The SONICblue RioVolt Electrifies the CD/MP3 Player Market!
Written: Jul 02 '01 (Updated Jul 02 '01)
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Pros: Sturdy design, great memory, excellent battery life, clear audio, upgradeable firmware, inline remote.
Cons: Those stupid earbud headphones again. Awkward programming and menus.
The Bottom Line: If you're looking for a great way to listen to your CDs, MP3s, CD-Rs and CD-RWs, SONICblue's RioVolt is the way to go.
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| madtheory's Full Review: Rio Volt SP100 Personal CD Player |
The Exposition
Let me preface this with a quick story. A few weeks ago, I was driving along a deserted two-lane freeway minding my own business, when a drunk driver hit me. He was trying to perform a U-turn by shooting across the median from the right lane, but neglected to check the left lane for approaching traffic before suddenly attempting his ill advised maneuver. Fortunately, no one in either vehicle was hurt, but my reasonably new 2000 Hyundai Elantra GLS (the warranty sold me) was left with a huge dent and multiple scratches on the right side.
Recently, his insurance company finally decided to cut me a check for the damages as well as an additional amount for the rental car. Leaving the vehicle in the hands of the fine folks at my local Hyundai Collision Center, I rented an Isuzu Trooper from Enterprise (I’ll be damned if I let them put me in a Geo Metro again) and went about my business.
CHILL OUT! I’m Getting to the Player. Geez…
So anyway, I’m driving back to the apartment, and suddenly realized I had no music playing. Unconsciously, I reach for my CDs and try to toss one into the CD player only to find out, there is no CD player!
Doing my best Brando impersonation: The horror…. The horror…
Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Dallas, but FYI, the one-and-a-half urban radio stations here wouldn’t know good Hip-Hop music if it walked up and pimp-slapped their mothers. They wait until a song becomes successful in other markets before they even consider playing it (Erykah Badu is from Dallas and they didn’t touch her debut single “On and On” until it blew up in LA). So for me, listening to local radio is not an option. Remembering one of my sister’s more recent purchases, I altered course to her place to borrow her SONICblue RioVolt CD/MP3 Player so that I could make my commute in peace.
A Shock to the System
It seems like I’ve been waiting forever for this device. Ever since the MP3 first became popular, I’ve needed a clean, efficient way to take both my CDs and MP3s along with me in my car or on foot. This player is definitely one of the best ways to accomplish that task.
Yes, I know there have been other MP3/CD players before now. It’s just that up until now, roughly 95% of those completely sucked. They always had one or more glaring drawbacks that easily knocked a couple of stars off their final ratings. Either the casing was cheap and flimsy, or it didn’t have enough memory, or it didn’t play CD-R and CD-RW discs, or whatever else.
Apparently the designers at SONICblue noticed the same deficiencies in the units on the market because the RioVolt actually resolves most of those issues, and a few others I didn’t think of.
How it Looks
If you’ve ever seen a Sony Walkman, you’re immediately going to be familiar with the basic design of the RioVolt. The exterior is silver, with a sturdy circular design sporting tapered edges. The top of the shell itself houses the control panel for the RioVolt. In the middle it has a large backlit LCD screen that displays the track number, duration, battery strength, and a small wealth of other information. The screen also presents the song title and artist if the ID3 tags are included with the audio files. Everything on the LCD is very clear and uncommonly easy to read. SONICblue did a great job with it. Just below the screen is a directional pad for menu navigation and the usual assortment of buttons that control the necessary stop, skip, play, and volume functions.
The Headphone Rant
Anyone who has read my other reviews of MP3 players know it’s time for the earbud headphone rant. To me these crappy things are just included with portable audio products just so the manufacturer can say, “well, technically we included headphones…” My experiences with earbuds have all been negative, and these are no different. Granted it plays music at a decent volume, but if I’m going to have to actually stick a speaker in my ear, it had better be loud. The sound quality is incredibly hollow. If you have a favorite pair of headphones, toss out the earbuds and use them. If not, crack open your wallet and buy some. My favorites are my Koss TD-80s, but there are many other excellent ones on the market.
Cool Stuff
The player has an extremely high degree of functionality. The RioVolt produces clear and vibrant sound with the MP3 and WMA (Windows Media Audio) files as well as my favorite audio CDs. In addition, it has absolutely no difficulty reading the majority of the CD-R and CD-RW we ripped to test it. Very versatile.
If burning MP3s onto CDs is definitely your thing, then SONICblue’s got you covered. The company made sure to include a copy of Easy CD Creator 4. The software is very easy to use, but it’s nothing extraordinary. It’s just basically select-and-burn software.
The RioVolt has one of the best equalizers I’ve ever seen on MP3 or CD player. It allows you to select preset equalizer settings from the typical categories of Jazz, Rock, Classical, Normal, and my favorite, Ultra Bass. The unit does not allow you to manually change individual EQ settings however. Depending on what type of music you listen to, this can either be a small inconvenience or a huge pain in the butt. For example, I like midrange sounds to be a little higher on some songs, so instead of adjusting Ultra Bass, I have to switch to Rock, which kills a lot of the bass.
For an electronic device with such a wide array of functions, the battery life is extraordinary. I had it running for over 15 hours on just a pair of Energizer AA batteries. That’s better than a lot of tape players I’ve owner in my time. Unfortunately, If you want to crank this in the car, you’ll need to obtain your own cigarette lighter adapter, because this unit does not come with one.
Conclusion
On the whole, the SONICblue Riovolt is definitely in the upper echelon of CD/MP3 players. It’s got excellent features, clear audio, and relatively intuitive design and more. While the unit certainly isn’t perfect, the minor problems with menu navigation and programming are miniscule and barely worth mentioning. So, if you’re in the market for a new device to play music on the go, I highly recommend the SONICblue RioVolt CD/MP3 Player. My sis might not get this one back…
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 159.99
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madtheory
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Location: Dallas,TX
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DON'T CALL IT A COMEB... wait. I guess you actually can call it a comeback.
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