So why would I want a Rivo over a Primo? Technically the Rivo does less than the Primo but costs more. What am I missing? Full disclosure I’m completely new to streaming audio.
The Rivo is a great streamer to couple with a great DAC. The Primo is a good streamer with a good dac build in. If you want both in once and are on some kind of budget you’d be better off with the Primo. if you think you’ll gonna upgrade soon after you’d be better of with the Rivo, but you need to have or to buy an external dac in order to use the Rivo
I understand the Rivo requires a DAC. I guess what I’m really asking is why is the Primo less when I will potentially do more?
Primo and Rivo are products for different audience
Primo targets people that want to make use of the excellent DAC onboard, with fine-tuned OPAMP output stage with a novel topology, designed from scratch (you won’t find it on any other streamer). You can connect your power amplifier to the analog output of Primo (balanced or unbalanced) and enjoy your music.
Rivo targets people that already have or want to use an external DAC, feeding it with high-quality digital signals. Bits are bits, but the accurate timing when you send them makes the difference between an excellent product, a good product and a bad one. On Rivo all the digital outputs (USB dedicated to a DAC, SPDIF and AES/EBU) have been designed to provide the best digital signal possible to your external DAC.
Primo does have SPDIF and USB ports too. They work fine and they are good, but not as good as the ones on Rivo, because they lack the additional circuits implemented on Rivo to improve the digital signal quality as much as possible. To summarize, the digital outputs on Primo are good, on Rivo are excellent.
The component used on Rivo to provide a better digital signal quality are more expensive than the components used on Primo to provide an excellent analog signal, this is why Rivo costs more than Primo. Another reason is because Rivo required more R&D effort than Primo, which has also an impact on costs
To summarize:
- On Primo, the optimizations are done on the analog path only
- On Rivo, the optimizations are done in three signal paths: USB, SPDIF and AES/EBU
I hope this explains the different prices of the two products 
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Excellent explanation Darmur!
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I’ve written about my Volumio Rivo in this thread and received excellent advice.
If you happen to be curious about how my Volumio Rivo experience turned out, I write about it here.
The Rivo looks like a great deal!
I am currently using a Primo v1 in bridge mode connected to a Merason Frerot DAC with good (Amanero) USB implementation. I read in this topic that Rivo sounded better than Primo but Primo was used via S/PDIF. I compared Primo coax and USB connection and over USB SQ is is much better.
So after this intro here is my question: will Rivo via USB will be an audible improvement over Primo v1 via USB?
I also read in this topic about Allo Nirvana as a possible upgrade for the PSU. Can I use Allo Nirvana with Primo v1 as well? Nirvana is rated only 5V/2.8A while stock PSU is 5V/3A. So perhaps Nirvana is underpowered?
Thanks.
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Hey Guys,
I’m a rivo owner since the first minute and still like the sound of it very much.
Last week I invested in a new DAC (T+A DAC 200) and I encountered a strange behavior, I played a bit around with DSD Files and Upsampling:
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Everything works fine when I play DSD Direct or DoP from my Windows PC (without rivo in the chain), the upsamping works fine and also playing various DSD Files (some I downloaded in the web, some are converted by myself from FLAC). So the DAC doesn’t seem to be the problem
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When I try to use Volumio and Rivo for that, the things change: Playing DSD 64 Files with DSD Direct results in the DAC playing PCM, playing via DoP seems to work (Display shows DoP64), but the DAC stays in mute, which seems to be a hint for a failure. Both with USB and AES: no music can be played in DSD with rivo.
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And now the strangest thing: When I connect a Standard-Pi4 with Volumio on it via USB to the DAC, everything works fine as expected. DSD Direct (DSD64 and more) and also the same with DoP, the music is played in DSD without any flaw.
So what’s wrong with the Rivo? Is it a known problem?
Volumio/Rivo: 3.449
Volumio/Pi: 3.449
Thanks for any advice
Oliver
Hi Oliver,
thanks for your private message, our tech team already located the issue (which is a combination of your DAC and Rivo) and we are planning an update to fix your issue before the end of the month.
Should you need any more help, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our support
Hi Michaelangelo,
thanks, that is very good to hear - I’m looking forward to install the update. Keep up the good work!
Cheers, Oliver
Hi all,
Considering the Rivo soon when I move to a dedicated DAC. I’ve been running the original Primo for a few years and invested in an Sbooster LPS, which did make a difference, but of course the Primo includes the DAC.
The Rivo is up against the StackAudio Link 2 - which comes with an LPS at around the same price or a little more than Rivo.
Question: Has anyone used an external LPS upgrade with the Rivo? Is it worth it? any audible differences?
(for anyone thinking of saying stack link has no player / UI, I use Roon for library and FLAC files only).
@Mike_Lowndes
I am not sure whether the Link 2 is still available. I had emailed Theo Stack some time back and he said certain parts had become unavailable. Best to check with him directly
theo@stackaudio.co.uk
And yes, I am using an external LPS with my Rivo. I find the Rivo benefits from a better PSU.
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I am seeing the following issue also on my Rivo
There’s reaally nothing out there that competes at this price level.
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I haven’t found an answer to a question that is interesting for us Primo 1 users. I use my Primo 1 with Sbooster via SPDIF at a Lyngdorf 1120 as a digital source. Have any of you heard the Rivo with the Primo as a pure streamer comparison?
As a pure digital streamer, Rivo is far superior compared to Primo. Both with spdif and usb out.
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Hey guys,
I saw in an article that there is a newer version of Rivo out there, without external antennas. Are there any other changes to the hardware in this new revision?
Cheers, Oliver
Maybe you confuse the Rivo for the Primo? The Rivo is a new product with external antennas, but the Primo V1 with external (wifi) antenna has been updated to the current (new) V2 version where the antennas are built in.
