RE: Audiotron vs Rio Receiver - Round 2

["Mark Harrison" <Mark.Harrison@xxxxxxx>]

Tony,

Thanks for the comparison.

One question - how does the Audiotron get files from the server? After all,= there must be _something_ running server-side to allow it to share... Is i= t a standard Windows share?


As most people on the list know, I have some very upmarket (second-hand) hi= -fi kit, and am interested in quality. The reasons for my not participating= in the bulk buy are to do with a wife giving up work to have a baby, and a= job that was due to make me redundant in September.

I disagree, however, about the main advantage of the Rio being size - I thi= nk it's price, and on that basis, the built-in amp does serve a useful purp= ose. It means that I can outfit a room with a sound system for =A3200. =A31= 30, say, on a Rio, =A370, say on a pair of speakers. =A370 will, after all,= buy me something like a pair of B&W 601 Series 2s second-hand.

By comparison, outfitting a room with an Audiotron, costs about =A3450 - = =A3300 for the Audiotron, =A375 for the aforementioned 601s, and =A375 for = an amp.

Multiply by 5 rooms, and your talking about a =A31000 saving.

I have NO DOUBT that the Audiotron is a superior bit of kit - my ideal, how= ever, would be an Audiotron in the bedroom (where the main system lives), m= aybe a second in the sitting room, but Rios elsewhere...

M.


-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Butler [mailto:tony@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 25 May 2002 16:11
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx Subject: [ukha_d] Audiotron vs Rio Receiver - Round 2


Today I hooked both the Rio and the Audiotron up to my Parasound ZAmp to even up the testing - as a =A3250 amp vs whatever pants is in the Rio
isn't really fair.....

The Rio certainly sounded a _hell_ of a lot better through the ZAmp than using it's own internal amplifer.

I'm not an audiophile by any means - I just know what I like and the Rio still sounded a bit harsh in comparison to the Audiotron (this may be
what audiophiles term a 'bright' sound?).  The mid range I think lacks= a
bit and it seems to have too much treble compared to the .tron (Okay, I
could alter that, but that doesn't bring the mid range back).

Playing 'The Shining' by Badly Drawn Boy, when the string plucking kicks in about 30 seconds into the tune, that sounds quite harsh on the Rio,
whereas it's quite mellow on the Audiotron.  Also, when the Boy himsel= f
starts crooning, it's an altogether more rounded sound on the tron, but
with the Rio it sounds a bit reedy and thin.

As I say, I'm not an audiophile, so if I wasn't comparing the two, I
probably wouldn't notice these things, turn the treble down on the Rio
and be happy enough with it.
BUT - this is using a separate amp rather than the internal RIO one -
that I instantly noticed sounded rather shabby.

Adding an extra amp to get decent quality negates the principal
advantage of the Rio - that of size.

The proper transport controls, streaming web radio support (though sadly the UK stations stream at a much lower quality than the US ones), web
interface, API, no need to run a server app, and the superior sound
quality still lead me to choose the Audiotron despite the extra cost.

If SonicBlue did a version without the built in amp and put the money
saved towards a better display and controls set then I might be happy
living without the rest of the features the Audiotron offers and go for
the lower cost Rio.....


Tony



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