The WFT3 is the latest Hi-Fi tuner from Sangean.
Sangean have been giving the world wonderful radio sets for the last 42
years and the WFT3 doesn't disappoint.
Whilst the WFT3 cannot be described as an Audiophile device the tuner
does provide much functionality which makes the tuner a great purchase
if you already have a Hi-Fi tuner and are considering upgrading to a
tuner able to connect to Internet radio, music streaming services such
as Radiotunes and Spotify along with DAB/DAB+ Digital Radio and FM.
Owners of a music collection accessible via a computer or Home network -
as well as on a USB Stick - will appreciate the WFT3's Music player
function.
The WFT3 connects as any other Hi-Fi tuner does, through RCA analogue
outputs which are then connected to a line-in or Aux-In input of an
amplifier and its here that connections become one of the WFT3's great
points, along with the standard analogue RCA connections there are two
digital connections - coax and optical - for digital connection to a DAC
or an amplifier equipped with digital inputs, well done Sangean for
including this feature which allows the user to listen to radio or music
at the maximum quality possible.
Along with the digital and analogue connections you will find a Wi-Fi
antenna, RJ45 socket for a wired connection to a LAN and a telescopic
aerial for Digital Radio and FM, note the telescopic aerial can be
removed and a F connecting cable used if you have an outdoor antenna
arrangement.
The layout of the controls on the front panel is typically Sangean, a
row of buttons on the top row which allow for navigation of menus and
special functions and a rrow of memory preset buttons below that though
the two rows of 7 buttons do include some extra function buttons which
will be described later.
One interesting point here is the location of the power on/off button,
in most Hi-Fi tuners you will find this button to the left on the front
panel but in the case of the WFT3 the power button is the right most
button on the top row located just to the left of the large select jog
dial, on the left hand side is the headphones socket, the USB memory
stick socket and the remote control sensor.
When the WFT3 is powered up for the first time the Setup Wizard is run
and its from here the WFT3 is connected to your Network, time
adjustments made and so on, sighted assistance will be required to
navigate through the Setup Wizard but once all settings have been made
the user can use the Undok App to search for and browse radio stations,
read displayed content of FM/DAB stations and so on.
Presets are easily set by holding the appropriate preset button for 3
seconds, the station you're listening to is stored for that preset
button and can be recalled by briefly pressing that button.
The WFT3 has 30 presets in total, 10 for Digital Radio, 10 for FM and 10
for Internet radio though only the first 5 presets for each band can be
accessed via the front panel, all ten presets for each band can be
accessed from either the included infra red remote controller or via the
Undok Controller App for IOS and Android.
The WFT3 is the first Hi-Fi tuner I've seen with a headphones socket and
a welcome addition this is, great for private listening. The volume of
the headphones con be controlled by two buttons to the right of the 5
preset buttons on the front panel, they control volume down and up
respectively, the mute button for the headphones is found to the left of
the power button.
Like other Sangean Internet connected equipment the WFT3 has various EQ
presets which can be set via the menu system or the Undok App, these EQ
settings only work through the headphones and not through the Digital or
Analogue outputs, the user can also adjust the bass and treble for the
headphones manually.
The sensitivity of the Digital radio didn't disappoint and the WFT3
started scanning for DAB+ stations as soon as the Tuner was switched to
the DAB+ band.
The great feature here for DAB+ is that now a user without sight can
activate a scan of the DAB+ band with a simple push of a button on the
remote controller at any time.
I've not yet tested the tuner on the FM band and I'm a little
disappointed that the WFT3 doesn't have separate antenna connections for
DAB+ and FM bands but this is - after all - not a professional grade
Hi-Fi tuner in the class of the Yamaha TD500D or Cambridge Audio 600T
So at $400 Australian is the Sangean WFT3 good value? Most certainly.
I've deliberately kept this review short and tried to keep it straight
to the point, the WFT3 can perform many functions so by all means ask me
questions and I'll answer where I can.
