to alter the volume, so not only is it on/off but also the volume.

The remote control is 8.5x5x.5cm and is powered by a circular clock type battery which is fitted in place. The remote has 22 buttons again all are clearly marked and all you need is line of sight to the front of the unit to use it.

Most controls are duplicated being on both the unit and remote, however ‘mute’ is only on the remote as are some minor iPod controls.

The unit has four modes in sequential sequence DAB, FM, iPod and Auxiliary. On first switch on make sure that the aerial is fully stretched and in my case it found 63DAB stations. Using FM will be a manual tune so you need to know the frequency but for some stations once tuned it will display the station name others remain as a frequency number.

There are twenty Presets available 10 for DAB and 10 for FM, quickly moving through DAB to find the station you want is easy but for FM it’s a slower job and Presets are more useful on this wavelength.

When off but with power the display shows a double height time, the third line in clear and the final line shows day, date and month. Switch on and the top line shows a couple of icons with the double height time in between and then the station on the third line and information on the bottom line.  

There are two alarms, a variable snooze setting and sleep timer that can be set between 5 and 90 minutes. For those who prefer it you can have the clock display in either 12 or 24hour format. There are six equalizer settings and both the tone and bass can be set independently. The display brightness can also be adjusted this is useful as it can appear very bright in a darkened room.

Sound quality was fine the ability to adjust bass and treble as well as various equalizer settings give a good range. Remember this is stereo so many units have a single speaker and the only way to get stereo is with earbuds.

Doing my searches found the Roberts DreamDock at £83.57 with free delivery.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0063QY4PC?ie=UTF8&tag=gadge0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634

http://www.robertsradio.co.uk/Products/DAB_radios/DREAMDOCK/index.htm