I’m in the process of writing up a review of the C. Crane CCRadio-EP Pro, but a number of readers have been asking about how pronounced muting is between frequencies while band scanning.
To be clear, the CCRadio-EP Pro is not a true analog set like the original CCRadio-EP (even though it looks like an analog set). The EP Pro is based on the Silicon Labs SI4734 DSP chip, hence the frequency steps in 10 kHz increments and are not fluid/seamless as they would on analog sets.
Muting is more pronounced on the AM broadcast band than it is on the FM band. Here are two video demonstrations:
AM Band Scanning
Click here to view on YouTube.
FM Band Scanning
Click here to view on YouTube.
The audio “pop” that I note (when the CCRadio-EP Pro is first turned on) is bit annoying and can even be heard in nearby radios if they’re on. While doing my comparisons with the Sony ICF-5500W and the Tecsun PL-660, for example, the audio pop could be heard in both units as I turned on the EP Pro. I’m willing to bet this is only prevalent in the DSP chip version of the EP series.
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Click here to check out the CCRadio-EP Pro on C. Crane’s website.
Yeah, this set looks like a real stinker. I’m surprised C Crane is actually releasing it as it is. Maybe one day these analog style DSP chips will tune in much smaller frequency increments and have a higher response time for each one you come across. Maybe then these types of radios can start to compare more favorably to analog tuned sets. And not including a companion digital frequency readout with the analog style tuning scale on a DSP radio like this is simply shortchanging radio consumers.
At the price point of the EP Pro one could easily get a radio that’s more fun, or one that sounds better or is much better at scanning across the dial. The magic that apparently made the original EP a minor radio classic is certainly gone here. Those quick scans across the AM and FM band in these videos were just embarrassing.
This doesn’t look like an improvement over the original EP, but a compromise – and a fall from analog to digital. The irony is, the EP’s greatest strength beside the CCRadio 2E was its genuine analog-smooth scanning ability. In every other way, the 2E is superior. I had come to prefer the EP over it for purely ergonomical reasons, because it’s such a pleasure to use. But no longer. The EP Pro appears to be a clumsy set. I’m so glad I’ve kept my original EP!
I wish they could have just reissued the previous CCRadio-EP with a 5″ speaker.
Ugh.