Pure International Ltd., formerly Pure Digital and stylised PURE, is a British consumer electronics company focused on audio, based in Kings Langley. Founded in 2002, they are best known for designing and manufacturing DAB and DAB+ digital radios, having been considered a pioneer of digital radio. In recent years the company has diversified with more broad-based audio products in the radio, Bluetooth and wireless speaker market. Pure also produces audio products under the Braun brand under license.
Launch and company history
The Pure brand was launched in October 2001 by VideoLogic Systems, a subsidiary of Imagination Technologies which primarily designed central processing units and graphics processing units. This first product was the Pure DRX-601EX, which was claimed as the "world's first portable digital radio". This receiver had a retro style visually appealing design, although it was priced high at £499. Imagination did not originally set out to sell consumer electronics and the first Pure radio was merely a demonstration platform for its DAB decoding chip. Imagination's then CEO, Hossein Yassaie, was later knighted for his "services to technology and innovation" in 2013. Following a highly successful market trial between VideoLogic and the Digital Radio Development Bureau, the company worked on building the first mass market sub-£100 DAB receiver. This was released on 31 July 2002, the Pure Evoke-1, a portable kitchen radio with a wooden style medium-density fibreboard case and 60s style speaker grille. Concurrently, VideoLogic renamed itself to Pure Digital. The Evoke-1 sold out within three hours of launch, and during the remainder of the year Pure Digital struggled to meet demands due to high popularity. It helped take off DAB digital radio in the UK.
Pure celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2012 with a brand revamp. The company had been losing money after 2009. Parent company Imagination Technologies sold Pure in September 2016 to Austrian investment company AVenture AT for a sum of £2.6 million. It also resulted in the renaming of Pure Digital to Pure International. Pure acquired the license for Braun Audio from Braun, a division of Procter & Gamble. In 2019 Pure launched the Braun Audio range of design speakers, referencing the LE1 speakers designed by u7656ut.
Products
Evoke
The original Pure Evoke-1 featured a 3-inch single loudspeaker, a small display and six preset buttons for storing favourite stations. An optional second speaker add-on unit could be added to output stereo. Following its success, in September 2003, Pure released the next generation Evoke-2, which added an extra stereo speaker built-in (therefore increasing the unit size), as well as analogue FM radio capability and the ability to power it through batteries in addition to mains. In 2004, Pure released the Evoke-1XT, an update of the Evoke-1. It has a white-on-blue coloured display now instead of black-on-green, adds a kitchen timer and countdown features, and has a USB port for firmware updates. A special version of the Evoke-1XT called Marshall Edition was announced in November 2006, designed to look like a Marshall amplifier. It has a volume knob that, unusually, goes up to 11 rather than 10. This receiver was made in collaboration between Pure, Marshall and Planet Rock. In September 2005, Pure announced the Evoke-3, featuring pause and rewind as well as the ability to play digital files from an SD card. The website Trusted Reviews rated it 10 out of 10 in a review. The Pure Evoke-1S, an upgrade of the Evoke-1XT with an improved OLED display, improved sound and more presets, was introduced in July 2007. It is part of Pure's EcoPlus range of green products.
The company's first Internet radio, the Pure Evoke Flow, was released in September 2008. It had been in development for two years. They also launched a new flagship radio, Evoke-2S, as well as an updated version of the Evoke-1S called Evoke Mio, coming in six distinct colours and described as "luxurious" by Pure. In October 2010, Pure collaborated with designer Orla Kiely to create a specially printed Evoke Mio using her design. Pure commemorated their 10th anniversary landmark with the launch of the Evoke Mio Union Jack Edition. In August 2015, Pure collaborated with wallpaper maker Sanderson to create a number of Evoke Mio radios with floral prints. In May 2013, Pure announced the high-end Evoke F4 DAB+ and Internet radio. Shortly afterwards they introduced Evoke D2, a compact sized radio. In November 2013, an upgraded version of the D2 was launched that included Bluetooth functionality. At the same time, they also introduced the Evoke D4.
Pure also launched a subrange called Evoke C which are all-in-one tabletop systems. These consisted of the Evoke C-D4, C-D6 and C-F6 announced in September 2015. The company also released the Evoke F3. The Evoke H subrange of compact radios was released in 2016 consisting of the Evoke H3 and H2. To commemorate Pure's 20th anniversary, the company launched the Evoke Home, Evoke Play and Evoke Spot in 2022. These three radios were designed in collaboration with London design studio Industrial Facility and each features a flip-up colour display. The Pure Evoke Home is designed to be a tabletop system with large grille. It includes a DAB+ tuner, Internet radio including services like Spotify, AUX input and a CD player. It is also the only of the trio to come with a remote control. The Evoke Play is a similar system that is slightly more compact and lacks a CD player. On the other hand, the Evoke Spot is a compact sized design. A version of the Evoke Play with a wooden front grille was later also released.
Elan
The Élan range was originally created to be a more affordable alternative to the flagship Evoke range. The first Pure Élan DAB radio was launched in 2004. The Élan RV40 was announced in August 2006 and the DX40 in November 2006, the latter of which lacks the ReVu (pause and rewind) feature. The RV40 received three stars out of five by The Times. The Élan II was released in 2009.
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