At first glance we were a little taken aback at the design of the iRadio. Instead of modern-day minimalism, its white steel exterior and silver buttons carry a 1950's feel. The speaker is also quite small which made us wonder how much volume it could produce. More on that later.

Setting up the Terratec Noxon iRadio is straightforward. To access internet radio it'll need to be connected to a network. Connecting wirelessly means entering WEP or WPA details into the radio (unless no wireless security is enabled). A network socket on the back means direct connection to a router. Streaming mp3, WMA and DRM-protected WMA music files from a computer means installing a small UPnP server application on the PC.

After a few simple configurations we were ready to, quite literally, rock. Internet radio stations were quickly found, displaying the country of origin and genre on the large LCD screen. Five internet radio stations can be saved as favourites and accessed by buttons on the iRadio's front panel.

While the screen may be larger than average, the text is small and difficult to read from afar, which is a disappointment considering it comes with a remote control. Not much use when trying to read from the sofa across the room.

On the other hand, sound quality was impressive. Although not loud enough to get an Asbo warning, the Noxon iRadio easily filled a medium-sized. Bass response was also consistent with the volume.

As previously mentioned, the iRadio can stream music from the PC. Again, the sound was very clear but we were disappointed to see that it doesn't support Apple's AAC audio format, which means music bought form iTunes won't work. However, the lightweight design of this stereo does make it easy to transport from room to room.

Other features include a line out socket for hooking up to larger sound systems and a headphone socket for private listening. It works on both PC and Mac computers and can be firmware updated as and when new updates are releases.

The £145 price tag seems steep but it's one of the cheaper ways to free internet radio and music from a computer to other parts of the house.

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