Sound Quality Testing:

For the sound quality portion of this I was not sure of how to test it, so I thought I would pull out my headphones, turn up the volume, and give it a whirl. For testing purposes only I choose to use the earphones that came free with the Rio Volt, and my Sony MDR-V600 Headphones that I have had for a while now. For the testing phase I will listen to a song first with the earphones, then with the headphones, and I will compare, and evaluate. I wanted to let you know that I did pay for my Sony MDR-V600 Headphones of $130.00 dollars. They are very nice, so that might make my comments, or suggestions sway to the earphones, or the headphones for one reason or another.

When I had first turned on the Rio Volt, and after I did the firmware upgrade too version 2.00, I choose to listen to a few songs on my CD. When the song first started up it sounded really muffled, and did not sound right at all. So with some fussing with the built in Equalizer, and messing with the headphones, and earphones, I have come to the conclusion that the in-line remote is causing the muffled noise. I have plugged my Sony headphones, and the earphones both into the In-Line remote control, and with both instance's it sounded muffled on all the songs I played. So to solve this I plugged the earphones, and the headphones directly into the Rio Volt, without the in-line remote control, and wow it sounds AWESOME!!!

With more fiddling around, and turning the Rio Volt on, and off a few times, I have seemed to fix the muffled problem. So now I'm able to use the in-line remote control with the earphones, or my headphones, and it sounds perfectly clear. WOW this sounds great!!!

Sound Quality Tested with:
- Earphones that came with Rio Volt
(Cost: Free Came with it)
And
- Sony MDR-V600 Headphones.
(Cost $130.00 MSRP)

Here our Pictures of the Sony Headphones, and the Earphones that came with the Rio Volt. The volume was turned up to "35" for the testing, 40 is the max.

For my first song I was eager to hear what a really loud, and ear screaming song would sound through both the earphones, and the headphones. I decided to choose "Godsmack - Greed"

Loud Song Comments:

Earphones: - From the get go this song packs a punch. With the volume up at 35 my ears are starting to feel the wrath of the song, but the song stays nice and clear, with little or no sound problems. You CAN hear the song if your standing next to me.

Headphones: - So far at the beginning of the song, everything is sounding as they did in the earphones, but my headphones it sounds a bit more enclosed, and that the sound is being directed towards my ears instead of outwards into space. I can feel the base a bit more, and the effects of the song. The sound quality remains the same from earphones to headphones at 3min into the song.

Next I wanted to get something a little bit mellow since I have a headache now. I choose my mellow song "Britney Spears - Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know"

Mellow Song Comments:

Earphones: - For a second song with a little Britney is always good on the ears, and for everyone that does not like just punk, or rock. This song sounds great with the earphones. At 1min into the song, I can hear every word, and all the vocals in the background. The one thing I do worry about is that the sound is not just going into my ear, but to everyone that is around me will also be listening to Britney while I jam out! I'm going on 3:15sec in to he song and throughout the whole song so far is has been very clear.

Headphones: - From the start of the song it sounds very superb to the earphones. The sound is well balanced, and very clear. I'm amazed of how well this sounds WOW, at 1min 5sec there was a great bass and raise in the volume of the song and I'm really feeling it. Britney is blasting into my ears, and I have little worries now since it sounds great, and I can hear, and feel every word

Next I wanted to test out how these babies work on a little bit of that rap, so I choose one of my favorite rap songs "DMX - Feat Ruff Ryder's - Stop Drop."

Rap Song Comments:

Earphones: - The start of this song does not get into it till about 5secs, and then it starts hitting hard with base. I love this song, and I can sing about every word to it, and with the earphones up at 35 so can everyone around me hear every word that is being sung, but they can also sing along This song does packs huge punch in my car system with the subs, but with little or no base support from the earphones the base it muffled, or distorted. But the song still does sound right, and is still clear. At the 2:40sec mark there is a huge base portion of the song, and this is where the earphones lack any base support. Overall sounded great, but I wish the base in the song were clearer.

Headphones: - As I said in the earphone part the song doesn't take off until about 5 secs into the song, but I can already heard the BASE! Man, the base really sounds great. I can hear every word, with the smooth sounds of the base. I can feel the base on my ears throughout the whole song. I can also hear every little beat and part of the song.

Conclusion of Sound Quality:

The Sony headphones are of course better than the Rio Volt earphones that came with it. The main thing I looked over while listening to the songs was the lack of base support, and with the volume turned up to "35" everybody was clearly able to heard what I was listening to compared to the headphones where they were enclosed around my ears and the songs was directed towards my ears, and had the padding around the headphones to prevent, or help the escape of sound drifting away.

The headphones are really good for a long car ride, or for a place where there is a crowd of people around and you don't want everyone to hear what your listening too. The headphones are a bit expensive at $130.00 and are a big for some people. On the other hand the Earphones will do the job just right for you, with no questions asked. I like how small and compact they are compared to my headphones.

The Rio Volt traveled with me for some time so I could play with it, and use it on my 45min journal to school on a public transportation max-train. Each day I brought the Rio Volt with me, and on the first day I went to school I had taken my headphones to see how user-friendly they were on a max-train with tons of people and how easy they were to use. Well to tell you, the second day I used the earphones from there on out of my testing phase. The earphones were so much easier to travel with, and to stuff into my pocket when needed. The earphones sounded great, but I still had to worry about the other people that I was sitting by to make sure that did not get made at me for having my music too high. The Rio Volt was very nice to have since it was so nice to have on my journey to school. The 45min trip was much nicer to go on since I have the Rio Volt to comfort me.

Now on to the conclusion.........