minya
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2002
- Posts
- 2,708
- Likes
- 14
I'm inside a library now so this won't be very long, but I figured I could post my thoughts of the player and hopefully see other people's opinions.
Really short version: Pretty damn good - with some flaws - but still overall worth the price.
Little longer: I recently decided to pick up an MP3 CD player since I'm an MP3 freak (I'm not a 'dyed-in-the-wool audiophile' by any means; music lover indeed, but I don't have the money or the need to really delve into "hi-fi" audio). I browsed several sites (but not this one, didn't know it existed yet) trying to find information on the various most popular models and narrowed it down to the RioVolt 250 and the iRiver Slim-X (which seems quite popular on here). Why did I choose the RioVolt? Mainly because of the $30 rebate (which brought the final price to $113).
My first encounter with the unit was an interesting one. The things it come with are really quite commendable; an AC adapter which recharges the batteries (more on that later), a neat "carrying case" (more like a leather jacket for the CD player with a strap and belt clip, which actually works really well), a remote (no LCD), and of course the canal-phones and earbuds (neither of which I have tried... nor do I think I need to).
My first step with the player was trying to charge its included rechargeable batteries. My God, what a mess that was. All in all it took me approximately three hours and three burnt CDs. Why burnt CDs, you ask? Because, as far as I know, you need to update the firmware to recharge the batteries (from 1.00 to 2.05) and for some reason, Nero couldn't burn the firmware disc properly (only CDRWin could). I don't think I really needed to update the firmware, but that was the only thing that finally worked for me.
Once I got that settled, it was time to actually test the player. I used a pair of Koss PortaPros (and later a Grado SR-80) and my first impression was "wow!" The sound really is quite nice out of this thing. (All my MP3s are 192+ or VBR, so my collection is nearly-CD quality.) One thing I did notice, however, is that the SP-250 seems to have problems driving phones. My normal PCDP is a two-year old Philips which works quite well (I don't have the exact model #, sorry) and which can drive headphones to excruciating ear-splitting volume. The RioVolt, however, is really quiet - until you get to the nearly-full volume level. The volume goes from 1-40 and from 1-35 the volume changes accordingly but is still on the rather quiet side (not to say that the low 30s won't be enough for most people), but when I turned it up to around 38 and 39, I got wonderfully full volume and (I think) better, more natural sound. (I think.)
The interface is generally excellent; you can easily maneuver through a disc of mp3s (make sure to organize them by folder though!) and you can jump tracks 10 at a time, which I found to be useful. One incredibly irritating (and arbitrary) little flaw that I noticed was the lack of an "artist - album" scroll on the main playing-info screen. The player reads ID3 tags and scrolls the filename with the artist's title, but above that lies a stagnant, non-scrolling view of the folder title. When listening to a band with a longer name, that can get really annoying. (Tip: when navigating through the disc's folders in the "NAVI" menu, if you sit on a folder/album for a few seconds it will begin to scroll. But not in the main screen - don't ask me why.)
Battery time was atrocious the first time I charged them up. I then recharged (using the supplied "discharge, then recharge" option of the player - very useful!) and managed a far more respectable ~12 hours or so; not bad at all when you can recharge for free.
I just recently ordered one of Fixup's Super Mini amps, so I will soon be able to give my thoughts regarding its sound when amped, but I did for the hell of it test the line-out. I've read others reports that the 250 (or at least the lesser models, like the SP-90) don't have "true" line outs; in other words, they're just second headphone ports. Not (really) true in the 250's case. It's definitely not a headphone port, as far as I can tell, because the sound is far quieter and sounds a bit "farther away" than with the headphone jack. Nonetheless the volume controls on the player affect the line-out port, so I don't entirely know what's up there.
On a final note, I have heard several reports of the players dying very soon after first use, or of being generally fragile. I can vouch for the fragility: I didn't drop it or anything, but it seems to me like this is a player you want to be very careful with. I did also some weird glitches the fourth or fifth time I used it; I was afraid I had purchased one of the "DOA" 250s (discs took extraordinarily long times to load, said "NO DISC" when there was a disc, etc.) but it went back to normal shortly after and has been so since. So, no idea what the problem is, but it seems like it's just a fleeting thing.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the performance of the player, especially for the great price I got it for ($113 from Amazon.com after the $30 rebate). I haven't used any other MP3 CD players so I can't directly compare it, but I would definitely recommend it to someone in the market for one.
