Volumio primo vs raspberry pi

Help and Support
1

Dear Volumiophiles,
I am playing volumio on a raspberry pi with an allo isolators and an allo boss dac 1.2 in a nce case.
This system gets his juice by a lineair power supply and an ifi power adaptor. So indeed two power supplies. I think it sounds great for the money. A weird point is that the lineair power supply is more expensive than the whole system.

I’am interested in the Volumio Primo. The Primo is high on my soon to buy list. But the question is, why should I buy one? The reviews so far are quite positive. There are some remarks about the power supply of the Primo. Is the Primo an upgrade worth concerning my Pi system?

A volumio fan

2

@Darmur
Hi Dario
Can you provide feedback on this question?

3

Unfortunately I don’t know very well the Allo Boss products, I never had the chance of testing them, so I can’t say how big is the eventual improvement when moving to Primo.

One thing to consider is the included premium features with Primo, with no need of a premium subscription, you have them included with the product.

4

I’ve owned and heard for quite long time the Allo Boss (v 1.0), so I can provide you with my (subjective) SQ comparison:

  • Primo is IMHO sound-wise far better, especially when it comes to details and overall tone accuracy. The BOSS is a well sounding DAC but in my opinion it has not a great tone balance (it’s very “bassy”).
  • Primo is powered by the ESS Sabre 9038Q2M, a way superior DAC than the TI PCM5122.
  • IMHO Primo wins on all parameters compared to BOSS (detail, tone balance, 3d image, supported formats, PRAAT).
  • Primo already has a very refined PSU section onboard, which filters quite a lot the incoming voltage from the PSU. Something you will not have on the PI (that’s why using a linear PSU provides far better sound on PI based systems). Also Primo benefits from using a linear PSU, but to a smaller extend compared to PI based systems.

Other side benefits you can consider:

  • Primo is a plug and play product, so no messing around with installs, SD Card reflash etc. And if you ever had one issue, our support specialists are there for you.
  • Primo has a tailored version of Volumio on top, which includes all premium features and has several optimizations dedicated to the onboard DAC and usability. So you get the best possible sound (from the HW) and user experience.

Hope that it helps, if you have further questions please let me know

5

That is a cleary story. Thanks a lott for the response. When buying a primo does I have to register for a new account?

6

No you can use your existing myvolumio account if you have it.
Otherwise registering is not mandatory, but you need to create a free account if you want to browse and install plugins