Does anybody here have any experience with the Volumio Rivo streamer?

[ChrisFromDublin]

https://volumio.com/en/product/volumio-rivo/

 

Just curious,

Chris

 

PS. I have 0.000% relation to the company or anybody selling it.

[jacobacci]

See here

https://community.volumio.org/t/volumio-rivo-first-impressions/57816

[ChrisFromDublin]

9 hours ago, jacobacci said:

See here

https://community.volumio.org/t/volumio-rivo-first-impressions/57816

 

Ha ha, you're the reason I'm asking. 😆 Thanks for your amazingly great tips in a thread over at the Volumio Forum.

I asked in this forum because I wanted to hear from experienced audiophiles who are NOT active on the Volumio forum. There might be people here at Audiophile Style who aren't so happy with Volumio that they've joined that other forum. 

[feelingears]

I got one of the early Rivos because I wanted each of these specific features which I felt important in my experience and which Rivo offered at a reasonable price (no DIY for me, thanks):

• DNLA for use with Audirvana
• Airplay 1 for iTunes (not forcing me to go to Airplay 2 for Apple Music)
• AES output for use with my DAC
• Ability to use third party DC power supply
• Obvious attention to build quality for noise, etc.
• Reasonable quality software with history of support

At the time there were not many streamers that seemed to offer high build quality with all these set up quirks of mine for less than $1000. If Volumio sounded good then that would be a bonus. I’ll say right up front that I don’t find Volumio to sound good; but it’s passable. Audirvana and iTunes are preferable for me, and iTunes works reliably and quickly. Can’t say the same for Volumio, sorry.

 

I think the biggest sound quality upgrade is my Uptone Audio power supply. But, I would imagine that the Rivo sounds good even with the standard switching supply in most systems. 
 

Since this was released, I have not seen much promotion nor any reviews on major sites. And, iFi released a couple of new streamers at prices below the Rivo, so you might check those out first.

 

 I’m happy with my purchase but I’m not sure I would recommend it to anyone wanting full plug and play. I would buy it again for myself however because of all the things it enables me to have in one set up. (What I really want is a dCS Network Bridge!) And all the R-pi peeps will tell you how easy those are…so that’s an option for the adventurous.