It is difficult for any device to be all things to all people. Yet one has to admire China’s Shenzhen Chaoyuan Technology Company for trying. Their LC90 portable radio does its best to do it all:
- Internet radio/podcast/streaming audio playback supported by Wi-Fi/4G LTE (cellular network) connectivity
- Wireless speaker connectivity via Bluetooth to smartphones and tablets
- MP3 playback from insertable Micro-SD cards
- A built-in microphone to support voice-activated searches for internet stations and podcasts
- An onboard 5000mAh rechargeable battery (two replaceable 18650 cells) that can provide up to 48 hours of play time, accessed by a USB C port
- Numeric backlit keypad that provides direct access to AM, FM, longwave (LW) and shortwave (SW) radio frequencies (regular AM reception and Single Side Band)
- Frequency scanning for detecting stations quickly
- The ability to save ‘favorite stations’ for fast access later
- Big backlit LCD screen
All of this is packed into a solid portable radio format unit weighing about 1.4 pounds and measuring 7.9 x 4.8 x 1.6 inches. It is available on Amazon.com and other websites for $249.
I should mention that the LC90 has a 15W two-way speaker system with a silk dome tweeter, a bass driver and a low-frequency diaphragm; a 38-inch telescoping whip and a 3.5 mm external antenna jack for improved reception; and large aluminum alloy knobs for main and fine-tuning, alongside Auto Tuning Storage (ATS) for FM stations.
Clearly, there are a lot of features packed into the Choyong LC90. And that may be the problem.
Unlike any other radio I have tested, the LC90 is wildly inconsistent in its operations. In a nutshell, the internet radio/streaming audio is fabulous. The FM is fine. But the AM and SW — I didn’t test LW, since I have no LW stations in my area — is too poor to be usable. Both bands are incredibly noisy, insensitive and yet prone to overloading even on the whip antenna.
The Good
Accessing online radio stations and podcasts using a portable radio form factor has always been a problem. There are tens of thousands of stations and podcasts available, which makes tuning to one using a conventional radio dial simply out of the question.
In its place, internet radios usually provide some form of interactive text-based map system, which you click your way through by country or genre. It’s slow, clunky and frustrating.
The Choyong LC90 dispenses with this misery by allowing you to search for streaming content using your voice. That’s right: Push a few buttons, and the unit prompts you to speak into the microphone with your query.
And you don’t have to be specific. Being a fan of Old-Time Radio, I asked the LC90 to find “The Jack Benny Show” and “The Whistler,.” the classic twist-at-the-end suspense show. It responded with numerous clickable (and savable) options on its LCD screen.
Once I accessed either of these shows, the audio content was clear and consistent. Granted, such audio quality ultimately depends on the website serving the content. My point here is that the LC90 never gets in the way: If the source that is streaming the audio is high quality, so is the sound on the LC90.
The takeaway: The Choyong LC90 is by far the best designed, easiest-to-use portable internet radio/podcast player I’ve used. The fact that you can even use a 4G LTE sim card to connect it to your wireless carrier is an added plus. This is truly streaming audio on the move.
As for FM? The LC90 is a quality FM stereo receiver with high fidelity sound and good signal sensitivity. As a one-two punch combination — streaming audio player and FM radio — the LC90 can’t be beat. (Note: Given that this is Radio World, I did not worry about testing the Bluetooth speaker and Micro-SD music playback.)
The Bad
Having been so impressed by the LC90’s performance so far, I was prepared to be similarly wowed by its AM and SW performance.
Alas, that was not to be. The LC90’s digital subsystems generate so much internal RF noise that the analog front end is overwhelmed, particularly on AM and shortwave, where signal margins are already narrow.
A hint at the problem can be found in the LC90’s manual. It reads as follows:
“Q: Why is the medium-wave reception performance relatively weak? A: Due to the interference of LCD, the medium-wave reception performance of this radio is indeed a bit weak. You can pull out the telescopic antenna to enhance the reception performance of MW (we have designed a circuit to enhance the reception of MW with telescopic antenna), or try it outdoors to see if the medium-wave reception of this radio is really defective. Indoors, we still recommend connecting to Wi-Fi to listen to online radio.”
In my case, the LC90 only picked up two powerhouse local AM stations on 580 and 1200, both of which were plagued by buzzing, hissing noise. On SW, it was worse: The 1200 station was heard as a harmonic on 2400 kHz, while the Canadian time station CHU on 3330 kHz, located about a mile from me, bled all over the upper bands. (CHU is scheduled to be shut down as I write.)
Very few stations managed to fight their way through, such as Radio Martí. Those that did suffered from the LC90 overloading on the aforementioned AM and SW signals, while being distorted by the noise that was on every channel. And this was on the whip antenna! When I plugged the LC90 into my attic-mounted 75-foot longwire antenna, the overloading and harmonics got even worse.
I was so stunned by these problems that I recorded the radio’s SW performance on my phone and sent the video to the manufacturer in case I had a faulty unit. But apparently I did not: “These are some issues with the machine; we have integrated numerous functions that affect reception across the frequency bands,” said the reply I received. “We currently have no solution for this.”
The Verdict
The fact that the LC90’s AM and SW bands are so poor as to be barely usable is not necessarily a reason to avoid this radio. After all, many car manufacturers want to drop AM from their vehicles for the same reasons, namely that the dense digital electronics consumers demand now generate interference that legacy analog AM systems were never designed to tolerate.
Now I am not saying that I agree with this position, but I am aware of it. I can acknowledge that SW is measurably far less popular than AM. So, if given a choice between providing consumers with a superb streaming media player or a good SW radio, I can understand why the LC90 has been built to put streaming audio first.
So here is my split decision. If you want a portable audio device that connects to internet radio, podcast and other streaming media in a manner that is almost ridiculously user-friendly, by all means buy the LC90. It is like having a car with an automatic transmission when all other options are manual.
If FM is your priority, the LC90 is fine, though you can get the same performance from a cheaper radio that doesn’t access the web.
Finally, if AM and/or SW are your preferred bands, the LC90 is not for you. Of every radio I have used, down to the cheapest and most primitive, the LC90 is the worst on these bands.
That said, AM and SW are not Choyong’s radio priorities. Streaming audio and FM are. Given the preferences of 21st century audio consumers and the realities of mass-market sales, I can see why they made the choices they did.
