Outboard DACs

While many hi-fi companies are hardware specialists at heart, and forced to embrace software, Volumio is a rare example of the reverse. Before there was any talk of a company, in 2014 a headless Linux distro dedicated to audio playback called RaspyFi appeared. Created by Michelangelo Guarise, it was intended as an alternative to the clunky software players of the time. This morphed into Volumio OS, which to this day remains an open-source project. In 2015 Volumio formally became a startup, based in Florence. Its first product, launched in 2018, was MyVolumio (now called Volumio Premium), a paid-for version of its software offering extra functions and integrated streaming services.

A move into streaming hardware followed later that year. First up was the aptly named Primo, a versatile – but austere-looking – streamer/DAC. Follow-up devices shifted Volumio into a higher gear, with the triple whammy of the sleeker Rivo [HFN Sep ’23], Integro and second-generation Primo. In 2024 it added the Motivo, a remarkable mash-up of a large touchscreen and headphone DAC/amplifier, and an improved Rivo+. Underpinning these efforts is the constantly updated Volumio software, most recently receiving an AI search function which parses natural language requests. There’s an AI DJ too...