Digital Drive: REVIEW: Sonic Blue Rio Volt CD Player/Recorder by David Spear

Hi guys. I thought I might post this review in the "Hi-Rez" section for a laugh, but quickly came to my senses. In any case, I've been using a Rio Volt portable MP3/CD/CD-R/CD-RW player for about a month now, so I thought I'd post a quick review.

Basically, this unit is similar to a Discman, but it also plays MP3 (or Win Audio) files that have been burned onto a CD-R or CD-RW. If you encode MP3 files at 128 kHz, you can fit about 12 to 15 albums onto a single 650-MB CD-R blank, which means you can carry about 150 albums in a single 12-disc carrying case measuring about an inch thick. (I haven't tried using 700-MB CD-Rs or CD-RW disks yet.)

Let's face it, the Rio Volt has absolutely no high-end pretentions. It doesn't even look as nice as a bottom-of-the-line Sony discman. The case is made of cheap-looking blue and silver plastic that seems more suitable for a "Transformer" toy than something that you would want to play music on. The remote is also really cheesy-looking, with loose, cheap plastic buttons and a cord that is so thin that it looks like you could pull it apart with your fingers. The carrying case is really ineptly designed, too. You will try to use it once, and then chuck it. The poor-quality ear-bud headphones that come with the Rio Volt should also be thrown away immediately.

Well, with all that said -- I LOVE IT!!! Despite the obvious (and excessive, IMO) cost-cutting measures (How much would a reasonably thick remote cord add to the price, for God's sake? Is bright blue plastic really that much less expensive than black?), the Rio Volt is an intelligently designed unit that is a pleasure to use, and even to listen to.

As mentioned above, you can stick 150 albums worth of music in your jacket pocket and the Volt in the other, which means that you can carry enough music with you for pretty much any trip. Despite its cheesy looks, the unit operates flawlessly. The "joypad" on the remote makes it very easy to skip from song to song or from album to album. (The Volt allows you to use several levels of nested folders for organizing your music by genre, artist, and/or album or whatever you like.). Unlike other CD-based MP3 players, the Volt can display folder names and ID3 file information on the liquid crystal screen built into the lid (which is, however, marred by the presence of dorky "dancing men" stick figures along the bottom edge), which is incredibly convenient for finding the music you want to hear.

The Volt is also pretty resistant to shock, with a 40-second buffer memory, which corresponds to about 2 minutes of playing time. I have had the player mute when it was bumping against my hip during a brisk walk, but I'd say it's more shock-resistant than your average discman. Oddly, the disc spins until the buffer is filled, and then stops, only starting up to refill the buffer as required, although the music plays continuously.

One outstanding feature of the Volt is that the firmware can be upgraded by the user. You simply go to the Sonic Blue homepage, download the new firmware file, write it to a blank CD-R, put the CD-R into the Volt, and press "Play". The firmware automatically updates itself in about 30 seconds. Quite elegant, IMO. Also, many of the user complaints that you may read on the web have been corrected in the new firmware version. For example, there is now a barely perceptible delay between songs (like the soft click audible on a compilation cassette), which is a major improvement over the several-second delay in the initial firmware version. Navigation features and remote operating procedures have also been improved and made more intuitive in the new firmware.

As for the sound, I use the Volt with a pair of Sennheiser HD 25 headphones (which it can drive to more than adequate levels) or with a pair of noise-canceling Sony ear-buds (ditto). Not surprisingly, the Volt doesn't provide enough juice for my Etymotic Research ER-4S in-the-ear transducers or my Sennheiser HD 600s. With the HD 25s or Sonys, the sound quality is quite acceptable, pretty much comparable to MiniDisc. As mentioned above, skipping/muting is not an issue in normal use. Oh yeah, battery life is very good -- 16 to 20 hours with a pair of alkaline penlight batteries.

In summary, I'm quite happy with the Rio Volt, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to carry a lot of music around while traveling (or commuting, or shopping, or walking the dog, or catching rays by the pool, or vacuuming, or cooking). It's toylike appearance is even starting to grow on me!

REVIEW: Sonic Blue Rio Volt CD Player/Recorder Review by David Spear at Audio Asylum