Rio Volt SP250 Personal CD Player

The Rio Volt Sp250...is the number one thing for anyone who is an avid music listener. First off, the style is decent. It's small and shaped so that it fits well into the palm of your hand, provided your hold it a specific way. (as can be expected of any). It is slightly larger than the average CD player, but nothing that would be considered clunky, bulky, or heavy. Second, the ability to upgrade the firmware is a rather nice addition. Hopefully this unit will have a lot of potential and long-term usefulness due to the ability to continue to stay up to date with technology through firmware upgrades.

Of all things, perhaps the most important is the back-lit LCD. On this unit, this light is bright Neon (Indiglo) making it very easy to see at night, and has a light sensor so that it won't go off during the daytime. It can be configured to light the display on the headset, similar to what minidisc players have, as well.

Another great feature is that the Rio has a Line Out jack, a headphone jack, and the headset jack. This makes this unit extremely versatile in most all situations, being able to be hooked up directly to the back of a computer for audiophiles recording the music directly, or maintaining quality sound in a car.

As for mp3 playback, the Rio Volt SP250 has no skipping, especially on the higher setting (180 seconds anti-shock). The mp3s play nice and smooth, and play most general qualities of mp3s, ranging from radio quality to about 192 KBps (above CD quality). This unit can also play WMA (windows media audio) files.

Considering mp3 playback, a 780 MB CD could be used to store approximately 20 hours of music at CD quality, cutting down on the amount of CD-switching considerably.

Another feature is the equalizer, with manual settings and some presets, all of which work extremely well with either the standard headset that comes with the Rio or anything plugged into the standard headphone jack.

There are good loop features that can be set (time-limit wise), as well as the standard repeat options. Perhaps not well documented is a setting for repeat that shows an (A) on the Rio, and when the button that causes this is pressed again, shows a B and will loop anything that had played between the play time of A and B.

The unit itself from a technological standpoint is excellent. At first, the buttons may seem confusing but very quickly they are easy to figure out and to understand the features of the unit, with or without the manual. The menu button and the menus within are very simple and self-explanatory.

There is almost nothing wrong with the Rio. There are a few small things to note, however. Unlike standard CD players the Rio buffers the 3 minutes (or 45 seconds if chosen) of sound, and then stops. At approximately halfway through it spins again to re-buffer the sound. Meaning that if you decide to switch tracks while the CD is not spinning, there will be a delay between songs. Even when switching songs while the CD is spinning, there will be somewhat of a delay.

Perhaps the best use for this unit above all others would be with a tape adapter and played in a car. With the powerful anti-shock of the Rio, and being able to plug the unit into the cigarette lighter coupled with the manipulation that can be done to the sound, the unit can replace the need for an MP3 head-unit for a car. Add to that the ability to upgrade the firmware, and you have something to use for years and years if maintained.

All in all, a great buy. I have yet to see a better mp3 player on the market.