The Albergo+ is a solid, comfortable-sounding DAB/FM radio alarm.
It seems to be aimed squarely at the hotel market (at least that’s what we infer from a glance at the product page on Tivoli’s website), with the emphasis on ease of use and a mellow sound.
Tivoli is convinced that such strengths ought to translate to the domestic situation as well. And it’s probably right.
Design
So what do you get for your £200? A nicely constructed, solid (if a little plasticky) unit in a choice of five finishes: blue, red and green have recently been added to the white and graphite in the shops from launch.
There are FM and DAB tuners, and Bluetooth streaming to go along with a 3.5mm input, and a credit-card style remote control unit.
There’s also the facility to add another speaker (£80) to create a neat little stereo system.
And Tivoli is right: this is a simple-to-use, intuitive unit. Pull up the telescopic aerial, push the button on the top to get things going, select your input and away it goes, scanning the airwaves for stations.
Sound quality
The sound is typical of a good radio – weighted to the midrange to enhance the human voice. It has surprisingly meaty bass for a compact box – indeed we found the need to fiddle with the settings to dial this down a little.
Treble is clean, clear and nicely balanced. But it’s the midrange that draws the listener’s attention.
The controls on the front are clearly labelled and carry out the major functions of tuning, source input and alarm setting. The remote control carries out the other, more tweaky stuff.
This works perfectly well as a control system, but it does mean you’ll have to be careful not to lose the slim remote control. Without it, you will have no access to the station presets or the tone controls, for example.
And you will probably want to have a tinker to get the unit sounding right for you – we found there was a definite thickness in the lower/mid area.
You’ll soon find you can have too much of a chocolatey velvety sound. Tone things down a bit with the controls, though, and you’ll be able to hunker down for a good long session.
The Bluetooth function works nicely. Set-up is simple and the sound is consistent with what we found with radio reception.
Verdict
There’s much to like with the Albergo+. Its problem is that there are rivals out there that sound as good but are cheaper, or have more features for the same price.
This neat unit deserves to be on a shortlist, though. Its mellow tones might be just what you’re looking for.
MORE: Best DAB radios
