![]() A coaxial barrel jack connects to the 5V DC power supply that comes in the box. There's an HDMI output above an RCA S/PDIF digital output and a Wi-Fi antenna above a pair of stereo analog outputs (RCA). These include a Gigabit LAN connector (RJ45) and four USB 2.0 Type A connectors. There are, of course, inputs and outputs around back. ![]() Aside from "Volumio" and "Primo" discretely printed on the front, there are no indicators or controls anywhere on the box. The Volumio audio board sports multiple low-noise voltage regulators, a high-precision clock, and a top-of-the-ESS-line ES9038Q2M SABRE Reference DAC. The Tinker Board, which you can think of as an alternative to the better-known Raspberry Pi, runs a Rockchip Quad-Core RK3288 CPU with 2GB RAM and 16GB eMMC storage. It is based on a minimalist computing platform, the ASUS Tinker Board S SBC, to which Volumio has added an audio processing board. It comes with OS and software loaded and ready to go. The Primo (619, equivalent to $735 at the time of writing) is the best of this breed. Our expectations have been satisfied with multipotent, proprietary, often expensive audiophile-quality streamers of full-component dimensions and ever-more-complex PC-based boxes such as my Baetis Prodigy-X and the impressive Pink Faun 2.16x I reviewed in our December 2020 issue.Ī refreshing counterpoint to this trend toward bigness and expense has arisen from DIY, hands-on culture: the proliferation of project-based streamers that utilize small, single-board computers (SBCs), generic computers adapted as single-purpose machines running slimmed-down operating systems and relying on external devices for control, display, and storage. In the last 10 years, however, audiophilesincluding mehave come to expect (indeed, demand) more from audio streamers: more formats, higher resolutions, internet streaming, and, for some of us, the frissons of multichannel and DSP. On the other hand, it supported internet radio and had a user-friendly touch-screen display. My experience with streamers began a decade ago with the amazing Logitech Squeezebox Touch, which was not much larger than the Primo, weighed about a pound, and played (at the time) only PCM and MP3 formats. There's a precedent, but it's 10 years oldancient in digital-audio terms. Could such a small, lightweight device do all that and do it with adequate sound? When I unpacked the Primo, I was surprised to find such a small black box. ![]() But I had not experienced any of this for myself. I discovered Volumio's reputation as an efficient, Linux-based music player, installable with an SD card on minimal hardware and said to support virtually all music formats and resolutions including DSD and multichannel. I had learned that the Volumio player software is available for several hardware platforms including Windows, Mac, and Raspberry Pi, but I had not tried it before. Is this all there is to it? I had done some superficial investigations of Volumio online, after the Primo was suggested to me for review.
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