Verdict
The Motivo is n’t perfect but the core group offering is very dependable , delivering solid public presentation via an attractive and interesting small-arm of industrial design that is very pleasurable to use .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
When you are coiffure out to make a gamy operation audio streamer , the absolutely decisive element of their specification is the software system interface . It does n’t matter if the product itself sounds like a choir of angels if using it is hellish .
Volumio arrives in this field with a snatch of a psyche start up over the contest because , well before the company survive anywhere about making its own hardware , it was a teem interface you could install on the hardware of your pick .
In late twelvemonth , Volumio has been building a small amount of consecrate ironware to accompany the software and the Motivo is by far the most ambitious of these equipment . It ’s design to be a multi - function cyclosis front ending that can be controlled and used in a variety of way .
There is no shortage of competition though , many of which also have a more than sensible handle on the interface . Is the Motivo any full and do you call for one in your life ?
Availability
The Motivo ’s retail duct are a slight different to most competitor and can be fractionally puzzling . The easiest path to insure one in the UK ( and indeed in Europe ) is to grade one direct from Volumio .
This will be you € 1499 and this does signify that the cost will wobble a chip depending on the exchange rate ( at the fourth dimension of typing this , just before launch on the 10thJuly 2024 , it would be £ 1266.11 ) but broadly speaking hovers around £ 1260 .
In the USA , the Volumio is list at $ 1,849 and again seems to have a unmediated sales simulation . This is a fixed rather than an ‘ on the twenty-four hours ’ Mary Leontyne Price though . There is no mansion of a heel Australian dollar monetary value but this is not to say that the Motivo wo n’t ship from Volumio direct if you take nicely .
Design
In recent years , there has been a trend with streamers to make them ‘ headless ’ ; in effect remove controls from them and turn them into featureless box that can be stowed out of sight . So long as the software package is up to sniff , this is a perfectly valid means of using a banner but it does mean that the literal interaction with your system becomes special to whatever gadget you are race the app on .
The Motivo seeks to compensate this . It is dominated by an 8 - inch IPS touchscreen that mostly mimics what you would see in the Volumio app ( annoyingly , some features like album roofing tile view do n’t make the transition across ) and means you could use the building block itself as a control stop . It ’s not travel to be up there with messing around with a turntable for tactual sensation but it ’s a fairly significant deviation from the average .
Anything seek to do this is going to reckon on the CRT screen being colorful and responsive and Volumio has done a seemly job here . It answer promptly and has enough precision to ensure you select the function you actually want and not something in the neighbourhood of it . The only forcible ascendency is a large red button above the display , which is both a office button and volume control . It ’s a short weird to begin with but something you get used to quite quickly .
I do think that the industrial design and the standard it has been built is a good one though . The chassis is made from alloy and while the Volumio feel a footling unlike to more mainstream rivals , it is every morsel as well made . It does lead passably quick in use but this has had no effect on performance whatsoever .
Features
As a equipment , the Motivo is a objet d’art of reference equipment that can operate at a line point , as a conveyance or as a headphone amplifier . To attach speaker you ’re either last to have to go active or sort an amplifier , be it powered or integrate . To habituate the Motivo as a well out front last , you have the option of RCA and XLR connectedness ; the latter of which has a central socket for 6.35 mm headphone use as well . These can be used at a fixed layer into an integrated amp or you’re able to use the Motivo as a preamp into a power A and make use of its own volume restraint .
The decoding for the audio subdivision is an ESS9038 DAC although Volumio does not determine which of the many exemplar they ’ve chosen . These chips are naturally balanced by invention so the circuit of the Motivo is balanced by default . The Motivo can decode PCM to 384kHz and DSD to 256 , which should be enough for most music libraries even if it is n’t quite Department of State of the artistry . Alternatively , if you have a DAC you like , the inner decryption of the Motivo can be short-circuit entirely and you’re able to utilise USB , coaxal or optical end product to send the signal to your DAC . If you do use USB , the sample rate handling increase to 768kHz PCM and DSD512 .
At the back ( the form of the Motivo is such it ’s not all logical to mark it this but , for the most part , it will be indicate out from you ) , is fit out with the analog and digital outputs and saves space by fitting the headphone sockets into the XLR connective . There are some limitations though .
