Rio Digital Audio Receiver with Rio Digital Audio Connector (PCI)

The Rio Receiver features a large LCD display that shows song, album, and artist name, bit rate, and total playing time. Play functions include play, pause, stop, fast forward, and reverse within a song, and skipping backward and forward as well as repeat and random. The Rio Receiver also comes with a remote control.

You can sort music by artist, title, album, or genre and then customize the Rio Receiver's interface to view your playlists. It is compatible with existing digital audio software such as RealNetworks Jukebox and MusicMatch Jukebox.

Using a standard telephone line, the Rio Receiver operates on a separate frequency from your telephone or modem, allowing you to use your telephone line normally without interference from your Rio Receiver. The receiver requires connection to a home PNA from your PC, or use of the included Rio Digital Audio Connector PCI card installed into your PC.

The Rio Receiver also supports 10 Mbps Ethernet. You can connect the receiver to your existing Ethernet hub with a standard Category 5 Ethernet cable, or directly to a host computer using an Ethernet crossover cable.

The Rio Receiver requires a desktop PC running Windows 98, 98SE, 2000, or Me on an Intel Pentium MMX with 200 MHz processor at minimum. You can connect the Rio Receiver into a stereo system via RCA jack connection. It also has an integrated amplifier that allows the Rio Receiver to act as a stand-alone component using external speakers (either bare-wire bookshelf speakers or powered speakers with a 1/8-inch jack).

Included with the receiver is the Rio Digital Audio Remote, a 15-foot standard phone cord, a 6-foot standard phone cord, a 6-foot RCA cable, and a software installation CD-ROM that includes the Audio Receiver Manager software. The optional Rio Digital Audio Connector PCI card is also available if you do not already have a home PNA.

The thing that they DID get right is that the unit has it's own 10 watt amplifier (if you choose to use it). And the the analog audio quality is much better than that of the AudioTron. (But the AudioTron has digital out).

At current prices...these are worth the price. At the retail price...they died horribly. But realize that the price is low because the product died a horrible death and is not supported.

If you do get one - just remember to have your Ripping software create an M3U playlist for each album. Then you have the unit play in album order.


Excellent purchase   March 27, 2003
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

I have had a rio receiver for a few months now and could not be more pleased. I can't remember the last time my old carousel cd player has been powered up.
My setup: I have my receiver connected to my home stereo through the rca jacks. I stream my mp3's to my rio through a dlink wireless router (713p I think) and have a wireless to ethernet bridge from SMC on my rio. This configuration works great and I do not have any problem with drop outs.

I have ripped all of my cd's to my computer, and used a program to generate playlists. This is one of my only gripes about the receiver: if you want to play albums with the correct track order, you need to use playlists, as selecting music by the album will play the songs in alphabetical order. It doesn't bother me because I have the playlists. The only other thing that I would complain about is the tiny display. You either have to learn the menus if you want to use the remote, or just select the music on the receiver itself so you are close enough to see what you are doing.

Some very cool things about this receiver: there are a number of open source free programs out there for it! There are some programs that let you listen to shoutcast internet radio streams, and they work very well if you have a broadband connection. There are other programs that let you choose your music through a web server, however I feel that takes away from what the receiver is meant to do: let you choose your music at your stereo, not your computer.

These units can be found easily for under a hundred dollars right now, and when you compare that to the price of the audiotron, the streamium, the slimp3, or any similar product there is no reason not to go with this!


This product is everything advertised, plus more!!   April 5, 2002
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

If you have a large collection of mp3s on your computer, this is the right thing for you. I bought this product being kinda skeptical at first but after I pulled it out of the box and set it up (which took like 5 min.) it played music with perfect quality and with no odd pauses! The only thing I have noticed so far is that the remote control does not work too well. Don't get me wrong, it's a handy little feature, but it does not get too good of reception unless your pointing it straight at the rio. Say your trying to enter a song title on the remote (very cool feature) from across the room and the Rio Receiver accidentally misses one of the letters... you have to type it in all over again! Also, sometimes the rio doesn't turn on with the remote. I usually have to go press the power button on the unit to turn it on. The other thing, which I found odd, was when I got it, the rio was smaller than I expected. The pictures make it look real big. Well worth the money!


Good product for digital music collectors   March 28, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I have two of these in my home, transmitting 40 Gigs of music independently to two separate rooms (maybe more in the future) via HPNA. It is a simple product, and gets the job done with minimal fuss.

Sound quality from this unit is very good. Having listened to the same songs from CD and from MP3 (128 bit rate), I am unable to tell the difference. Output and network options are given and work without configuration. Controls are good, as is the remote, and allows quick navigation of the hundreds of "albums" I currently have available. The ease of access to your music makes CDs seems archaic.

The user interface is reasonably good, but could be improved if it was improved via firmware to follow the Apple Ipod's system (already close, though). Diamond/Rio/Sonicblue has not updated the software or firmware at all since I got the first one several years ago, however. The unit does not otherwise appear to be discontinued.

You can force the unit to play tracks in sequential order by naming the files with number and title (i.e., 01-Song Name), and then deleting the Track tags (V1 and V2).

This could be a five star product if the manufacturer would make an effort to improve the firmware and software.