John Darko
Five years. That’s how long Volumio’s Motivo has been in the oven. We first met its iPad-meets-DAC ambitions at Munich High-End 2019 but only recently has its design been finalised for the unit to formally debut as a finished product at Munich High-End 2024.
The Motivo is a streaming source, DAC and headphone amplifier whose most obvious point of difference from the competition is an 8″ IPS touchscreen. That screen is set into the top plate of an anodized aluminium housing which has been canted forward to give easier access from above. Only top shelves and sideboards need apply. A red haptic volume button augments the unit’s touchscreen control.
The in-house developed Volumio OS will be familiar to many a Raspberry Pi user with the Motivo giving us a choice of wi-fi and Ethernet streaming. Under the hood, the OS runs from 16GB of EMMC (embedded multi-media card) and is powered by a Quad Core 1.5GHz Broadcom BCM2711 processor and 2GB of DDR4 RAM. Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, AirPlay 1 (via Shairport) and Roon Ready come locked and loaded but it’s hard to discern from the (German) press release if Google Chromecast is also part of the deal. File under maybe.
The internal D/A converter is built around ESS Labs’ ES9038 silicon and outputs via 2V single-ended or 4V balanced outputs – that double as high and low-impedance headphone sockets – with hi-res support reaching PCM 24bit/384kHz and DSD256. Users wanting to hit the audiophile catnip with an outboard DAC should note the presence of HDMI-based I2S output whose hi-res support mirrors the internal DAC and a USB output that pushes it out to 32bit/768kHz and DSD512.
This year is shaping up to be the year of the touchscreen streaming DAC and Volumio’s Motivo meets that brief head-on. We congratulate the Italian company for informing us in advance that the Motivo will be showing in Munich next week. Consider it added to our must-see list.
Pricing says Ciao at €1749, US$1849 or £1499.
Further information: Volumio
