The Sangean DPR-34+ is one of the few pocket-size rechargeable digital radios currently available in Australia. The others are the slightly cheaper Lenoxx PR30DAB and MP3-oriented iriver B30. I was hoping the post-Christmas sales would reduce the Sangean's RRP of $189, but the best I could do was 15% off at Myer. I now have a very expensive small radio, but I expect it will prove its worth.
I wake up to the news on ABC NewsRadio. When federal Parliament is in session NewsRadio broadcasts the Parliamentary debates, leading to some occasions where I am not roused from my slumber. However, the NewsRadio news coverage continues to be transmitted online and via digital radio. Today was the first sitting of Parliament for the year, and the first chance for me to listen to the NewsRadio news coverage over the air and get the benefits of switching to digital, and it worked a treat. If you don't have such specific needs as me, then digital radio probably doesn't have much to offer yet.
Community radio stations are not yet available on digital. You can check WIkipedia to see exactly which stations are broadcasting. For example, this listing of Perth stations has an asterisk next to those on digital. Apparently community stations will be on air in the middle of 2010.
One of the benefits of digital radio is that you don't need to search for stations, but can instead select them from a list of station names. This list is only updated when you explicitly request a scan, a process which takes about 30 seconds on the Sangean. Potentially a listener could miss out on a new station because there is no way for them to know that new stations are available. Given the ease with which radio networks can restructure their stations - they can split their allotted bandwidth however they want, into many low bitrate (talk) stations, or few high bitrate music stations - this could happen quite often.
Regarding the Sangean DPR-34+ itself, it is a well-built unit that fits comfortably into the hand. The seemingly delicate aerial swivels handily, and provides such good reception within my house (10km from the centre of Perth) that it often does not need to be extended. Reception is better than FM, but not quite as good as AM. Audio quality, conversely, is better than AM but worse than FM. This is a choice made by the broadcasters as to what bitrate to transmit at, and stations range from 48 kb/s up to 80kb/s AAC.
The internal lithium battery is supposedly good enough for up to 15 hours listening, but I haven't reached that time yet. Recharging fully takes about 4 hours, but if you recharge with the radio off then there is no display indicating that recharging is happening or whether it is complete. The recharging is done via an AC adapter, but I would have preferred a standard micro-USB charger, as used in mobile phones.
At very low volumes (up to step 3 of 32) the internal speaker emits a buzz in DAB mode, but not in FM mode. That volume is too low to hear anything via external phones, so I don't consider it more than a minor problem. Far more annoying was the buzz that I often heard when listening to Newsradio via my AM clock radio. Digital radio completely eliminates interference of that nature.
I should note that using digital radios for listening to live sporting events may present a problem. The Sangean packaging contained a large red notice that sounds are delayed by a number of seconds, and that you should take the radio back if this would be a problem. I'll test this out at the football later this year to see how much of a distraction this causes.
For my needs, the Sangean DPR-34+ is ideal. It's compact and doesn't churn through disposable batteries. However, its biggest benefit is that I get to listen to a radio station that is otherwise unavailable. If you don't have such a need, then I recommend waiting until prices fall further.
Updated 4-Apr-2010: I have now tested the radio at the football, and found that it has a 4 second delay. This was annoying enough that I preferred a lower-quality AM broadcast. It is possible that the broadcasters may be able to reduce this delay slightly, but fundamental aspects of DAB+, such as forward error correction, make some delay inevitable.