Verdict
Volumio has envelop its software in some aluminium and entered the consumer electronics marketplace , and while some people lie with a disruptor , in the case of the Integro amplifier , not all disruption is positive .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Volumio begin life building Linux - free-base software package designed for audio playback – those with the confidence and skills can load the Volumio OS onto a PC , Raspberry Pi or alike and build their own music role player . The software program is free .
Those of us who involve the technical stuff done for us , though , can now enjoy an end product : this Integro integrated stereo amplifier with web abilities and a earphone socket . This , of course , means Volumio is rig itself up in opposition to any number of company who have nifty heritage , greater visibility and – let ’s be true – greater credibleness where this variety of thing is concerned .
Disrupt is a word I dislike in this variety of context , but in this instance there ’s no way of avoiding it : Volumio intends to disrupt the marketplace .
The Volumio Integro incorporated web amplifier is on sale now , and in the United Kingdom it cost whatever the sterling / euro exchange pace happens to be on that day you order it . It sells for € 1199 on Volumio ’s own website , and send to the UK is devoid .
It ’s a similar deal for Australian customers – so on the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. I ’m drop a line this reappraisal , UK client will pay £ 1057 and Australian customers AU$1952 . In the United States it ’s by all odds $ 1199 , regardless of prevailing economical condition .
There ’s nothing new about the estimation of an integrated net amplifier , of course – everyone from Cambridge Audio and Marantz to NAD and Yamaha has one to deal you . From the outset , the Volumio has both price and forcible discretion on its side – but it ’ll postulate to perform properly too if it ’s pop off to tempt you …
Design
Discreet is a word I ’ll be relying on here , even more so than the word summary . At just 50 x 270 x 150 millimeter ( HxWxD ) , the Volumio Integro is extremely discreet , very heavyset and proportioned to be positioned jolly much anywhere you like . It ’s not unretentive of competition where functionality is concerned , but as far as dimension are come to it ’s in a league of its own .
What there is of the Integro is very nicely made of very acceptable material . The main chassis is of a unmarried slice of folded atomic number 13 with incorporated feet , capped with a plastic front facial expression and a metal bottom . A pair of oversized and quite assertively orangish control dial seat either side of a small , functionalOLED displayon the fascia , along with a 6.3 mm earpiece socket – and that ’s fundamentally your lot .
Everything is put together utterly well , and everything feels quick to last even quite careless possession . As far as design goes Volumio sure seems to think less is more – and I depend there will be quite a few prospective client who concord .
Features
The downside of being compact and discerning in physical terms is that it can be foxy to squeeze in all the physical connectivity you wish to include . So while the front of the Integro is calm and minimal , the rear is feverish . There ’s an unspeakable heap endure on back there .
At either end of the panel are a pair of chunky loudspeaker binding posts , capable to accept either bare wire or 4 mm banana plugs . Then , study from left to right wing , you ’ll find : a USB 3.0 slot ( for high - speed drive ) ; an Ethernet interface ( for consummate web stableness ) ; anHDMIsocket ( more on that later ) ; a microSD slot ( for expanding unit remembering or add together music file ) ; aUSB - Cslot ( for servicing and update ) ; a USB 2.0 expansion slot ( for thumb drives , keyboards , mice and so on ) ; a digital coaxial and a digital optical input ( both capable to care with file cabinet sizes up to 24 - bit/192kHz ) ; melodic line - horizontal surface stereo RCA input ( for whatever you visualize ) ; a pre - out for a subwoofer ; a socket for mains power .
It follow that there ’s next - to - no space between them , so you wo n’t be able-bodied to apply those great , chunky ( and expensive ) interlink you saved up for . Wireless connectivity is taken care of by double - band Wi - Fi and byBluetooth 5.0withaptXLow Latency codec compatibility .
The HDMI socket , rather gallingly , is an output signal – you may connect it to a presentation of up to 4 atomic number 19 solution . Volumio advise it ’s good as an alternative to the little screen of your mobile machine when it comes to master the Integro , but given that it either necessitate connectedness to a touchscreen twist or that a black eye / keyboard is connected via USB it ’s not quite as ready to hand as it may at first appear . And anyway , I ’m sure I ’m not the only one who would opt it to be an input , so my telecasting could feel some Integro benefit .
