SP90 quality of the SP100 at a portion of the price
Written: Jan 13 '02 (Updated Sep 07 '02)
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Pros: works in the cold, reads all types of discs, ID3 display, seek, hold, resume, WMAs
Cons: firmware, construction, power plug, boot time, physical antiskip, display, documentation, battery door, earbuds
The Bottom Line: If you want MP3/CD without all this frills, this is the player to get
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| kinsiderby's Full Review: Rio Volt SP100 Personal CD Player |
what it is
This is a low cost MP3 CD player (around $100 USD), $100 CDN cheaper than the SP100. I could justify the price of this, but not the SP100. I didn't want to spend more than $200 CDN limit.
Being a CD/MP3 player it means you record MP3s onto CDs as data, so you hold 650MB of MP3s (about 10 hours) instead of 74 minutes of music. This can cut down on carrying around a CD collection. It reads all types of CDs (mass produced, CDRs, and RWs), which are all very accessible. CDRs cost less than one dollar, and CD burners cost $100 so it has a very low cost and high value. It is the same size as any other personal Cd players.
You can spend hundreds on a flash MP3 player but may only get 32-128MB of RAM. At 32 MB, it cannot hold very many songs at near CD quality, less than an audio CD. Hard drive based players cost hundreds of dollars for a fixed size of around 5-20GB. Yes, I know that is a lot of space, but most people don't need that much and you can infinitely expand a CD MP3 player with new discs. I'm also afraid of dropping a harddrive player and having the heads smash into the platters. Unlike a solid state player, this thing will skip (sony's G protection anti skip is good, consider their MP3Cd player for marathons), and the batteries have to run a CD drive, so it uses more power than a solid state, but overall it uses less power than hard drive players (but about the same as the iPod which has Lithium ion batteries), but it uses more than a CD player because it has to be able to run enough power to decode MP3s, which does require a 486 class processor, so it's running the equivalent of a 486 on AA batteries. It would be environmentally friendly and economical to get a couple sets of rechargeable batteries and a charger. Nicads last about 5 hours, and the more expensive and environmentally friendly Nickel metal hydride batteries last about as long as an alkaline battery, which is 15 hours.
The Riovolt doesn't have the high density of data per cubic centimeter of a hard drive player. You would have to carry around several CDs to make the equivalent of a 6GB player, but 1 CD can generally last a few days at a couple hours per day.
CD MP3 players are best suited for low skip high capacity needs like walking, Car, train, bus, plane, etc. It isn't as good for running, or if you want 6 GB of data without carrying around extra discs, but it beats out a normal CD player.
Why this player
After I returned my Panasonic SLMP50, because it stopped working in the cold, I started looking at other models. I saw the SP 90 at Futureshop for $179, $10 cheaper than what I paid for the Panasonic, and $200 cheaper than the SP 100. Futureshop didn't have this cheap model on the display (I didn't know they sold it before the sale flyer came out) but the sales person found one in the warehouse in the back.
The difference between SP100 and SP90
The differences between the SP100 and the SP 90 are as follows:
- The SP90 is not supported flash upgradeable, but with modification SP100 upgrades can be used
- Doesn't include carry case, power adapter, remote, or software
- No Backlit screen
- It's blue
- antiskip is controlled in the menu not on a switch
-$100
Most places I look say the SP90 isn't upgradeable. Some people are worried that this means it won't support future formats. I'm willing to convert any future music to MP3 or WMA if need be. I do hear that the 2-3 second pause between tracks is eliminated on new firmware for the SP100. There is the pause because it needs to spin up the disc for the new track. This is just a tradeoff for going cheap.
It doesn't include accessories I wouldn't use. I already have CD burning software, I have my own CD ripping and encoding programs (Lame encoder and EAC, I don't use jukebox programs), I also have 3 power adapters from other CD players, and I don't need a remote. I can operate it by feel in my pocket and usually I just turn it on and leave it on. If inclined remotes can be purchased from Rio. The carry case would be nice but I hear the included one for the SP 100 sucks, so it may be better off to buy a third party case.
The SP90 doesn't have a backlit screen. It's probably the same screen, only some wires are disconnected. It's essentially the same player but disabled features (like the 80486 SX vs the 80486 DX).
I like the blue colour and gray buttons of this one over the gray and fake metallic buttons of the SP 100. I don't care too much about the colour as long as it works.
It has the hole (covered up) where the antiskip control would be on the outside of the SP100 but on the SP90 it's controlled in the menu, no big deal, except maybe if the SP100's firmware is used.
You pay less you get less. I don't care about the extra accessories but I would like backlit and flash upgradeable since I know it's probably there.
Pros
It does in fact work as advertised. It plays MP3/ WMA CDs and audio CDs. It will play CDRs, RWs, formatted as audio CDs, ISO9660 (short file names) Joliet (upto 64 charater names) or UDF (Direct Cd and other programs that let you add files to a CD like a diskette, it limits space to about 500MBs, but has convince if you want to change the songs every 5 minutes)
The ability to play WMAs is useful because for around the same quality as an MP3 they take half the space, eg: 128kb MP3 = 64 kb WMA. It is best to convert directly from the originaal audio source to WMA to prevent distortion, going audio->MP3->WMA looses too much quality.
