Each year, dozens of European journalists gather to select the best electronic products of the year. Awarded by a diverse and impartial jury, the EISA (Expert Imaging and Sound Association) awards recognize exceptional products for their performance, design, or ergonomics.
The iF Design Awards, created in 1953, represent one of the world's leading design competitions. Each year, it attracts over 1,800 participants from 30 different countries. The jury, composed of globally renowned designers, not only examines and selects the chosen products but also adheres to stringent requirements to maintain a high-quality label.
The Volumio Rivo is a network audio player designed to offer an unparalleled audio experience for music enthusiasts. This innovative device, created by the renowned Italian audio company Volumio, operates on the open-source Volumio 3 operating system, which provides an intuitive and customizable user interface. Installing plugins, including those from major streaming services, is easily done via the web interface or the Volumio mobile app.
The Volumio Rivo takes a unique approach by offering a fully digital architecture, thus eliminating the need for an internal DAC. This design choice aims to minimize potential interference, ensuring optimal performance of the streamer and the connected external DAC or amplifier.
The main goal of the Rivo is to deliver bit-perfect playback and preserve the integrity of the digital signal throughout its journey to the digital outputs. This is achieved through the implementation of proprietary error correction and resynchronization technology, ensuring that the digital signal reaches the DAC in its purest form, without any filtering or alteration.
To further enhance the precision and stability of the audio signal, the Volumio Rivo uses a meticulously designed power management system. The main power supply benefits from filtering based on a series of inductors and electrolytic capacitors, ensuring a clean and stable current supply.
Multiple dedicated power supplies are used to isolate the different sections of the device, with a dedicated transformer for the internal clock and its stabilization circuit. These carefully designed components work in harmony to optimize signal purity, resulting in more transparent and detailed audio reproduction.
The Volumio Rivo supports a wide range of audio formats, including DSD, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, Vorbis, CUE, and MP3, among others. This extensive format support ensures that users can enjoy their entire music library without limitations.
In addition to local file playback, the Rivo also functions as a UPNP/DLNA player with Open Home support, allowing seamless integration with compatible devices and applications.
The device also offers built-in support for popular streaming services such as Spotify (including Spotify Connect), TIDAL (including TIDAL Connect), and Qobuz. Users can further extend the Rivo’s capabilities with plugins available for services like YouTube, Squeezelite, Radio Paradise, Podcasts, Pandora, Fusion DSP, Roon Bridge, SoundCloud, and Mixcloud.
Under the hood, the Volumio Rivo is powered by a quad-core Amlogic S905D3 processor clocked at 1.9 GHz, paired with 2 GB of DDR4 RAM and 16 GB of internal eMMC storage. This robust hardware configuration ensures smooth operation and responsive performance, even when handling high-resolution audio files.
The sleek and minimalist design of the Rivo, crafted by Design Narratives Ltd., adds a touch of elegance to any audio setup. Measuring 27x15x5 cm and weighing 2.25 kg, the device strikes a perfect balance between form and function.
The Volumio Rivo comes preloaded with the latest version of the Volumio operating system, Volumio AI. This innovative OS introduces Supersearch, an AI-powered search feature designed to optimize music discovery and create personalized playlists based on user preferences.
The Rivo also features multi-room capability, allowing users to create an integrated audio environment with other Volumio stations throughout their home. This feature enables synchronized playback across multiple devices, providing a seamless and immersive listening experience.
Damien
I've paired my Volumio Rivo with a Denefrips Ares II DAC which has resulted in a great digital front end, on par with my CD Transport and Record players. Having recently tried a few all in streamers and being disappointed with them. Comes highly recommended, from someone who doesn't value a screen and loads of different options todays streamer, I'm just interested in the sound.
Comment from March 17, 2025 — Experience from March 06, 2025
