Volumio Rivo first impressions

The Rivo has arrived Friday. Yesterday I could do some tests.
Lovely Product! The installation was easy and the Rivo works without any issues . For the first Test I have used the Coaxial Digital in of my NAD M33. In comarision to a Raspi 3 with Hifiberry Digi Pro Head (self build power supply) using the second coaxial in of the M33. Listen to qubuz and Tidal also tried the roon bridge. First of all I was surprised that there is a hearable diffrence in the sound. But for me it is difficult to put it in exact words. Because there is no change in tonality, no bass boot or something like that. It sounds more analytical not brighter simply more contrast. More accurate? Honestly I canā€™t tell you if in this setup for me itā€™s sounds better or not. Itā€™s simply different .
In the end the Rivo should feed my DIY pure digital 3 way Loudspeakersystem. At the moment I am using the digital out of my Primo in that configuration. So there will be the next comparison between the Rivo and Primo.Later I would like to ad a DAC Headphone AMP combo via USB to the Rivo. But at the moment I am not so sure what sort of DAC I should buy.
Anyhow I am happy to have the Rivo.

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Hi,

Hi. and did you find the wifi antennas immediately :wink: ?

The sound is fine. Here Rivo is connected over USB to a RME ADI2DAC FS.
Next Days I will try the ā€œdirectā€ Way over AES/XLR to my GGNTKT M1 Speakersā€¦ Exciting Timesā€¦ :wink:

Have Fun and BR Stephan

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So happy to read such satisfied feedbacks! Really proud after more than 2 years of work to bring it to life :wink:

Canā€™t wait to hear your further impressions :wink:

Where can we get one?

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Rivo will be officially on sale in early October, here on our online store and in the best hifi stores worldwide.

Those people posting here are part of a limited sale that we offered to a selected group of loyal volumioners.

So, a little more patience :wink:

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Yes I saw them right after opening the package. By the way I think the packaging is nice and without plastic!
The power supply gives room for finetuning I think I will build a extra one. Cheers Christian

I am not a patient person :slight_smile:
I do spend my money in early adoptions ā€¦ so next time include me in this selected groupā€¦

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I will ask our sales manager to contact you

Itā€™s a very good sounding device. I just plug it into my DIY digital Speaker system build with dsp controlled Hypex AS2.100D Modules. That is realy an significant improvement in comparision to the Primo! Listen to ā€œdonā€™t look backā€ ( Rick and Morty Season 4) and I was touched instandly by the clear and more precise performance. Great! In this setup it is the bigger step up and more significant then at the M33.
One thing was a bit strange: I had to start the rivo twice before it was recognized in the network (wireless). I think it has something to do with plugging in the coaxial cable while the Rivo is turned on? It seems that is quite a fragil point in the software? Have I done something wrong?

Cheers
Christian

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That should not to be the case, we will have a look and try to reproduce your issue. For sure itā€™s not related to the connection of the COAX cable with the device turned on, most probably is a SW issue we can fix with an update.

I will check it tonight again.
Cheers
Christian

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I canā€™t reproduce the problem so it is not a problem;). Is it possible that the wireless connection is automaticly going down when the cable connection is there and the wireless signal is too strong because the router is only 50cm away? Cheers Christian

Hi Christian,

it should not be the case, but we will check it anyhow

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Hi!
It seems that the WLAN issue has to do with the Mesh structure of my home network. Wifi connection is only possible to one of the Mesh points (I got three in our house). Hope you can fix it with the next update.
Also an external USB CD drive with an audio CD is not recognized. So at the moment it looks like I canā€™t playback CDā€™s.Did I do something wrong with ā€œmy Volumioā€ that I create a new account?
Cheers
Christian

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Iā€˜m curious about the magic inside the Rivo. What DAC technology, PSU, Computing device, tech specs.

Best Regards
Josef

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Hi Josef,
no DAC it is a pure digital streaming device. As far as I understand it the ā€œmagicā€ is taking care of electrical noise internaly. Seperation of power supply for the diffrent parts and here I am guessing - maybe reclocking?
Honestly I was skeptical if itā€™s worth to buy the extra expensive streamer but at the moment I think soundwise it was the right decision. Itā€™s a step up in comparison to a Pi with digi Hat or the digital out of the Primo. Maybe I can check it against a Lumin or Antipodes Streamer. I think a comparison to a Innuos Pulse mini would be quite interessting too.
Cheers
Christian

Hmm, seems a number of things built in ā€˜for freeā€™ here we have to pay a sub for with the Primo: Manifest for one, and CD rippingā€¦

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What about the Analog out of the Primo vs your NAD DAC?

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Hi Mike!
The Primo is not for working with the NAD M33 and it is not a DAC itā€™s a streaming amp. I think the Primo sounds on the same Level like a mid class SMSL Dac. But I am sure you will find a lot of comparisons.And yes the RIVO has all included, Tidal Connect is working perfect and also the roon integration via the plugin works fine.
Cheers
Christian

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CD playback should work out-of-the-box with Rivo, all the premium features have been included. Please make sure you connect your CD-DVD drive to the USB port next to the ethernet connector, it is the USB port able to provide 900mA of current (the other ones are limited to 500mA)