It also works in cold temperatures of at least -5ºC, which is technically 5º below the specs. I've had it work in colder without any problem. The Panasonic player started to not work at +5ºC, which was within the specs, so the Rio volt works in the winter. I think it will probably work several degrees under 0.
It has a display that will display the track name, not just a number on the track. This makes it easier to find tracks on the CD. And it allows you to navigate through the directory tree on the screen, displaying the directory and file names. Once figured out it is easy to navigate.
The Rio volt also includes a hold feature. Some people don't understand its purpose, but anyone that has put a CD player in a pocket or bag knows its purpose. It prevents the player from turning on when shut off in a bag where the buttons could be accidentally pushed, or any buttons from being pressed while it's on, changing the track, etc. It's a common feature on most CD players, and very important that it have it.
It has a resume feature. This way if stopped, opened, or power disconnected, while in use, it will start playing from where it left on, even in the middle of a track. It stores the information in no volatile RAM, after a couple weeks of no use and no batteries it picked up mid track. This wasn't available on the original release of the SP100, but on a later firmware upgrade. It comes included on the SP 90. This feature is useful to ensure you hear the entire CD, so you don't have to sort thorough 250 songs every time you turn it on.
It has a seek function. The Panasonic didn't have it for MP3s, but it's useful to be able to seek through a track. It also contains an A-B repeat feature, so you can continuously repeat a portion of a song. I can't really find a practical purpose for this feature.
It is reasonably durable. It might not look or feel it, but it still works after being thrown around a bit, and dropped a couple feet.
The sound quality is very good on good headphones; I haven't had problems of lack of volume, even on $100 Koss headphones. The only equalizer setting I like is "Rock". It seems to make the sound richer than normal, the ultra bass seems to have too much bass.
The player didn't come with a power adapter, but did come with 2 Kodak alkaline batteries.
Cons
The construction feels and looks a little cheap, and it is not a sports shock / water resistant design. So care has to be taken when handling it.
The power hole is slightly smaller than a standard 4.5V plug. I've heard people have no trouble with Rio's adapter but troubles with a third party car kit. I rammed in an old adapter and now it can run off AC or car power, but it is a little fidgety with what cord, position of cord, etc.
For some strange reason, the line out is only full line out at maximum volume, other wise a very weak signal comes out (compared to every other line out plug I've ever used).
The boot time is comparable to the Panasonic for MP3 CDs (15 seconds), which is understandable because it has to read the data TOC. But the Rio has a 15 second boot time when turned on with an audio CD. Normal CD players take just a couple seconds. I mainly bought it for MP3 CDs anyways. It also shuts off it opened which is convenient to turn it off while on hold but annoying if accidental because you have to wait another 15 seconds, it doesn't store the TOC for any period of time when off.
The physical anti-skip time is poor. Yes it does read the CD for 15 seconds then stop spinning it and read off RAM for 2 minutes, but when it is spinning it is easy for it to skip, loose track of where it is and run out of buffer and produce audible skips. It will correct for minor physical skips fine, but I've had trouble with using it while walking. For this reason it isn't very good for running.
One third of the display is wasted on stupid dancing guys and a disco ball. They don't do anything productive. So good suggestions for future firmware upgrades include: using them for anti-skip and or battery level indicators. Since they are not dots on the LCD, it cannot be changed into another line of text.
The screen only has two lines of text, very small width and it scrolls by slowly. A future firmware upgrade could include an option for scroll speed.
The included paper documentation was crumby and suggested to go on their website. When I went there the link for SP90 documentation was broken so I took the SP100 documentation and interpolated, (Now I know what all the repeat modes mean). Once you figure out the operation the manual doesn't really matter, it just bugged me that the link was dead.
The batteries are solidly held in place and require a 80s style pull strip to get out (Rio learned from battery connection problems in their original solid state MP3 player) but the door will pop open at a moment's notice. It is hinged and the batteries and securely in place, so it won't fall into the middle of the street and create a mess.
The battery time for MP3 CD is about 15 hours, which is the same as the Panasonic, and isn't too bad. WMAs yield twice the battery life. However, the playtime for audio CDs is 6 hours. This is a lot worse than normal CD players. If connected to a car or AC it isn't a big deal. I also mainly use it for MP3 CDs so it's not too much of an issue.
The included earbuds suck. They have no bass response. They aren't quite as bad with ultra bass in the EQ selected. I just used some old headphones I had kicking around, which sound a lot better and are more comfortable.
Conclusion
It may seem that there are a lot of cons but most of them are minor issues. The value out weighs them. The only thing I really don't like is the supposed lack of firmware upgrades. If you want a low cost MP3 CD player, get this. If you can spend more, consider the SP100 or 250.
Update March 7th, 2002
After several months of testing(original post Jan 13 2002), I'm still satisfied with the SP90. It has held up, and I still agree with my review. I'm also toying with WMAs and they seem to play fine, allowing for more songs on a disc at simular quality.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $179CDN
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Epinions.com ID:
kinsiderby
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Reviews written: 5
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