The Volumio Primo lands in the USA

[AudioThesis]

I've been here long enough to get a vibe for the forum and I think this might be of interest to several here. This is something I've been working on since before joining and this is my first public announcement.

I'm proud to announce that I have teamed up with Volumio to bring the Primo to the US market. We have been in discussions for a while now - prior to the Stereophile review in the February issue - and we are now moving full steam ahead.

The Primo itself is built around an ASUS Tinkerboard and uses the browser-based Volumio software to control it. Included with the purchase is a lifetime Superstar membership. It can also be used as a Roon endpoint or integrated with squeezebox. It offers native support for Tidal and Qobuz, which I am personally really enjoying. Because the Volumio software is browser-based, you can truly use any device to control it. Just go to myvolumio.org, login to your account, select the device, and start playing music.

The US price is $849. This is also available in Canada and retails for CAN $1099 through Motet Distribution.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Cool piece, I see that it can access NAS shares, and presumably access USB connected storage devices too for local library purposes. Any indication from Volumio on library size limits?

While I have used Volumio and Moode extensively on Raspberry Pi, that low powered hardware doesn't do well with very large libraries, the larger the library/more tracks, the slower and more laggy the response when utilized as a server. The RPi is really better suited as an endpoint only in that regard.

Our own @John Frum had this specific problem on his RPi-based instance of Volumio, and Moode users have reported the same when trying to use the unit as a server to index/catalog and play very large libraries. My own instances have only been using Volumio or Moode as endpoints, with the server duty pulled elsewhere, but I'm curious what the ASUS Tinkerboard S can do in terms of mitigating that problem on the lower powered RPi, does Volumio specify any library size or track limits for local or NAS-based storage?

 

[AudioThesis]

If I recall correctly Kal asked them about that in his Stereophile review and it was 40,000 tracks.

 

[seanshankus]

I'm really interested in this. It seems this could work as both a server & just player. From the player side, what other players would you compare this to? I don't see a lot in this price range that hits all the digital formats I'm interested in. I'm thinking this could suit my needs for a few years until i can get a higher end streamer and/or integrated amp.

 

[AudioThesis]

Where you are starting, this would be a really good choice which is why I recommended it in your thread. While the Lumin are superior, it can take quite a bit more investment to achieve those results.

The points you outline are what interested me in it. I’ve been impressed with the dedication the Volumio team has and they have handled their business exactly as I would so I have strong confidence not only in the product, but it’s future in the industry.

Compared to those products close to it in price, I feel it sounds superior to bluesound while offering more playback support, it is cleaner sounding than the Cambridge cxn with a more enjoyable user experience, and sound wise is comparable to the ZENmini while offering a true native app.