Home » Pure Elan IR5 – Internet Radio that ticks all the boxes!

Pure Elan IR5 – Internet Radio that ticks all the boxes!

Thanks to the latest technology, radio has advanced by leaps and bounds. Funnily, all this has happened silently in the background. We have gone from listening to the radio at home or in our cars to now downloading podcasts, streaming music, passing it over Bluetooth radio, and we even have access to radio stations all over the world thanks to Internet Radio. The Pure Elan IR5 ticks all these boxes and more!

Pure Elan IR5 – Features

  • Open up a world of music and radio with Elan IR5 internet radio. Bluetooth maximum power: 5.52 dBm (EIRP)
  • With access to stations anywhere around the world, Spotify Connect and seamless Bluetooth connectivity, Elan IR5 provides unparalleled listening choice
  • Elan IR5 comes with a vivid full-colour display and a clean button layout making it quick and simple to navigate
  • You can even move Elan IR5 in and around your home too, with the option to be powered by the mains or by batteries (4 x AA)
  • With access to more than 25, 000 internet radio stations from around the world, there will always be something that suits your mood
  • Stereo Out
  • Aux In
  • MicroUSB port to connect to your computer for updates

Setup

As expected, to get this to work, you need to set it up to run with either WiFi or through Bluetooth.

Of course, Bluetooth is simple and like any other Bluetooth speaker.

For WiFi, the menu can lead you to a list of available WiFi networks. When you have selected the one you want, you have two choices:

  • You hit the WPS button on your router
  • Or you hit ‘Skip WPS’ which allows you to enter the WiFi password manually.

In order to enter your password, you have access to an on-screen keyboard, and you have to use the knob/dial to select the correct letter/character/number.

Once you have entered it, the device will remember it.

Internet Radio

Once connected to the Internet Radio, you have a whole choices of stations at your disposal. You can choose by locality/region, you can search by entering keywords (by accessing the keyboard) or you can add favourites. While you are browsing for radio stations, you can also search for PodCasts. I couldn’t find every single podcast I subscribe to, but I found a whole lot. I also found that if you want to find a BBC podcast, when you search for podcasts, the list will show you ‘BBC’, and then if you select it, it will reside under it.

Overall, the choice is daunting and impressive. There is pretty much no way anybody with an average human life can consume all that is on offer. Whether you like content produced here, in Japan or in Brazil, there is something for everyone. You can also look for stuff via genre.

Whatever is playing, you get as much info as possible with it. Album Art for music or podcasts, what song is playing, what topic is being discussed, etc.

I ended up listening to a lot of Podcasts using this while I was cooking and tidying up. I should have probably tried to discover more channels, but sadly ended up listening to the stuff I like the most.

Spotify Connect

Another feature built into this device is Spotify Connect. Of course, this is only useful for those who are already actively listening to Spotify. As long as you are using the same WiFi on this as your regular Spotify device, you can use this speaker as a Spotify output device. This means that you don’t need to stay close to the speaker. You can even take phone calls on your phone while the speaker carries on playing music.

The speaker will simply pop up in your list of devices to play music in, on your Spotify app (even accessible via the Spotify website).

The best part for me was that you even see the album art on the screen!

Bluetooth

This is as simple as any other Bluetooth speaker. It simply works.

Speaker Quality

Being a very small device, the speaker on this is just a single speaker. This means that while the sound you can hear is true to what you expect, it won’t blow you away. This does mean that it isn’t quite the party device you may have been craving. However, being portable means it can go with you while you work/tidy up/cook, and that makes it a really good and handy device. Almost has a nostalgic feel to how it does that.

Portability

I quite like how portable this is. All you need is 4 AA batteries. This is a departure from some of the other Pure devices we have looked at in the past, that come with bespoke batteries for the device. This means that you can pretty much take it anywhere in the world, you always have AA batteries!

Pure Elan IR5 – More information

More information on the Pure Elan IR5 can be found on Pure’s website.

It retails for around a £100 and can be bought from various online retailers, including Amazon. It comes in black and white.

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