Rio Receiver vs Audiotron

["tefxp" <tony.butler@xxxxxxx>]

Just received my Rio from Tiger Direct today so have had a quick 
play.

Initial impressions:
I like it's size.
I like it having the amp built in.
I hate the display - impossible to read
I hate the crappy plasticky feel of the buttons
I hate having to have a program loaded on the server.
The lack of control from the PC is annoying because I have to turn 
around, pick it up, and peer at the display to see what's going on

Music quality wise, it seems to be very much lo-fi compared to the 
audiotron, though in fairness, the 'tron is connected to a 250 quid 
amp, the rio is using it's built in one......

The speakers are not the best in the world either, having been 
rescued from SWMBO's old stereo, but I remember being surprised how 
good they sounded when I tested the AudioTron with them.

At the moment, listening to Hour of the Bewilderbeast, it seems to 
have no life at all - maybe mid range is somewhat lacking....
It's a bit like how MP3's sounded when they first appeared on the 
market.

Still, would be okay for the garage system (if I had garage!) or 
kids bedroom (if they were old enough to operate it!).
I think I have beem spoiled by having reasonable quality kit in the 
main hifi etc & that's affecting my judgement.

Over the weekend, I will try to do a more 'scientific' comparison 
and take the line out from the Rio into the same amp I use for the 
Tron & do a comparison playing the same tracks.

Though of course, if it does sound better, then having to use an 
external amp to get similar quality to the Tron negates a big 
advantage of having it all in one in the first place :(

At the end of the day, with the tiger direct price, we're looking at 
about 100 quid vs about 245 so I guess you get what yo pay for.
Myself?  I'm glad I'll be getting another 'tron soon :)


Tony

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