I am one of the lucky guys that got one of the first batch Volumio Rivo Streamers in September…
It is a pure digital source. Basicly a High End Volumio Player without DAC. High quality digital signal including all Premium features of Volumio. Since one week with the latest firmware update it’s “roon ready”.
My set up:
The Rivo is feeding via coaxial out a self build pure digital 3- way loudspeaker System based on Hypex AS 2/100 amps with DSP. Also a Sabaj Headphone DAC/Amp Combo is connected to the Rivo by USB. Before the Rivo I had a Raspi 3 with HiFi digi pro hat (ropieee xl) or a Volumio Primo as a scource for the Speakers. The Sound with the Rivo was more relaxed with more hearable details -a friend said more analogue. I think in some way it is the easiest way to discribe the difference.
I was totally surprised that there was a significant difference in Soundquality I had not expected that.
I also connected the Rivo to my NAD M33 but I did not recognized a significant improvement in comparison to the internal streamer.
I took the Rivo with me to a Demo of the Lyravox Karlotta at Lyravox in Hamburg and the guys at Lyravox were surprised about the sound quality of the Rivo in coparison to some very expensive streamers and I was surprised about the Sound Quality of the Karlotta - one of the best sound experiences I ever had - but this is a diffrent story. Important is that this little streamer is so good that it can beat much more expensive Streamers like the Rhein or Grimm Audio streamers.
There is a weak part . The power supply of the Rivo is the same as the one that was supplied with the Primo and it is not good. When I simply connect my Dragonfly Red and the Rivo is only connected via WiFi there is a hearable noise. Changing the power supply to a better one (I simply took a Mean Well 5V 3 A PS and ad three filmcaps) it was without any noise.
Cheers
Christian
I think originally Volumio it was just a operating system. Maybe that is why they are not listed. I have 3 volumio installed, very old white MacBook, one iMac 2009 and one hp 2014, all of the are working only as Roon Bridge. It was easier for me to install volumio then other linuxes. All of them work perfect. Maybe it takes time for the volumio hardware to be listed.
Roon Ready is a Roon tested device (endpoint) and it will appear on the Roon Partner page once approved. Roon Ready devices generally include greater integration between Roon and the end point device. Typically it allows the endpoint to show the track being played on a display and control Roon playback to some degree.
Roon Tested are generally just DACs that have been tested by Roon.
Raspberry Pis/Pcs/Macs etc can run Roon Bridge as an endpoint, and is a separate piece of software to just allow discovery and playback from Roon.
So you will not find a Mac or Pi on the tested endpoints, just special builds as Allo (allo dac hat on pi I think). I did read the Parteners page, but my brain spins. Thank You for you patience.
I remembered iFi zen stream uses Volumio and it is in the Roon Ready list. So maybe it just a time question until the Rivo gets into the list. It is a jungle, Cambridge Audio 200 M (Dac with no streamer) first batch had the Roon Ready logo on the package
Nice to have some European made products at this end of the market as as good as the Rendu’s are, it isn’t exactly pain free importing to the EU form the USA.
Maybe I was a bit early with sharing the information. I recognized yesterday evening that the symbol for the Rivo has changed. Last week a nice little Rivo was there now only a Speaker Symbol as the playing device. Also now it shows it is not certified but still working and listed roon ready. I will ask Volumio…
Cheers
Christian
The first Streams released also used Roon Bridge and it took about 8 months before it became fully Roon ready (yes they sneakily used the Roon ready logo).
Most of the user’s did not actually know any different though and when it became RR we actually lost some features. Roon Bridge works really well for most circumstances.
