Rio Central alternatives
One of the first such devices was the Rio Central, released in 2002, which was ahead of its time in many ways but had an unusual and ugly case design and was anyway discontinued years ago. Consequently, it can’t really still be recommended. I put this page together to keep track of the available alternatives and their features. In the following table, “?” means “don’t know” (do email me if you can help me eliminate a “?”).
| Rio Central | Hermstedt Hifidelio (1) | Hitachi AX-M140 | Cambridge Azur 640H | Linn Kivor Tunboks |
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| Software features: lossy codecs (playback) | |||||||||
| MP3 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| MP2 | Y | ? | ? | Y | ? | ||||
| WMA | Y | N | ? | Y | ? | ||||
| WMA DRM | N | N | ? | Y | ? | ||||
| AAC | N | Y | ? | Y | ? | ||||
| AAC DRM | N | N | ? | N | ? | ||||
| Vorbis | N | Y | ? | N | ? | ||||
| Software features: lossless codecs (playback) | |||||||||
| FLAC | N | Y | ? | N | N | ||||
| Apple Lossless | N | N | ? | N | N | ||||
| WMA Lossless | N | N | ? | N | N | ||||
| WAV | N | Y | ? | Y | Y | ||||
| Software features: codecs for recording | |||||||||
| MP3 | Y | Y (7) | Y | Y | ? | ||||
| FLAC | N | Y | ? | N | N | ||||
| Vorbis | N | N | ? | N | N | ||||
| WAV | N | Y | ? | ? | Y | ||||
| Software features: transfer to portable | |||||||||
| Mass-storage | N | Y | Y | Y | N | ||||
| Ipod | N | Y | ? | N | N | ||||
| Other | Y (2) | N | ? | N | N | ||||
| Transcoding | N (3) | ? | ? | N | N | ||||
| Software features: misc | |||||||||
| Audible FF/Rew | Y | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Rapid search | Y | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Internet radio | N | Some (6) | N | Y | N | ||||
| UPnP client | N | Y | N | N | N | ||||
| UPnP server | N | Y | N | N | N | ||||
| DAAP client | N | Y | N | N | N | ||||
| DAAP server | N | Y | N | N | N | ||||
| Other server | Y | N | N | Y | Y | ||||
| Windows shares | N | N | N | Y | N | ||||
| Gapless MP3 (4) | N | N | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Gapless other | N | N | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Crossfade | N | N | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Network control | N | Y | N | ? | Y | ||||
| Replaygain | N | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Unicode | N | ? | ? | N | ? | ||||
| Read data CD | Y | N | Y | ? | Y | ||||
| Write audio CD | Y | Y | ? | Y | N | ||||
| Write data CD | Y | N | ? | ? | N | ||||
| Copy from PC | Y | Y | ? | Y | ? | ||||
| Copy to PC | N | N | ? | Y | ? | ||||
| Background encode | Y | Y | ? | ? | N | ||||
| Built-in CD DB (8) | Y | Y | Y | N | N | ||||
| Internet CD DB (8) | Y | Y | ? | Y | Y | ||||
| Hardware features | |||||||||
| Screen | LCD | LCD | VFD (9) | LCD+TV Out | N (12) | ||||
| grey | mono/grey (6) | mono | mono | ||||||
| 320x240 | 400x160 | 16x2chr | ? | ||||||
| Amplifier | N | N | Y | N | N | ||||
| Speakers | N | N | Y | N | N | ||||
| Record line in | N | Y | N | Y | Y | ||||
| Record digital in | N | N | N | N | Y | ||||
| Phono (RCA) out | Y | Y | N (10) | Y | Y (11) | ||||
| Optical digital | Y | Y | N | N | N | ||||
| Coax digital | Y | Y | N | N | Y (11) | ||||
| Headphone out | N | Y | Y | Y | N | ||||
| Wireless built-in | N | Y | N | N | N | ||||
| Ethernet built-in | N (5) | Y | N | Y | Y | ||||
| RAID | N | N | N | N | Y | ||||
Notes:
- Olive Symphony is the same product rebadged.
- “Old Rio protocol” players: Rio 600, 800, 900, S10, S30, S35, S50.
- Can keep two versions (high and low bitrate) of each track, but won’t transcode where it only has the high-bitrate one.
- Capable of eliding the inherent MP3 delays, either heuristically or by reading Lame headers.
- HomePNA built-in. (A very few) USB Ethernet adaptors also supported.
- Varies from model to model.
- Available bitrates vary from model to model.
- Either CDDB itself, or FreeDB, or similar.
- The unit has a TV output – it’s also a DVD player – but the digital music UI doesn’t use it.
- SCART output.
- On separate slave unit.
- VGA output “for installer and dealer use”.
Sund. explns.:
- MP2 is important because ripped DAB and DVB-T radio streams are in MP2 format. It’s not uncommon to find “MP3” files which are actually MP2.
- Rapid search is T9-like or other fast textual searching. Letter pickers à la video game high-score table circa 1980 don’t count.
- Internet radio generally means Shoutcast MP3, though some devices may also support WMA or Realaudio stations.
- UPnP is the media-sharing protocol used by Windows Media Connect and Musicmatch (among others). Strictly speaking, these lines should say “UPnP ContentDirectoryService” client/server.
- DAAP is the media-sharing protocol used by Apple Itunes.
- Network control comes in various levels of functionality, from simple pause/play to full running-order editing.
All Rites
Reversed -- Copy What You Like