Grace Digital Mondo Elite Alto Smart Internet Radio, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 7-Day Alarm – Microphone Free (Walnut)

It arrived yesterday (in Indiana) and this morning, I was awoken to my favorite station (Classic FM in the UK) right on time for the first time in more than 6 months, since my Aluratek lost all its stations.The only bad part was trying to put in the password for my router. That's it. Other than the password, the interface is pretty intuitive and there many options to dig around into. (Hint: LONG PRESS on the knob changes the virtual keyboard on screen.)When you first connect to the internet, it will update its software. THIS WILL TAKE A WHILE. LEAVE IT TO DO ITS THING. I only wish it came with an Ethernet port. (USB to Ethernet adapter, was supposed to arrive first, but still 4 days away. I understand I could connect to my 5GHz band, but that password would be nightmare to enter on this interface, lol. I tried a USB keyboard, but this unit would only recognize the numerals not even letters. Sad face.)For me, the sound is pretty good (compared to my old Aluratek), but I bought it for the functionality, not the sound. Also the vertical form factor is nice because it takes up less space on my nightstand. There a horizontal model that includes a Qi charger, but this one takes up less space, which was more important for me with a small nightstand. The vertical one is also less considerably less money. (It also takes up less real estate than the model it's replacing, see photo.)There is also a phone app, "Grace Elite Remote" which lets you control power, volume and other very basic functions.Again, my needs may be different from yours. I just want to be woken up in Indiana by a radio station in London.

I wanted an internet radio for my bathroom, because Los Angeles radio is just the worst. After much research, I purchased this one and I am very happy that I did. It is everything that I wanted in an internet radio: easy setup, station history, and great sound. And it looks impressive, with a large screen and speaker. The only thing I would change about the design are the control knobs, which I feel could protrude at half the size they are and still be easy to use. It is a bit pricey, but nice things usually are a little expensive. It's not about the price, it's whether it's a good value.

This is my 4th Grace Digital radio and 3rd model. The large number of available internet stations and podcasts, and the number of builtin 3rd party services makes this a very capable radio. You can also add your own streams using the manufacturers website. The radio supports 100 presets.I read some of the negative reviews and I think they are due to a misunderstanding of what this device is. Amazon lists it as a "speaker" and not a "radio". If all you want is a "speaker", then it's true that there are cheaper options. But if you're interested in a "radio", you won't find anything better. The brand costs more than the others, but you get what you pay for.Many manufacturers were burned by the Reciva shutdown, and many migrated to Skytunes instead, which makes them dependent on another 3rd party aggregator. Grace Digital invested in developing its own firmware and aggregator database, so their radios are no longer dependent on 3rd parties. Grace also continues to improve the firmware and adds new features, so the radios are well supported.For those complaining about lack of Android, well, this isn't a cellphone and it isn't meant to be an Android device. You can't add your own apps, but do look at the number of services that are included natively with the radio. There are several and you can use the radio without a dependency on a cellphone. If you're hooked on your cellphone then this product isn't for you.Chromescast is included as a bonus, but using it is optional. The radio operates just fine as a standalone, but you have the option of casting from a phone app if you choose. If you have a Google Home device or a Google Assistant device like a cellphone, you can operate the radio by using voice commands. The radio itself does not have a microphone so it cannot listen to you. But using it via the Google environment limits the radio in my opinion. I find that the radio has more usefulness working in the Grace Digital environment. Grace does have a very useful and easy to use cellphone/tablet app that you can use to control the radio, and it also comes with a remote and batteries for the remote.For those questioning the speaker quality, it's worth noting that most streams are low quality to begin with, and even the best speakers won't sound good with a low bitrate stream. That's the nature of streaming.The radio can store connection information for multiple WiFi sources, and the radio connects very quickly. The antenna is builtin so there are no cumbersome external antennas. The alarm and sleep timer functions have many options.For the price, if you want a radio, you can't do better.

For $150, this purchase is a no brainer. This is my third purchase of Grace Digital Internet radios and all have served me well. I use this primarily to listen to USA radio stations and SiriusXM channels. I have also loaded up a tiny thumb drive with about 24gb of M4A songs and plugged it into the Alto. They were recognized and available to play almost immediately. There are only two suggestions I would have for improvement. First, since it allows up to 100 presets, I would like to be able to “surf” them using the remote control. As far as I can tell, the remote only allows you to select the first 10 presets without having to look at the display. The other 90 presets require pressing the “Presets” button on the main unit or a long press on ”OK” on the remote followed by a short press on “OK”. Second, when playing songs from a USB stick, I wish it had a “shuffle” feature. Regardless, the Alto is an excellent value purchase of yet another quality system from Grace Digital.