Hi guys,

I am thinking of buying Rio Carbon and I am looking for some feedback from people who use it.

It seems to get quite a good reviews, like everything it isn't perfect but seems OK. Anyway, I would appreciate any first-hand info

Thanks in advance

at the same price, i would buy an ipod mini ... AAC .. you know

Well, I've enjoyed my Nitrus for some time now and it's a similar if older design. If I were back in the market, I'd give the Carbon consideration once the price comes down a bit.

The Karma is probably the best product Rio offers for the typical HA reader since it supports MP3, WMA, OGG and FLAC and does them all gaplessly. Also holds 20 GB.

Check here for comments by Carbon owners:

http://forums-riovolution.com/index.php?showforum=16

http://www.rioworld.org/yabbse/index.php?board=14

Good luck.

is AAC above having one extra gigabyte? and above the longer battery life?

it is for me .. and you can't beat ipod's coolnes factor

Yes. +1GB and twice as long battery life as iPod is really cool. As I am not from US/UK I don't have access to iTunes store so AAC is not so important, TO ME.

Apesbrain, Thanks for the links

Of course if you end up using higher bit rates coz your not encoding as efficiently as AAC then the 1Gb advantage will soon disappear. That said I must say that the Karma is a serious alternative to the iPod and I would have to think hard if I hadn't already bought my iPod.

What is the Rio Manager like these days? I haven't used it since my Rio 300.

Love,
Fairy

In the 128kbps listening test held some months, LAME was on par with iTunes AAC. Of course we can't make any meaningful guesses regarding higher bitrates, but people shouldn't buy into the "128 AAC equals 192 MP3" marketing.

THings you might want to check on..

1) the battery.. it will eventually crap out. What is the replacement cost/procedure? How long does it take to charge?

2) Will you be content working within the music manager, implicity just on windows and mac?
Does it play nicely with whatever storage scheme you have now?

dbpoweramp may have an interface module for it's player loader.

On the battery issue, with a rio flash player you could get roughly the same play time (18 hours) on an AAA cell which you can change in a snap with NiMH rechargeable, alkaline, or lithium (lith will likely play 2x as long). storage with an added SD card could be up to 1.5 gb

Sorry but LAME proved a better codec than BLADE at 128kbps it did NOT perform at the same level as AAC or any of the other modern codecs. It is worth noteing that OGG Vorbis clearly does.

To quote "And AAC is rated better than Lame with greater than 95% confidence."

http://www.rjamorim.com/test/128extension/results.html



If you have evidence other than this than please publish it or a link to it so that it can be interpreted.

Regards,
Fairy

http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multiformat128/results.html

This shit is newer.

Rio Music Manager (RMM, now V2.90) does its job although it's not the most advanced thing out there. It lacks the more sophisticated synchronization of iTunes, but hopefully that is something Rio is working on.

At the very least it should be able to delete files from the DAP if I delete them from the library on my PC; something it still doesn't do. If you want files removed from the DAP, you need to do that separately. I guess to some that is a "feature" of the program, but I'd prefer to see two-way sync as a configurable option.

So it is... oh well

back to giving this guy advice. The last point was the manager software i think....

Whats the best choice managing with Rio software or WMP?

Aren't there any users out there who already have a Rio Carbon who can comment on their choice?

Personally I would go for the iPod mini instead. But I'm biased as I have one myself and it has never let me down.


Edit: Before buying my iPod I was considering to buy a Rio player, but the limited 90 days warranty steered me away.

Couple of points no one's brought up:

1) The device recognizes as a generic USB drive for drag 'n drop convenience of any type of file. Software isn't necessary.

2) There is a known issue with static being caused by a metal plate around the base of the headphone jack, which is common in the more expensive headphones. Rio may be doing something about it, but I'm not really sure.

The remedy for this (from what I've read) is just applying a small layer of clear fingernail polish to the metal part on your headphone plug.

The fact that there aren't any free commandline AAC encoders that I know of that have been as extensively tested and tuned as MP3 or Vorbis (to a lesser extent than MP3) is a point against it for me. I'm probably going for a Karma if I ever want a portable.

Thanks to everyone who posted here. Just got my new iPod mini - reasons being the unability of Rio to ship to Slovakia (even via amazon.com) + it isn't possible to replace the battery + I wouldn't sleep well with only 90-day warranty of Rio

BTW. The iPods here are a bit pricey ($320) like any other consumer electronics but it took only 2 hours between ordering it online and having it in my hands

DAvenger,

Are you happy with your new toy?

Cheers,
Fairy

I've had my Rio Carbon for 10 hours and am well pleased.
I had it fully charged, updated with the latest firmware and took it on the streets (of the metropolis where iPods are a fashion accessory) with 5 Gb of mp3s in under three hours. I simply copied using my favorite two pane file manager, 2xExplorer, where it appeared as a removable drive F:, and didn't bother with their music manager program. Utterly fast and simple!
At first I suspected it might incorporate BBE or something akin since definition seems so sharp. Most of my files are LAME VBR at rates of 200+ kbps (I was into Aphex Twin, Autechre, Fatboy Slim and Underworld years before I knew of Dibrom); I have yet to hear any troubles decoding. However, with the open air (high efficiency) Sony headphones I use, I still need the many-years-old Boosteroo two AA-cell ouboard amp to outblast motorcycles and ambulances; nonetheless, even without that boost, it definitely plays louder than an iPod. I'll be lucky to get 12 hours battery run -- I'm guessing file size and complexity of work VBR decoding increases drain.
Circumventing static and getting both channels when the Boosteroo is plugged in the jack is a tricky biz involving some jiggling.
I woke up today resolved to wait no more for the right player -- I just want something that betters the iPod mini in cost, battery play time, volume loudness and size. Realize that this player gets lost in a man's shirt pocket that would be bulked by an iPod!
Reviews of music gadgets I've read are highly subjective and nobody seems willing to test THD, IM distortion, phase shifting, linearity and such, but I suspect the "goodness" of sound I sense is related to good specs in those areas, probably abetted by very well optimized MP3 decoding software.