NEWS – Back in 2012, I reviewed the Grace Digital Mondo Wi-Fi Music Player and Internet Radio and liked it a lot. Say what you will about the viability of internet radios in today’s world of smartphone radio apps, the still popular Mondo is available from Grace Digital as the improved Mondo+. Grace has now gone a step further and made an improved retro/traditional looking version of the Mondo—the Mondo+ Classic wireless internet radio. This radio looks like a cross between the original Mondo+ and the newer Encore+ Wi-Fi speaker and internet radio.
Like the Mondo+, the Mondo+ Classic comes with access to over 100,000 internet radio stations as well as Bluetooth and Chromecast. The Classic can be controlled via the front panel, an included infrared remote or even the Grace Digital smartphone app. It doubles as a bedside alarm clock with 5 custom settings, snooze and sleep timers and daytime/nighttime back-lit display.
Despite its small size, an integrated Class D 25 watt amplifier with 4” full range speaker delivers deep bass and crisp highs. Customize the sound from 5 preset equalizer settings or modify the bass and treble to your personal taste. Supported audio formats include AIFF, AIFC, WAVE, CAF, NeXT, ADTS, MP3, AAC/ACC+, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, WMA. A 3.5” full color backlit LCD display shows relevant station info as well as album art and artist and song data.
The built in apps include iHeartRadio, CBS radio, BBC, NPR, SiriusXM (subscription required), sleep sounds, Calm radio, SHOUTcast, Live365, and podcasting. Play Amazon Prime music, iTunes and any other music via Bluetooth 4.1. It works with 802.11b/g/n routers (Amazon music app will be embedded in January 2019). Available via the smartphone app is Pandora, TuneIn, Google play, Spotify, YouTube music, BBC, NPR and hundreds of others. The Mondo+ Classic can also be connected to a PC, Mac or NAS drive.
Because of the Chromecast built-in function, you can group the Mondo+ Classic with any of Grace Digital’s speakers that have built-in Chromecast for flexible and custom audio everywhere in the home. You can connect an external audio device to the line in jacks, or connect the Mondo+ Classic to your home stereo via the line output jacks. You can also charge your smart phone via a USB jack or a 10 watt Qi charging pad on top of the radio!
The Grace Mondo+ Classic wireless internet radio comes in both black or walnut wood grain finish. It is available now and sells for $249.99 US. Visit Grace Digital for more information.
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I am an Internet Radio junkie, and I currently have four Internet radios in my home, from the old Logitech Squeezebox to a Grace Digital Mondo+. All of them are fairly reliable, have good tone (Squeezebox is great), but my favorites are the Mondo+ and the Ocean Digital model. This radio looks very intriguing with the old style, but it’s also far above the price I’ve paid for any of mine, so I’ll have to pass on it. Still, if you’re interested in the wide world of internet broadcasting, take a look around and don’t be afraid to try them out. The content available is amazing!