- Chris
Really short version: Pretty damn good - with some flaws - but still overall worth the price.
Little longer: I recently decided to pick up an MP3 CD player since I'm an MP3 freak (I'm not a 'dyed-in-the-wool audiophile' by any means; music lover indeed, but I don't have the money or the need to really delve into "hi-fi" audio). I browsed several sites (but not this one, didn't know it existed yet) trying to find information on the various most popular models and narrowed it down to the RioVolt 250 and the iRiver Slim-X (which seems quite popular on here). Why did I choose the RioVolt? Mainly because of the $30 rebate (which brought the final price to $113).
My first encounter with the unit was an interesting one. The things it come with are really quite commendable; an AC adapter which recharges the batteries (more on that later), a neat "carrying case" (more like a leather jacket for the CD player with a strap and belt clip, which actually works really well), a remote (no LCD), and of course the canal-phones and earbuds (neither of which I have tried... nor do I think I need to).
My first step with the player was trying to charge its included rechargeable batteries. My God, what a mess that was. All in all it took me approximately three hours and three burnt CDs. Why burnt CDs, you ask? Because, as far as I know, you need to update the firmware to recharge the batteries (from 1.00 to 2.05) and for some reason, Nero couldn't burn the firmware disc properly (only CDRWin could). I don't think I really needed to update the firmware, but that was the only thing that finally worked for me.
Once I got that settled, it was time to actually test the player. I used a pair of Koss PortaPros (and later a Grado SR-80) and my first impression was "wow!" The sound really is quite nice out of this thing. (All my MP3s are 192+ or VBR, so my collection is nearly-CD quality.) One thing I did notice, however, is that the SP-250 seems to have problems driving phones. My normal PCDP is a two-year old Philips which works quite well (I don't have the exact model #, sorry) and which can drive headphones to excruciating ear-splitting volume. The RioVolt, however, is really quiet - until you get to the nearly-full volume level. The volume goes from 1-40 and from 1-35 the volume changes accordingly but is still on the rather quiet side (not to say that the low 30s won't be enough for most people), but when I turned it up to around 38 and 39, I got wonderfully full volume and (I think) better, more natural sound. (I think.)
The interface is generally excellent; you can easily maneuver through a disc of mp3s (make sure to organize them by folder though!) and you can jump tracks 10 at a time, which I found to be useful. One incredibly irritating (and arbitrary) little flaw that I noticed was the lack of an "artist - album" scroll on the main playing-info screen. The player reads ID3 tags and scrolls the filename with the artist's title, but above that lies a stagnant, non-scrolling view of the folder title. When listening to a band with a longer name, that can get really annoying. (Tip: when navigating through the disc's folders in the "NAVI" menu, if you sit on a folder/album for a few seconds it will begin to scroll. But not in the main screen - don't ask me why.)
Battery time was atrocious the first time I charged them up. I then recharged (using the supplied "discharge, then recharge" option of the player - very useful!) and managed a far more respectable ~12 hours or so; not bad at all when you can recharge for free.
I just recently ordered one of Fixup's Super Mini amps, so I will soon be able to give my thoughts regarding its sound when amped, but I did for the hell of it test the line-out. I've read others reports that the 250 (or at least the lesser models, like the SP-90) don't have "true" line outs; in other words, they're just second headphone ports. Not (really) true in the 250's case. It's definitely not a headphone port, as far as I can tell, because the sound is far quieter and sounds a bit "farther away" than with the headphone jack. Nonetheless the volume controls on the player affect the line-out port, so I don't entirely know what's up there.
On a final note, I have heard several reports of the players dying very soon after first use, or of being generally fragile. I can vouch for the fragility: I didn't drop it or anything, but it seems to me like this is a player you want to be very careful with. I did also some weird glitches the fourth or fifth time I used it; I was afraid I had purchased one of the "DOA" 250s (discs took extraordinarily long times to load, said "NO DISC" when there was a disc, etc.) but it went back to normal shortly after and has been so since. So, no idea what the problem is, but it seems like it's just a fleeting thing.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the performance of the player, especially for the great price I got it for ($113 from Amazon.com after the $30 rebate). I haven't used any other MP3 CD players so I can't directly compare it, but I would definitely recommend it to someone in the market for one.
- Chris
