Grace Digital Mondo Elite Classic Smart Internet Radio Bluetooth Wi-Fi Qi-Wireless Fast Charger 7-Day Alarm – Microphone-Free (Walnut)

This is my fourth Grace radio, starting many years ago with their first model. This one has much to recommend it over the predecessors.1. It is heaver. This is important for me as the radio is on my bedside table. With all the previous radios if I would lean over from the bed to press a preset or the power button, often the whole radio would slide on the table and make it necessary I use a hand to hold the radio steady. This may seem to be a minor point but it is important on the basis of daily use and convenience.2. It is more attractive with the wood appearance instead of plastic. Also the buttons are now easier to read because of the contrast of black on light tan instead of the prior gray on black. These improvements make the radio much more functional and easy to use.3. The Mondo Elite models now integrate Pandora, as the earliest models did. The previous model, the Mondo , allows casting Pandora to the radio from a smartphone or other source but the absence of an integrated Pandora is not user-friendly. Grace indicated it was a major effort to add Pandora to the Mondo Elite due to complex coding. I asked tech support if they were going to add Pandora to the Mondo models but they did not reply to this question.4. The sound quality is rich but has too much bass for my 69-year-old ears. I adjusted the sound with the equalizer which helped some. Still I prefer the sound of the plastic models. Again, this is probably due to hearing loss or changes that occur when one ages.5. The interface is very much like previous Grace radios, especially the Mondo . Grace has added functionality in many small ways. I especially like how easy it is now to quickly adjust the sleep time with the large button on top.6. The wireless charger is a bonus. It was not a determining factor in my decision to purchase the radio but since it is present I do use it.7. I like the opportunity to set separate alarms for each day of the week, plus weekend and weekdays. Previously one could just set them for weekends and weekdays. One option that I use is to set overlapping alarms. If I want to get up at 7:00am to my local NPR station, say, I set an alarm for 6:50 for a new age channel at soft volume. I also set an alarm at 7:00 at normal volume. Then I awake gently.All in all, this is the best Grace radio I have owned. [...]