Santa Clara, Calif.— As part of its effort to move compressed audio off the PC and into A/V systems, SONICblue has begun shipping the $299-suggested Rio EX1000 microsystem, which plays MP3 CDs.
Audio products VP David Huffman called it “the first mass market home audio product” from SONICblue.
The 120-watt biamped system follows the February shipment of the $1,499-everyday Rio Central Audio Center, which features 40GB drive and a CD-RW burner that can rip or burn in either MP3 or WMA files.
Last year, the company shipped its first home audio product, the Rio Receiver, which enables a connected A/V system to play music residing on a PC’s hard drive in another room. The Receiver connects to the PC via Ethernet or phone wires.
