Leading the solid-state line-up is the Rio Chiba, available in two versions. Personal audio enthusiats have been waiting a while for a review of this product.
Quote from the review at The Register:
“We liked the Rio Chiba. Its compact size, looks and feature set – particularly the FM radio and the good, customisable equaliser – make it a real pleasure to use. So does its responsive, easy-to-navigate UI.
While the Chiba’s sound quality is generally very good, the noise that leaks into the audio system at high volumes and during power-on and -off is a disappointment, and the player loses rating points as result. Fortunately, it doesn’t get in the way of the music and it’s not even audible unless the volume is turned way up loud. But it’s nonetheless a sign of sloppiness on Digital Networks’ part. This is not an issue we’ve experienced with other players of comparable type, but we did notice it again on the Rio Fuse, which we’ll be reviewing shortly. So it’s clearly a design issue and not a one-off glitch with our evalution unit. “
