Up till now Volumio only offered network player software for small board computers like the Raspberry Pi.
Free software for consumers and OEM versions for manufacturers.
But now Volumio introduced their first network player hardware, the Primo.
I have reviewed the Volumio version 2 software two years ago, you might want to view this video too.
I used a Raspberry Pi with HiFiBerry sound card then.
Now you can buy a complete package from Volumio
that you just have to connect to your network and your stereo.
Then you use a browser on your computer, tablet or smartphone to control the Primo.
Most people start networking audio with music on their computer.
This computer is connected to the internet over a network cable to the router.
The Volumio Primo needs to be connected to the router as well, using a network cable.
You could also use a wifi connection in stead of the network cable but if in your neighbourhood
many wifi access points are active, this might be less reliable.
The analog outputs of the Primo are connected to an Aux or line input on your stereo and
you're set.
Alternatively you could connect a USB drive holding music or use a network attached storage
- NAS for short - containing your music.
A NAS basically is a hard disk that has a network connector.
If you have active speakers - speakers with built-in amplifiers - you just connect the
Primo directly to the speakers over analog RCA cables or a digital SPDIF cable.
The Primo is housed in a very sturdy metal housing that measures 171 by 120 by 40 millimetres.
The front only contains the Volumio and Primo logos.
The rear contains the gigabit network connector, four USB2 sockets, a 5 volt DC input for the
supplied power brick, an SPDIF output on RCA, a stereo analogue output on two RCA's, the
wifi antenna and the HDMI output.
The latter can be used with a USB connection for a touch screen but it can also output
audio to an AV receiver.
The Primo uses an Asus Tinkerboard S small board computer in stead of the more popular
Raspberry Pi.
The ethernet connector and the four USB ports are indeed those of the Tinkerboard.
Since Volumio has versions of the software for a range of small board computers, I suppose
they liked the performance of the Tinkerboard S the most.
Let's see why.
The Tinkerboard S runs a quad-core Rockchip RK3288 ARM processor up to 1.8 GHz which is
faster than the processor on the Pi.
The advantage of the ARM processor is that it can easily speed down if speed is not needed
which will of course reduce noise.
The faster graphics processor will be of no consequence unless this GPU is used for DSP
functions.
The 2TB dual channel DDR3 memory is twice that of the Pi and faster.
The d/a-converter is also better than the Pi, but this is not used in the Primo.
The gigabit ethernet port has its own controller as where the Pi uses the USB 2 controller
and thus limiting the speed to 100Mbit.
The Wifi B/G/N radio has an i-PEX connector that facilitates the use of an external antenna.
Given the metal housing, this keeps away the wifi signal from the audio electronics.
Very nice is the 16 GB eMMC memory that functions as the system drive.
This is not only faster than the microSD card in the Pi, it is also more robust.
The 'soundcard', so to speak, differs from the usual HAT boards used by Raspberry
Pi's in that it is over twice as big.
It uses an isolator, two voltage regulators and for the DAC chip a low dropout voltage
regulator.
The latter provides a very stable voltage, which is important for a high quality digital
to analog conversion.
The conversion is done by the ESS Sabre 9028QM DAC that does PCM up to 32 bit 384 kHz and
DSD up to DSD256.
The clock oscillator is placed very close by to keep jitter to a minimum.
The DoP DSD signal is converted to a DSD stream by this programmable logic device.
The so called GPIO connector is for making contact with the Tinkerboard that is situated
so that it is clear of the audio electronics.
When switched on the first time, you use a browser on your computer, smartphone or tablet
to select the options that fit you best.
Type volumio.local in the address bar and the Primo user interface will pop-up.
See my review of the Volumio 2 software.
After all is set-up, Volumio will start to build up a catalog of your music and when
that is done, you're set to go.
New in the current version of Volumio - version 2.5 - is that two levels of extra options
are available: Virtuoso and Superstar.
Both offer Tidal and Qobuz functionality - you still need to subscribe to these streaming
services separately - and automatic syncing of personal items.
See the MyVolumio.org website for details.
Apps for Android and iOS are also available at small money and highly recommendable.
The sound quality is remarkably good given the 400 euros price tag.
That's the same price as the Sonos Connect that only does sampling rates up to 48 kHz.
But even at cd-quality - 44.1 kHz 16 bit sampling - the Primo by far outperforms the Connect
on sound quality.
It is in the same league as the Bluesound Node 2, although slightly different in character,
more rounded, milder.
I would easily grant it a place in my setup 2, be it on the lower end.
Under no conditions the Primo sounds unpleasant but it doesn't have the resolution and transients
of the Mojo, drive by the Allo USBridge with sBooster power supply that normally provides
the music in my setup 2.
And it better, at toe and a half times the price.
Remarkably enough using an sBooster with the Primo doesn't bring that much more sound
quality.
It does clean up the highs a bit but it does that also when adding an iFi iPower power
supply costing clearly less.
This must be the result of proper isolation of power circuits.
Sound wise The Primo is a winner in its class.
Up till now I reviewed the Volumio software as being free.
And it is the best I know in this class.
But it is also basic, far more basic than the Sonos and Bluesound software while you
have to get a subscription for the use of the Tidal and Qobuz add-ons.
Roon endpoint functionality is being worked on and will be added later on.
The software of Sonos and Bluesound offer far more streaming services to subscribe to
and without extra charge.
They also support Multiroom.
So that makes the Volumio Primo the right choice for people that play their own music
from a share or hard disk and like the simplicity of the Volumio software.
Not everyone is always happy with a lot of options.
And if Volumio does what you need, the Primo offers very good sound quality and build quality
for the money.
In the mean time the stack of review samples is growing fast with all kinds of interesting
products.
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I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com.
And whatever you do, enjoy
the music.
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