The DAC in the Primo and the importance of power
Contents
The Primo is delivered with an external power adapter that converts 220 volts to 5 volts. We change the adapter and use an SBooster. We listen to the same tracks and we notice how much more calmness there is in the soundstage and also that the soundstage has more stability. As if someone has reinforced the foundation underneath. As a result, more detail is audible, but also the smoothness of the Primo is emphasised even more.
‘Despite these miseries’ by baritone Matthias Goerne is played. There is a lot of physical space around his voice and the subtle modulations in the voice are very audible. At the same time, a firm foundation in his voice is present, letting the high notes blossom in a nice way.
Volumio confirms to us that they paid a lot of attention to the circuitry for the DAC and feeding it as cleanly as possible with power. This is one of the reasons why the Primo sounds so good.
Despite, not all the negative effects of a cheap switch mode power supply are kept out. The use of the SBooster confirms this. The effect of using an SBooster is more than we anticipated, so we decide to install the Primo in our reference system.
A crazy test with an unexpected result
We are going to compare the Volumio Primo with the Pasithea. To make it as fair a comparison as possible, we use Audirvana on the Alpha Audio PC. Audirvana plays via USB on the Pasithea and via UPnP on the Primo. To provide both the Alpha PC and the Volumio with a network connection, we put a DLink DGS-108 switch between them.
We use the same tracks again and we are impressed with the Primo’s performance.
As a ‘let’s try something different’ test, Jaap connects a Rigol lab power supply to both the Primo and the Dlink switch. This is a regulated linear power supply with high precision in output voltage. Not made for or suitable for a HiFi set, as the fans for cooling make noise, but to provide very clean power to a device being tested on the test bench.
The result is astonishing. The Primo takes giant steps towards the Pasithea. It does not reach the same level, but the step the Primo takes is so big that we do not trust our ears at first. We hear many details, which do not intrude but remain in proportion to the whole picture. We hear a 3-dimensional soundstage that is spacious, with a very good balance between high, mid and low. The low end of the TAD speakers is addressed with ease, the rhythm improves considerably and the flow in the music remains. We are a bit bewildered, as we did not expect this. It says something about how good the implementation of the DAC is.
Hello Jaap, I asked Martijn the following question but he probably is quite busy haha.
First I’m really enjoying the really great, objective (what I can see..) and humorfull review sessions you, Yung and Martijn and others make. Thanks for that!
The question was that if I want to connect a top CD transport with Tentlabs reclocking to the Primo I probably need the Mutec mc3 USB unit to convert from spdif to USB. But what is your estimations. Will that combo beat a Metrum Onyx Dac1 equiped DAC?
And did you ever compared an Chord Qutest to the Onyx?
Fyi. The digital sound I’m searching for is analog. I’m an analog guy with an heavy analog frontend with eat e-glo-S, Townshend Rock2 modified with seismic pods and Dr Fuss PS with Decca Super gold and Garrott P77I moving iron cartridges (Yung will probably like those also haha..)
Thanks upfront for a response and keep up doing the good work to give objective inside what’s going on in the high-end world without losing the fun and focus on the emotion in the musique..
I answered your question on the Dutch version of this article. See: https://alpha-audio.net/nl/review/volumio-primo-bravo-bravissimo/#comment-24909
Thanks for the reply. You used the Farad10 but the Farad3 should be sufficient too , to feed the Primo I suppose…? Or as always the more power the better if the delivery afcourse is equally fast ..
Hallo Jaap, although you experimented with the Rigol lab power supply on the Primo, you never commented how the Rigol on the Primo compared to the Farad10 or Pixler DC statement?
You are correct! It’s hard to compare, for I didn’t really A / B compare them. But fact is: the Rigol produced VERY decent results. Not as good as the Farad if I try to compare from memory. I guess the Farad is more smooth… Know that the Rigol is actively cooled and NOT silent at all. :-).