On the interior , Volumio uses Khadas , Infineon and Texas Instruments componentry to do the audio business organisation . The speaker system amplification circuitry is freestanding from the earpiece gain tantamount – and , as becomes clear pretty quickly , there are more difference between them than simple physical interval .
ascendency is available by using the two big routine / thrust ascendency on the fascia , or via the Volumio control app . The fascia telephone dial on the left wing take fear of office on / off and input selection , while the dial on the right handgrip volume up / down and mute – the display between them return a numerical denotation of mass or a graphic representation of the select stimulant .
The controller app , meanwhile , is a bonnie bit more comprehensive – it has quite a lot of tweaky options around audio buffering , one - click volume whole tone , Roon playback options , plugin installation and so on . It ’s where you may integrate your Qobuz and TIDAL account , check for update and do the more common ascendence app stuff . It ’s reasonably static , sanely antiphonal and reasonably wanton to voyage – which put it well ahead of quite a few alternatives I could mention .
Sound Quality
It may vocalise a bit odd to suggest the fashion the Volumio Integro sounds is a game of three halves , but bear with me . I am convinced I can make a shell for saying so .
The first one-half concerns the way the Integro performs when given some clean straight content to deal with – and that ’s from any pumped or wireless author . A vinyl written matter of Max Romeo ’s War Ina Babylon , a CD of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ’ labour the Sky Awayor a 24 - bit/88.2kHz file of Anna Meredith ’s Unfurlvia Roon … it ’s all the same to the Integro .
It establishes a nicely indifferent overall key , drudge creditably deep into the frequency mountain chain and verify low frequencies well . Midrange fidelity is similarly telling , and though the soundstage the Integro make is far from the biggest it ’s jolly well defined – so vocalists get a bit of breathing blank . The top goal has bite and crunch , although it sounds mildly flap off and does n’t hit as mellow as it might .
Rhythmic positivism is convincing , and there ’s enough dynamical clearance usable to give the differences between the more musing moments and the grandstand finish in a recording good expression . item levels are so-so high , even if the Volumio lets some transient stuff escape , and the integration of all areas of the frequency range is achieved confidently .
Change up to something a little more complex , though – Lambchop ’s So , I see You ’re Movingor Gershwin ’s Rhapsody in Blue , for instance – and the Integro perplex a small anxious . The soundstage gets slightly muddled , its definition abandon it pretty . The power to identify and face the more minor detail in a transcription go astray .
And the across - the - card harmonical pas seul the amp blithely identify when the insistence ’s off may as well not be present at all in a recording of increased intricacy . This is what constitutes the 2d half of the Volumio ’s performance .
So yes , the third half : that ’s the way the headphone output sounds . Headphones vocalize different to speakers , of course of action – but there are obvious tonal differences between the way the Integro award euphony through its speaker amplification and through its earphone amplification .
The neutrality of the talker auditory sensation is replaced by a thinner , less strong option – the aural combining weight of the ‘ cool ’ setting on your television menus . It ’s not needfully bad , but it is distinct – and that in itself is a jolly unusual state of function . And the fact the headphone end product seems better able to retain and disclose the detail in a complicated recording the speaker outturn ca n’t only adds to the sentiency that these are two item-by-item amplifiers somehow wedge into a console that ’s really not even big enough for one of them .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
When you consider the amount of functionality usable here , the Integro is imposingly compact and discreet
The Integro is n’t all that well-situated dealing with complicated or dense recordings . Not through its loudspeaker elaboration , anyway …
Final Thoughts
I ’m all for challenging the established monastic order , stress something just a slight act different , or even just doing what everyone else is doing but charging less for it .
Difference for deviation ’s sake is a mo more of a stretch , though – and more affordable is only better value if the more low-priced option is unquestionably worth having . The Volumio Integro is part of the way to being what it suppose it is – and in verity I ’m already quite activated to see what interpretation two might be like …
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FAQs
Yes , the Integro can be connected to another presentation but its HDMI output can only output signal rather than have them .
Full Specs
Sustainability
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