Sanyo R227 WiFi Internet Radio (Black)

Just a short while ago, a good-sounding Internet table-size radio would likely carry a price tag near the half-thousand-dollar mark. While there are several models today that can be had for $200 or less, the Sanyo R227 seems to be the only one that gives you good sound in stereo. With a speaker facing from the side at each end, there may be restrictions on where you can place it for maximum effect, but the compact radio has an earphone jack that allow connecting to external speakers. (It also provides inputs for a device such as a CD or MP3 player.) What's most impressive of all, though, is the quality of the sound that this radio delivers. It's well-balanced---neither tubby or tinny. Connecting to Internet stations is simple and relatively quick. The credit-card size remote makes it easy to choose from any of 8 pre-sets that you create. And, for a bonus, this radio also has an FM tuner and dual wake-up alarms. Hook-up using a wireless router brought a more consistent connection than listening to the same Internet stations at a computer served by the same router.

I'll try and keep this to comments not made by others but I'll admit to not reading every one.

This is not a bedside radio since the clock light goes out after a few seconds. If you want to use it as a clock or alarm clock you will need to keep a flashlight handy to see the time when it is dark.

The Sanyo site will be glad to sell you one for retail but does not offer support. Makes me wonder how they evaluate products except by reading posts like this.

The dial that should control volume (what else do you adjust more often?) gives you a real puzzle palace of a menu. The volume "buttons" are hard to find and send the radio skidding across the table unless you use 2 hands to hold the silly thing while you modify the volume. The manual is handy for starting a small fire on a cold morning.

I you have a wireless signal where you want to use this, it may not work. My laptop works great in the bedroom but I had to buy a range extender so the signal was strong enough for this radio.

Once I did that it worked as expected but I still think there is a major redesign required and no way to have input with Sanyo. In my experience Sanyo is a price point brand that has a "we-make-it,you-buy-it" approach to the market

The Sanyo R227 is my first experience with a free-standing, dedicated Internet radio, and I am astounded at how good the experience has been.
Let me note that I am a radio nut -- a licensed "ham" for more than 50 years who as a kid preferred listening to radio drama/comedy to watching TV. I have owned countless AM-FM, shortwave, ham, scanner, and other kinds of radios. This one has been an entirely new and downright "exciting" experience.
I thought I would have troubles with Internet radio dropping transmissions, hanging up, blanking out, etc. Hardly ever. The flow of the "signal" is invariably interruption-free. Maybe it's my DSL provider, but it's like having cable radio. In fact, the reliability is better than our cable TV signals.
The sound is very good -- no Bose, but the radio costs much less than the pricey, great-sound models. And it has an audio output provision (which I plugged into a Kloss Model 88 for fun and got some super sound).
Set-up was easy (but I have an open wi-fi system and have used it only on open systems so I can't comment on how much trouble it is to set up on a "protected" wi-fi).
The ability to customize stations via Reciva on the Web is cool and, though doing podcasts requires a bit more effort and understanding, the ability set your radio up to listen to podcasts is a real extra treat.
I don't much like the front panel controls, but I don't like the controls on a lot of modern radios I've owned. The ring of preset and volume buttons is very weird to a geezer like me who loves good, old-fashioned buttons and potentiometer (volume, tone, etc.) controls. However, as usual, you get accustomed to them and the controls become second-nature after a while.
A tone control would be nice on the set, but the sound is pretty darn good for the price and features.
What I like best is variety of stations, reliability of the reception, and the decent sound. I am an old-time radio nut, and I have found a couple of channels that broadcast great old mystery, comedy and drama shows non-stop, commercial-free. I have been relying on XM satellite radio to provide my OTR fix, but now, heck, folks are giving it away free on Internet radio.... I also like classical music and jazz, and there are countless outlets of near HD quality sound.
I may rethink my XM-Sirius renewal....

I've owned this Sanyo radio for 9 months now and will review it critically. I picked Sanyo because of its brand name. I've had no technical issues with the radio and have not needed Sanyo tech support. The radio works well.

Build: Solid. Ideal size...not too large or too small. Neat rectangle, fits squarely on the desk corner. Weighs about 2 lbs, perfect with rubber feet, no slipping.

Display: Backlit, easy to read.

Speakers: Internal speaker is reasonable for talk radio, sports. Has fair but not great volume. Strongly suggest using computer speakers through the headphone out jack. I have attached Harmon Kardon computer speakers with subwoofer and the sound is stereo, full, deep and rich. With external speakers, the volume is loud. I'm listening at 25% max volume here at my desk with it 4 feet from me, and it's plenty loud. Can turn up in big room at full volume with external speakers for great sound volume. It does not have red-black speaker wire jacks; only an headphone out type jack on the front (like your computer-thus you need computer speakers).

Sleep: Radio does have an Alarm Clock to wake you to internet radio, and a Sleep Timer to shut off automatically.

