Figured I’d follow up from my earlier post about trying the Rivo+ vs RS130. This is a post from another topic but I covers my thoughts:
I currently have the RS130. I've been curious of the Volumio Rivo+ based on the stellar reviews and I'm not tied to the display on the RS130. If the Rivo+ sounds as good I'd sell the RS130. So I acquired a Rivo+ with Teddy Pardo LPS and used it the past couple of weeks. I was also curious if I could hear a difference in streamers as I feel the streamer and dac have a smaller influence on the sound of a system compared to the amp, preamp, speakers and listening room. Anyway, the Rivo+ has a very open transparent sound. It has a bit of a forward presentation and sounds very good. I did notice a softening of the leading edges of lower frequencies. I could tell because when I started listening I had to double check that my RELs were back on (I turn them off when changing components around). They were on but I wasn't getting the bass impact I got from the RS130. Now that I've put the RS130 back in it sounds a bit more refined to me. The Rivo+ does light up every detail which gives it that transparent open sound, but I think that it also brings things forward in a way that slightly flattens the soundstage. The R130 sounds deeper and just as resolving, but the sounds that are supposed to sound further away and slightly softer do sound further away, giving the music more scale. Now, I think most people would be perfectly happy with either streamer. I didn't feel like the music was any less enjoyable on the Rivo+ than the 130, just a slightly different presentation. The main reason I'm keeping the 130 vs the Rivo+ is because my wife does like the display on the 130. And, when my wife and I listen to music we both stream from our phones and "DJ" back and forth. She likes Tidal's app because she knows it, even though with the 130 we're just using Airplay as it doesn't do Tidal Connect. I use Roon. The reason I'm mentioning this is when we "DJ" back and forth, a few times the Rivo+ would disappear from our phones once I connected to Roon, so my wife couldn't take control again without rebooting the device. Maybe its something we're doing but its a dealbreaker as my wife's enjoyment of our system is at one of highest priorities. Even if something sounds better, if she doesn't like it or like using it I move on. Sometimes she comes around to liking something she didn't initially like but I'd rather have her listen with me and enjoy it. Based on that, I'm keeping the 130 and will be selling the Rivo+ and LPS, but I do recommend the Rivo+ as for the money it sounds excellent. And, after going back and forth, I still think the influence of the streamer and dac in a system are not nearly as strong as the room, speakers, amp and preamp.
