I'm torn on this radio. On one hand, it's one of the best AM/FM radios being made today. However, that's not saying a lot as the radios being made today are far from the what the 1980's gave us (top of the line units, to be specific).

I love that it preserves separate bass/treble controls, has a very nice LED dial light and the digital AM/FM reception is very good. I love that it gives stereo out via the line out/headphone 3.5mm jack. It even feels of decent quality. Perhaps not top quality, but decent.

However, the sound out of the single 5" speaker leaves a lot to be desired. It's obviously designed for talk radio and music was an afterthought. I have single speaker radios from the 80's that sound far better than this one in terms of music playback (and about equal on talk radio). For the price of $100 I was expecting better sound. However, if you do not listen to music or you just want something playing in the background then the sound should suit you well. You can always hook it to an external stereo speaker and with that FM stereo sounds great. But that somewhat defeats the purpose of a smaller portable radio or "boombox" if you have to hook it to an external speaker.

I'd love to see C. Crane take this to the next level and give us a 2 speaker stereo version of this radio (or even keep it mono but add in a tweeter with the 5" driver for better music playback). Most radios/boomboxes being made today are junk and with the bones of this radio and a slight tweak to the amp and speakers they could have something a lot of us still desire...a proper and quality modern boombox with a focus on AM/FM (and perhaps integrated bluetooth).

I initially was going to return it because I didn't see much improvement, if any, in AM reception between the Ep Pro versus my old GE Superadio 3, Sony ICF-19 and the Panasonic RF-2400D.

Build: Seems solidly built... but will it last 40+ years like other radios I have? Dial position is very accurate, smooth and easy to rotate as are all the knobs on this radio. Nice power and light switches. Nice handle. Nice lighted dial even though I rarely turn on the light. Whip antenna is a bit flimsey but I rarely use it because I'm an AM guy.

Reception: This radio has great reception but not so great that it's a clear winner over my other portables. The fine tuning knob does give it an edge in extremely far off stations, the furthest I've got so far is about 800 miles, but I can also pick those stations up with the Panasonic RF-2400D and the Sony ICF-19 and my old GE Superadio 3. One good thing about the DSP tuning is that it holds a station better than my old GE SR3 (analog tuning), much less fade. It also locks onto stations faster than my RF-2400D and especially the ICF-19 which is quite slow at getting tuned, both of those are also DSP radios. The wide/narrow switch is nice to have, I usually leave it on narrow. FM on the EP PRO is so good that in most cases you shouldn't have to use the whip antenna. I haven't hooked up external antennas so I can't report on that.

Audio: GREAT audio sound quality, clear, great bass and treble range and great control with seperate bass/treble knobs. Sound is perfect. This radio doesn't have a high volume, I believe it is made for intimate listening and it does not get as loud as most radios in this category when turned up high, but it does sound very good. Btw, they advertise this as a 5" speaker, it is NOT, it is 4". It also looks to be a "dual cone" speaker instead of having a seperate tweeter but the radio does sound good and has plenty of highs and lows especially for talk radio. Even though I don't normally listen to this radio with headphones I was amazed at how this radio SHINES through my Sony Studio MDR-V6 headphones.

Battery life: I only run it on batteries because it cuts noise down on most radios although this radio is just as quiet with the wall-wart. Being an AM guy and having to reposition the radio often, it's easier to run with batteries instead of dealing with a power cord. I'm using an old set of EBL 10,000 mah NiMH rechargables, battery life is about 3 weeks at 4-6 hours each day, which I think is good.

Value: I think it's over-priced. It's not 3.5 times better than my $30 radios, but is about two times better. I think $60 would be fair but not $100. If this radio was priced at $60 I would have given it 5 stars instead of 4.

Conclusion: I picked this radio over the C. Crane 2E because I wanted a radio that would last, I didn't want an LCD display burning out, buttons failing, etc. I wanted simple. I think I got most of what I wanted but the cost is too high for the reception I got. You can get 95% of the reception for 1/3 the cost with the Sony and Panasonic that I talked about. The best thing with this radio is the sound quality, fine tune knob, and the wide/narrow switch.

I really love this radio. If you enjoy listening to radio stations that are far away, this set is for you. It's got great sound with bass & treble controls, and a bandwidth switch for AM radio. It has a fine tuning knob that helps bring in distant stations. Check out all the great reviews.

I have always liked C. Crane. Portable and good quality.

I received this radio for my birthday in 2022 and I do believe it is the latest iteration of this model.

I've been looking for a "GE Superadio" replacement for the last few years. Since this radio is fairly pricey, doesn't receive the best reviews, and has DSP tuning I've held off. However, I finally gave in last year. After 7 months of use, I would say that I'm very satisfied with its performance. The audio is clear, has great fidelity and can be adjusted as desired. It is also pretty loud. I'm not sure if it's quite as loud as my GE Superadio III, but it's sufficient for my needs.

I've had DSP tuned radios on and off for the last several years and have never cared for them. This radio is different. This radio does DSP well. Sure, I miss scanning thru the AM band with a true analog radio and fine tuning the stations for optimal reception but I've come to appreciate the precise tuning of this radio. You're either on frequency or you're not. The cheaper DSP tuned radios will have 2 or 3 channels that pull in the same station. This radio does not do that. It tunes 520, then 530, then 540, then 550, etc without any "in-betweens". I think that the cheaper radios tune at both 9 and 10kHz increments through the band and that causes the off-freq reception. This radio solves that problem with a dedicated switch on the back. So I'd say that CCrane successfully implemented DSP tuning on this model. The ONLY thing I don't like about it is the "soft muting" that occurs when quickly scanning thru the band. You will not hear when you come across a strong signal. If they can solve this problem, I will officially run out of reasons to not like DSP tuning.

The radio a number of controls for tweaking the signal and audio, which I greatly appreciate. The AM bandwidth control is a nice touch, even though I generally leave it on narrow band. Wide band just brings in a little too much noise unless you have a solid signal. The fine tuning knob on the side does get a big more use from me and makes a difference with the weaker stations. I don't use it so much for tuning in the station as I do for tuning out noise.

Lastly, let's talk about battery life. I'm very impressed with the battery life on this radio. I'd say it's probably the best of all my radios. I don't think I've ever changed the batteries in this radio since I installed them 7 months ago. That said, for the sake of this review, I just checked all the batteries (Energizer Max) my tester and all are showing well into the green. I attribute this to a very simple and efficient design, as well as a power switch that completely cuts power off to the radio when not in use. With digital radios, there is always the slighted drain on the batteries for the "soft" power switch.

In conclusion, if you're looking for a good but simple radio that replaces the GE Superadio III from 20 years ago, or an emergency radio for your preparedness, or just another quality radio for your collection (like me), look no further. I think, in most cases, any enthusiast would be more than satisfied with the purchase of this model.