Tangent Quattro

The basics

Tangent Quattro is an Internet radio that was built solidly and is powered by Linux. Aside from its solid feel, Quattro has a single speaker embedded on top of the unit, which produces its rich sound. The user can opt to connect to the Internet through the wireless Ethernet adapter that was built into the unit.

The good

This clock radio couldn't look more retro if it grew gills and wriggled back into the sea. The only thing that's not retro is its ability to access Internet. With both Wi-Fi and Ethernet options, hooking up to our home network took us mere minutes, and before we knew it we were grooving to Guatemalan techno. The Quattro we tested was both solid and stylish, with a handsome walnut finish, but most importantly the sound quality was impressive with some reassuringly deep and well-balanced bass.

The bad

Firstly, where's the DAB radio? And for some reason the Tangent didn't include a remote control, so volume adjustment and the like has to be performed the old-fashioned way. And that, in our books, is almost as annoying as Joe Pasquale.

The bottom line

One for fans of hi-tech retro kit, the Quattro is supremely stylish and kicks out top audio quality. Shame that Tangent forgot about the DAB and remote control.