Q2 Radio Review

Music is a huge part of my life, for a lot of reasons. I have music with me everywhere: I listen to it on my computer, in my car, on my iPhone, and I even have a special waterproof radio that hangs off the showerhead in my bathroom! The only problem with my current setup is that since the demise of my record player and primary CD unit, I listen to most of my music on the computer. Which is great, but that means that I can only hear it in one room – when I work in the rest of the house, I usually don headphones so that I can listen to music while I take care of chores. (I don’t know about you, but there’s no way I’m going to cook and clean the kitchen in silence for hours!) So when I heard about the Q2 wireless radio, I thought this sounded like the perfect solution for me.

The instructions for setting this unit up were sparse, but enough to get me started. I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working at first, but then I realized that it probably needed to charge for a while since this was my first use of it. My deduction was correct, and maybe half an hour later I was able to play my first station via Q2. I just got this radio today so I haven’t run down the battery yet, but it says that it will last between 9-14 hours on a single USB charge. You can only change stations or see the local network connection settings when the Q2 unit is plugged into the computer. It also comes with a wall adapter so that you can charge the unit without a computer. One of the features that I really liked right out of the box was the fact that the wall adapter comes with interchangeable plugs so that it is compatible with sockets in multiple countries – that would be handy if I ever want to take this back to England with me!

The sound on the Q2 is quite clear and loud, considering that this is one relatively small speaker. When you turn the volume up, it really carries the sound well. The radio doesn’t have bany controls, but rather responds to being moved, so you can tilt it up and down to control volume and set it on its front to mute it. You can program up to 4 stations at a time and flip through them by moving the cube onto different sides. I thought this was a neat and simple way of setting up controls, and will be SO much simpler to use when I’m in the kitchen and need to adjust the volume while in the middle of other tasks. (I can’t be the only one who has fumbled with taking off rubber gloves mid-dish-wash to change a song on my MP3 player – with this, you could tilt it with your elbow and not even need hands!)

Initially, I thought that I would be able to use this to play my own music from my computer, but I soon realized that you can only play pre-loaded stations. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a way to listen to my own MP3s or Pandora stations, and I thought that having it restricted to their selection would leave me with a very limited selection of music. However, this was not the case, and I was impressed by the large selection of stations from around the world – 15,000+ stations & podcasts, to be exact! I really love the global selection of stations – with this unit, I can listen to everything from BBC Radio 1 to dance music from Morocco. Of course, you can access global radio via sites like ShoutCast, but this provides simple access to reliable, quality stations that is easy to use and can be enjoyed anywhere in the home that you have Wi-Fi. And although there are a multitude of stations on places like ShoutCast, it can be harder to find ones that I like, so I end up listening to the same select few. The Q2 Radio unit is fantastic for those who, like me, want to quickly locate a station based on a specific genre and get quality results. (I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s on here, but I didn’t have to dig too far to find good stuff – I quickly located a rotation of stations that played music I liked with a minimum of ads.)

And even more exciting, I can now take an endless selection of music with me throughout the house without having to wear headphones. And because there’s so many stations on here that seem to be good, I think it will help keep it from sounding stale, since I can continually change out the selections to hear different songs. I enjoy listening to the radio in order to hear new music, but our local stations get very monotonous, which is why I don’t have a regular radio in the kitchen. This unique radio offers a way to listen to a much larger selection of stations than would be available on your average AM/FM unit, while still having the freedom to play it throughout the house rather than lug your laptop from room to room.

The stations available on Q2 are listed by type, from music to talk/news or even TV audio, and country of origin. You can search for a keyword – for example, when I received this radio, I was listening to a ’90s station on Spotify, so I did a quick search on Q2 and found a multitude of nostalgically good stations to choose from. Within minutes, I was flipping between 90’s alt-rock to Japanese pop to American heavy metal. I’m likely going to be rotating my 4 stations a LOT because there’s so much fun stuff to explore.

I do think this is a fab thing for a music junkie like myself. I’ve always enjoyed listening to radio stations, because it allows me to hear new songs and tunes that I haven’t listened to before, and lets me to go about my business without having to put together a playlist or sit through the same CDs over and over. The main downside to radio for me is that so many stations play the same things nonstop and have obnoxious amounts of ads and talking. From what I have listened to on Q2 so far, there is a great selection of stations that play fairly minimal ads, many of which didn’t appear to have a DJ – they just play music with an occasional ad. Perfect! And of course, there’s plenty of standard stations and talk/sports radio if that’s your thing. And I have to say, I don’t mind listening to ads so much when they are in another language – it’s actually quite interesting!

In closing, I have to say, I think I’m in love with this unique little radio. I have a feeling I’ll be using this almost every day, since I can use it to listen to music while I’m putting on makeup, working in the kitchen, dusting, doing physiotherapy, and so on!

The Q2 Radio is available at a variety of retailers, from Amazon to Radio Shack, where it is on sale for $99 through the end of this month. You’ll also want to check out their Facebook page, as they have a giveaway running currently!