Bij neoseeker is een review verschenen van de Rio Volt MP3/CD-speler van Sonicblue (vroeger S3). De Rio Volt is alweer de zoveelste MP3-speler die gebruik maakt van CD's. Uiteraard kan de Rio Volt ook gewone audio-CD's afspelen, evenals CD-RW's. Daarnaast beschikt de Rio Volt over ID3 support, waardoor artiest en titel op een LCD kunnen worden afgelezen. Hoewel de shock protection nog niet helemaal perfect werkt, is de Rio Volt toch weer een stap voortwaarts in de evolutie van de MP3/CD-speler:
Those who are familiar with SONICblue's previous efforts in the portable MP3 market will not be surprised to learn that the Riovolt offers impeccable audio quality. Playback of WMA, MP3, and Audio CDs was superb. The stock earphones even sounded decent compared to 90% of the other stock headphone/earphones out there. We were more then happy with the sound quality, and to our surprise, we even made use of some of the preset EQ settings without major complaint. Along with the Rio500 and Rio600, this is one of the best sounding portable players we've heard.
[...] The Riovolt CD MP3 player has some of the most advanced and comprehensive features of any portable CD MP3 player. It plays all kinds of discs without problems, offers sound quality that easily lays the smack on most other players, and it looks great to boot. And… you can find it for under $150. Cripes. At that price, this player is a steal. That's probably why the Riovolt is one of the most popular portable players you can find today. Bar none.