Volumio Rivo sounds better with Volumio than with Audirvana or Roon

Volumio Community Forums
1

Hi All,
just want to share my positive sound experience with Volumio Rivo.
I have been trying out Volumio Rivo since a week now in combination with Qobuz. It is connected to a Ferrum Erco Dac and to a Naim Nac 282/NAP 250 Dr with Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition speakers. It is fed by a Gustav N18 fibre connected to a LHY SW6 switch (externally clocked). The Volumio Rivo output to the DAC via USB through a LHY UIP Usp denoiser.
I have to say the Volumio Rivo sounds very good and is emotionally very engaging. I was really fond of Audirvana direct PC streaming before. Volumio Rivo clearly sounds better in my system: more transparent in the mid range and more emotional. Sound stage is similar to Audirvana. The base is may be slighly less defined in my system than with Audirvana.
To compare the Volumio Rivo with its own software, I used Audirvana with Volumio Rivo over UPNP and also tried with a Roon server on my PC connected to Volumio Rivo.
My ranking is:

  1. Volumio Rivo on its own with the Volumio software
  2. Audirvana with Volumio Rivo over UPNP
  3. Roon server with Volumio Rivo.

I have not used Roon before and found it to be a truly great software that works seemlessly and has a great interface. But the sound is disappointing.
Audirvana with Volumio and Volumio on its own, are almost on par, but in combination with UPNP/Rivo, Audirvana stops working constantly. Something that never happened when I was using Audirvana on its own.
Therefore, i have decided to drop Audirvana and Roon and continue onyl with Volumio Rivo with Qobuz. This means i am letting go of many beloved playlists… Such is life…
I have to say though that Volumio, compared to Roon, is much more buggy. I am willing to cope with it because of the sound. My preference is sound before comfort. Otherwise, i would switch to Roon.

2

:smiley: Great!:smiley:
You shold also try the Rivo with a low noise linear power supply.
I use Ferrum Hypsos now, but any other low noise psu will for sure beat the standard supplied with Rivo.
Happy listening!

3

I am using an Sbooster with the Rivo :star_struck:

1 Like
4

Hello,

Thank you for your kind words and constructive feedback. We greatly appreciate your support and always strive to improve our services.

We are constantly working on enhancing the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), and we are diligently addressing the minor bugs on our to-do list step by step.

We hope you will continue to be patient with us as we make these improvements. We are confident that you will find even greater value in Volumio as we progress.

Best regards,

Davide
Volumio Tech Support

5

Thank you. I think that the main problem had to do with network connectivity:
Volumio Rivo froze very often. The play button became unresponsive; just turning green and it stopped playing tracks. I had to restart the device constantly. Sometimes the problem was resolved and sometimes it persisted after restart. After a while I realized that the reason was very likely that Qobuz could not be reached. The Qobuz content disappeared and the Qobuz connect button would either become unresponsive or call up the web-page of Qobuz and return to Volumio without connecting.
After a while i realized that this had to do with my internet settings. I changed a couple things and now it is running stable already for almost two days without any issues.
The problem here is that the software does not give any error message. Therefore, as a user it is impossible to determine whether the freezing of Volumio has to do with the software, the hardware or the internet connection. Roon and Audirvana, for instance, will show up a message that the network connection is instable or lost. Something like this would have made the beginning of my life with Volumio much more enjoyable. In any case, very much enjoy it now.

6

I have the Primo and had come to the same conclusion. I no longer use Roon or Audrvana. I like the sound of the primo analogue outs but prefer the Burr Brown sound of the iFi Zen Dac 3

1 Like
7

@volumio

This might be an interesting idea.
Monitoring the internet speed to certain threshold, if it goes below the threshold push a toast message?
in pseudo:

const speedTest = require('speedtest-net');
const axios = require('axios');
const SPEED_THRESHOLD = 1000; // Define your speed threshold in Mbps
const CHECK_INTERVAL = 60000; // Interval to check internet speed in milliseconds
const VOLUMIO_URL = 'http://volumio.local'; // Change this to your Volumio device's IP address if needed
const TOAST_MESSAGE = 'Internet speed is below threshold!'

function checkInternetSpeed() { {
 var self = this;
    try {
        const test = speedTest({ acceptLicense: true });
        test.on('data', data => {
            const downloadSpeed = data.speeds.download;
            console.log(`Download speed: ${downloadSpeed} Mbps`);
            if (downloadSpeed < SPEED_THRESHOLD) {
                self.commandRouter.pushToastMessage('warning', "Internet speed", TOAST_MESSAGE);
            }
        });

        test.on('error', err => {
            console.error(`Speed test error: ${err.message}`);
        });
    } catch (error) {
        console.error(`Error running speed test: ${error.message}`);
    }
}

function sendToastNotification(message) {

    try {
        const response = await axios.post(`${VOLUMIO_URL}/api/v1/commands/?cmd=notify`, {
            title: 'Internet Speed Alert',
            message: message,
            duration: 3000 // Duration in milliseconds
        });
        console.log(`Toast notification sent: ${response.status}`);

    } catch (error) {
        console.error(`Error sending toast notification: ${error.message}`);
		
    }
}

setInterval(checkInternetSpeed, CHECK_INTERVAL);
8

Wao. Chapeau… i would like to copy paste this into the Rivo :smiley:

9

don’t do it, it’s just some scribbles, it needs to be adapted to the Volumio framework. it’s just to give the team an idea.

10

No worries, i do not even have the foggiest idea where to look :see_no_evil:

11

Hello, I also think UPNP sounds better than Roon. I’d give mconnect a try. It’s also an archaic interphase but beats Volumio in functionality and stability . Or Jplay which is slick but also slips occasionally. I also have the Wiim Pro Ultra for Chromecast. It just works and has the best sw. But sound quality is no match to Rivo, even with LPS and USB, one hears the price difference.

12

Thanks a lot for the hint. When the summer is over and cold, dark days loom, I may try mconnect. For the moment i am quite happy with the Rivo running with Volumio and nothing else :slight_smile:

3 Likes
13

I had the same problem when I first ran the Rivo wirelessly. It was stuttering and occasionally did not want to connect. I now use a Deco mesh system and the Rivo is connected via ethernet to a Mesh unit, which is connected wirelessly as an access point to my main router. The connection problem has stopped. I reboot my mesh system occasionally and also log out and in of Qobuz perhaps once every two weeks to clear any cache.

I did find that the Rivo will fail to connect to Qobuz after I switch the Rivo off by pressing the front button to turn the light to red. This was resolved by switching off the main power button in the back and reconnecting Qobuz.

1 Like
14

Farad Super3 here… :wink: And I have the Roon Nucleus One with the Sbooster 19v power supply, it sounds much better than running the Rivo by itself. The Roon Nucleus One and these power supplies took the Rivo to new heights. Very happy.

1 Like