- The new Volumio Motivo music player, which Volumio srl. is presenting at High-end 2024, is designed as a desktop audio system with an integrated 8-inch touchscreen.
The beautiful city of Florence is home to the development company Volumio slr, which has been attracting attention with innovative solutions for years. The Italians focus on streaming, specifically on the extremely flexible streaming platform Volumio OS. What was initially designed solely as software has long since been available in the form of its own hardware solutions, although the company has now come up with a very special system.
Volumio srl. will be presenting the new Volumio Motivo at High-end 2024 in Munich, a streaming client that shines above all with particularly intuitive control, as it is designed as a desktop audio system and features an 8-inch touchscreen display. A headphone amplifier is also implemented here.
For music lovers, by music lovers
The new Volumio Motivo has once again been designed true to the motto of the Florence-based company, which is “For music lovers, by music lovers!”. The decision in favour of the special design as a so-called console device and thus a desktop audio solution is intended to offer the user the opportunity to access content on the network particularly conveniently and easily.
According to the manufacturer, however, it is not just the aforementioned, generously sized 8-inchIPS multipoint touch display alone that should allow this intuitive control, but also a large rotary encoder that can also be found directly on the top. This is presented in striking red anodised aluminium.
At this point, it is worth mentioning that the housing of the new Volumio Motivo is also made of aluminium, with a matt black anodised finish.
Flexible streaming platform with high performance
The new Volumio Motivo is based on a Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core CPU with 1.5 GHz, which is supported by 2 GB of DDR4 RAM. The Volumio OS operating system is stored in the internal memory, which is built with 16 GB of EMMC.
It can be connected to the network either via an RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet interface or via WiFi, which complies with the IEEE 802.11ac standard. Bluetooth 5.0 is also available here and storage media can be connected via two USB 2.0 ports. These are supplied with up to 900 mA per USB-A port, meaning that external USB hard drives can usually also be used without any further external power supply, as the manufacturer promises.
Use as a streaming transport
The USB ports can also be used to integrate an external D/A converter; the Volumio Motivo supports audio data in Linear PCM with up to 32 bit and 768 kHz and DSD up to DSD512 as a pure streaming transport.
Audio data with up to 24 bit and 384 kHz or DSD256 can be output via the I2S designed as HDMI, while the coaxial and optical S/PDIF interfaces of the Volumio Motivo allow audio data with up to 24 bit and 192 kHz.
Integrated converter from ESS Technology Inc.
The Volumio Motivo can also be used as a streaming client, as it has an integrated converter from specialist ESS Technology Inc. This is an ESS Sabre ES9038 DAC, which can process audio signals in Linear PCM with up to 24 bit and 384 kHz as well as DSD up to DSD256.
Analogue signals are output either via a pair of unbalanced RCA connections or a pair of balanced XLR connections, which, like all other interfaces on the Volumio Motivo, can be found at the rear.
This also includes the connection for headphones, which is a so-called dual output designed as two 6.3 mm stereo jack sockets, one of which is optimised for headphones with high impedances and the other for models with low impedances, according to the manufacturer’s promise.
It should also be mentioned that the new Volumio Motivo is powered by an external 9 V 4 A power supply unit, which is of course included in the scope of delivery.
Access to all relevant content
When it comes to the software, as already mentioned, Volumio OS is also the flexible platform of the new Volumio Motivo. Not only can users access their own content on the network as a dlna-certified UPnP streaming client, as well as via CIFS/ SMB and NFS, they can also utilise a wide range of offers on the web, there are also various options for using content from the Volumio Motivo on other solutions in the network and for controlling the Volumio Motivo in a wide variety of ways.
The Volumio Motivo not only supports TIDAL via TIDAL Connect, Spotify via Spotify Connect, it can access HIGHRESAUDIO as well as Qobuz, Bandcamp, Pandora, Internet Radio, Podcasts and YouTube, Apple AirPlay 2 is also supported via Shairport Sync and the solution is labelled as Roon-ready.
The Volumio OS operating system ensures that the user is always presented with a clear user interface and that content is optimised and easy to find, for example by means of music recognition with AI DJ with Supersearch and Infinity Playback.
Volumio OS also allows versatile control over the network, whether via a web browser or the special app.
Volumio OS can also be used to make content from the Volumio Motivo available to other streaming systems in the network, and it is also possible to play audio CDs and rip CDs if an external USB CD-ROM drive is connected to the Volumio Motivo.
As the Volumio Motivo, as already mentioned several times, is designed as a desktop audio system, it is of course particularly exciting that it has an alarm function as well as a sleep timer, which should be explicitly emphasised in conclusion.
“The Motivo is a big step forward for the everyday music streaming experience. Combining style, simplicity and an incredibly powerful interface, the Motivo will elevate the streaming enjoyment factor for every user. This is the beginning of the next streaming revolution, and the Motivo is a must-have for every music lover’s home entertainment system.”
Michelangelo Guarise, founder and CEO of Volumio srl.
Prices and availability
The new Volumio Motivo music player will be presented for the first time on a large scale at the High-end 2024 in Munich, but can be pre-ordered now from the distributor audioNEXT GmbH. The recommended retail price is listed at € 1.749,-.
Getting to the point
The solutions from Italian specialist Volumio srl. have already impressed not only with their flexible streaming platform Volumio OS, but also with their sophisticated hardware concepts. With the new Volumio Motivo Music Player, the company from Florence is now presenting a particularly exciting system that is designed for the first time as a console device and therefore ideal as a desktop audio system.
| PRODUCT | Volumio Motivo Music Player |
|---|---|
| Price | € 1.749,- |
| BRAND | VOLUMIO |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Volumio |
| Distribution | audioNEXT GmbH |
| More about this manufacturer at HIFI BLOG |