The first is that , while many rivals have digital inputs , the Volumio does without so you ca n’t use it as a hub for other digital sources . Despite the balanced connectedness , the Motivo is also not a balanced headphone adenosine monophosphate . Instead , each XLR offers up a single ended connection that gives you a choice between high-pitched and humiliated resistivity connections control by a Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 chipset .
It would be technically possible to not state the Motivo it ’s campaign as a headphone ampere and use the XLR association but you ’d need to be careful not to overdrive earpiece in this configuration .
corrupt a Motivo give you access code to the Volumio platform with all the bells and whistling switched on ( something that was n’t the case with their early hardware which only allowed access to the canonic version ) and this is no defective affair . Volumio is continuously evolving the operating scheme and this belated version feels silklike and more cohesive than when I last used it a few geezerhood ago . As the software package does a great many things , it has a gravid phone number of customisable option that makes it more mired to set up up and get run than something like Cambridge Audio ’s Stream Magic and it can become a bit puzzling but if you do n’t get suckered in , it ’s a pleasant and well position out matter .
Streaming service integrating is free-base around Spotify , Tidal andQobuz , the former two with Connect support . Deezersupport has long been fluff but has not materialised as yet . cyberspace radio and podcast alternative are very good as well , supported by some really impressive user plugins . AirPlay is also defend and Volumio is promising Roon support in the future as well which would be welcome too .
Sound Quality
Whatever the USPs of the Volumio ’s interface , it will ultimately live or die on whether it sounds any good and here it gets off to an excellent start . Via both the balanced and unbalanced connexion , the Motivo is subject of balance truth and telling detail retrieval with enough forgiveness of less than utter transcription to secure that you could mirthfully keep hear to them and not have it distinguish you all the things incorrect with it .
listen to the lovely Beauty in your Wake by Fink , the Motivo catch all the basics right . These are not huge scale pieces ; more often than not , they are just Fink and his guitar and the most minimum of indorse musicians . There ’s no place for a gimmick to obliterate in receive fabric like this right and the Volumio cast in a very fine performance .
Ask it for something bigger and more complex like Hybrid ’s Morning Symphony and the Motivo deliver an excellent spirit of order and cohesion underpinned by really splendid basso . There ’s little good sense of the Motivo channel its own character on the public presentation either ; it ’s fun when it should be and considered when that ’s the requirement too .
Not everything is completely as you might expect though . Like a number of digital products on the grocery store , the Volumio has adjustable digital filters . In most character , these make incredibly subtle differences to the presentation ( and on some things I ’ve try they seem to make no remainder at all ) .
On the Motivo , some of them ( the Brick Wall and Minimum Phase fast Roll Off in exceptional ) alter the presentation quite significantly ; to the extent where the Motivo sounds conspicuously different to other digital sources here . Then , just to confuse you a bit further , the upsampling option in the app ( to boost the sample distribution rate of a 44.1kHz file to 88.2kHz for exercise ) has no discernible effect on the performance at all .
I ’m prepare to forgive these oddities though because as well as being a good generator in a formal hi - fi system , the Motivo is a very sound headphone amplifier . Tests with a pair of Focal Clear MG headphones draw out a tier of functioning that , even pronounce at the price tip , is seriously telling .
This is also where the intent of the Motivo really add up into its own too . Placed near your hearing positioning it becomes a very compelling way to get at your euphony collection without scrabbling around for a phone or tablet . It ’s a truly pleasurable way to graze your accumulation while enjoying a top tier layer of carrying out as you do so .
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Should you buy it?
If you experience that digital streaming is a more or less soulless experience , the Motivo is a different means of accessing that content ( the works perfectly well the ‘ normal ’ way too ) and many people will find that extremely appealing .
The Motivo is a very good earphone amp but the want of a balanced connection will put off some would be customers and the lack of digital inputs will also be annoyance that many rivals do n’t suffer from .
Final Thoughts
The Motivo is a little different from some other gimmick at this sort of price and it wo n’t mechanically appeal to everyone . If you do require a streamer that you could interact with though , it ’s a good idea backed up by decent performance .
Trusted Score
How we test
We prove every euphony streamer we go over good over an extended period of time . We apply industry received trial to compare features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to look back a Cartesian product .
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FAQs
There ’s a full range of apps that the Motivo supports , but you could count on Spotify , Tidal , Qobuz , YouTube , Bandcamp , Pandora , Fusion DPS and Roon Ready support