Stations: 10k as stated in the ad. Can be scrolled by alphabetical order, by Location (e.g. your favorite city) or Genre of music. For those that know XM Sirrius, it has the same types of categories (the decades, hard rock, heavy metal, country, folk, kids, Latin and on and on). Also can search by call letters (e.g. WKIM-FM 98.9) or country of origin. I see, scrolling now, Guam, Viet Nam, Samoa, Argentina, and dozens and dozens more.

Remote Control: Tiny, small buttons, not back lighted, but functional. All buttons same size, so you really have to stare at it to see which button is scroll up, down, volume. Can access the saved stations setting from it, though. I use it frequently. Very basic. Buttons should be better marked and larger. The whole remte should be larger.

Memory Stations: Has 8 saved station presets. Eight! For 10k+ station menu! I bet I could easily find 30-40 stations that I enjoy on a regular basis in various genres-but it lets me save eight. Silly. Frankly, this alone (plus the so-so remote control) cost this radio one star in my overall review. My car radio has more memory preset stations than this Sanyo. What you'll end up doing is writing down the stations you like on a 3x5 card and keeping it by the radio and manually tuning to the stations you wish to hear. There is not keyboard input, so it's unfortunately indirect access... you hit Station Select, then scroll through the call letters to find your station of choice. Takes about 1 minute every time you wish to get to the station you desire (unless it's one of the eight stations in the memory, in which case it's instant from one of the eight preset buttons on the body of the radio and on the remote control).

Internet Wi-Fi: Impressive. I use a standard Linksys internet blue box and can put this radio anywhere in the house and have streamed music or news instantly. When the radio is first turned on, it takes about 40 seconds to link to the Wi-Fi system each time...going to whatever station you last listened to automatically. From then on, no hics or skips. Know how frustrating it can be listening to internet radio on the computer and having it stop periodically for "buffering" midway through a song? Never has happened to me even once in hours of listening to the Sanyo. Perhaps it would happen to someone with a slower internet service, but with my cable internet, Linksys Wi-Fi, once connected, no glitches. Smooth sound. I wonder if the buffering on a computer is due to the computer doing more than one thing at a time as one uses the computer for many functions simultaneously, whereas this is a dedicated radio server.

Computer Radio: Why not just listen to radio through my computer. (1) Not portable-this radio is self contained and portable. Just plug it in and rock out. (2) This radio is smoother, no "buffering". (3) Although I'm sure the internet has a server with 10k stations and presets, why bother? Boom-one click and this baby is on, whether your computer is on of not. (4) No computer necessary. (5) Remote control. (6) Can use as alarm clock.

I am a tech lover yet tech challenged. I took this Sanyo radio out of the box, plugged it in, and hit "on" and that was it. It automatically connected to the internet and was ready to go. I browsed the stations I liked and hit save memory for the eight I liked, just like a car radio. It has international stations and local stations. It doesn't have every station known to man-I like, for instance, Stephen King's radio in Maine, and although that's available online, it's not on here for some reason. This radio is linked to Reciva, some radio distribution service, but you pay no fee and it's seamless-not ads or anything. Reciva and Sanyo must have some deal. They have a Reciva website Google Reciva), so see if your station is available; check it out, they have quite an extensive list. For a sports lover looking to hear your fav teams, for niche music lovers, for news junkies, this radio is all you need. I felt motivated to write a review after owning it for several months. I would definitely buy it again and highly recommend it to a friend. Hook it to computer speakers for a very full and smooth sound. G'luck and happy internet radio listening.

We don't listen to enough radio to warrant a $140+ annual subscription fee, so when it recently came time to renew our satellite radio subscription we decided to give internet radio a try instead. We chose the Sanyo R227 after reading reviews and we're very happy we did. It's not the fanciest internet radio going - it (currently) can't tap into Pandora, it has only 8 available presets (plus 8 FM presets), the menu access and remote control are slightly kludgy, its sound is just good and the manual leaves a bit to be desired - but for our purposes it's perfect.

Out of the box the setup is fairly easy. We have it about 50 feet from our router which it accesses wirelessly, but you can also hardwire it. You'll need to manually enter the security key for your network just once and you're away.

Register the radio at [...] (they make the chipset) and you can create your own folders of favorite stations on the website, as well as add streams and podcasts - all for free. These then show up on the radio menu under "My Stuff". There's also a forum at the website which is far more helpful than the manual for sorting out any problem you might have. You can even request a station to be added to the lineup if Reciva doesn't already have it, although this is subject to the format of its online stream. Reciva has literally thousands of internet radio stations to choose from and growing every day.

The R227 can also access sound files on your computer through Windows Shares and it has a connector on the back for your CD player, etc.

Now the niggles. It's a bit fiddly to maneuver through the radio's menu using the buttons on the front, especially when trying to select from the many lists of available radio stations. (This is where the Reciva.com website comes in most handy.) The remote buttons could have been thought out better. The quality of sound from the built-in speakers is sufficient but won't make audiophiles happy; it does have a connector for external speakers but if your speakers are passive, not powered, you'll need to add a small amp to get them working. It could also use more than 8 presets.

But considering this technology is still in its infancy, the Sanyo R227 is a great little radio and we enjoy it every day.