Hi-fi, explained
Music travels from the streaming service to your ears through a few parts. Each one does one job. Here they are, in order.
The chain
Six parts, one after the other. The power supply feeds them, and the controls tell them what to play.
Controls The app or a remote tells the streamer what to play
Power supply Feeds the streamer, the DAC and the amplifier
The parts
What it does, where it sits, and what you may already own that does it.
Where the music lives
Music starts out as files: on a streaming service such as TIDAL, Qobuz or Spotify, on a drive at home, or on a CD. Web radio is music too, streamed live.
Finds the music and plays it
The streamer is the brain of the system. It fetches the music over your network, keeps your queue and does what you ask in the app. It passes the music on as digital data: still numbers, not yet sound. A streamer with no DAC inside is called a transport: it sends the music out to a separate DAC.
Volumio RivoA streamer that sends a clean digital signal to your own DAC: a transport.Turns numbers into a sound wave
Digital music is a long list of numbers. The DAC (digital-to-analog converter) turns them back into an electrical wave, the analog signal. A better DAC draws that wave closer to the recording.
Volumio PrecisoTurns the digital signal from your transport into analog, with two SABRE DACs, one for each channel.Picks the input and sets the volume
The preamp (preamplifier) chooses what you listen to, such as the streamer, a turntable or the TV, and sets the volume. It is often built into the DAC or the amplifier, so it may not be a box of its own.
Volumio Primo PlusA streamer DAC with a preamp mode: three parts in one box.Gives the signal the power to move speakers
The signal from a DAC is too weak to move a speaker. The amplifier makes it strong enough. An integrated amplifier has a preamp inside.
Turn the signal back into sound
A speaker moves air: its drivers push and pull with the music, and you hear it. Passive speakers need an amplifier. Active, or powered, speakers have one inside. Headphones are small speakers for your ears.
Feeds every box clean power
Every box needs power. Noise on the power line can end up in the sound, so audio gear often uses quiet, steady power supplies.
Volumio Lineo5A low-noise linear power supply for Volumio streamers and other 5 V audio gear.Tell the streamer what to play
You don't touch the streamer. You choose the music on your phone, in a browser or with a remote, and the streamer plays it.
Volumio RemotoAn infrared remote in solid aluminum, for volume, inputs, playback and the DAC filter. Or the Volumio app.Setups
A phone does the whole chain in your pocket. Hi-fi gear splits it into boxes. Pick one to see which parts it does.
Everything up to the headphones is inside the phone: the streaming app is the streamer, and a small DAC, a volume control and an amplifier drive your headphones.
Then: Headphones
The same in a bigger box: the music app, a DAC and an amplifier for the headphone jack. Plug a USB DAC into the Mac and the Mac becomes the transport, sending the music to the DAC.
Then: Headphones or speakers
With Volumio OS the Raspberry Pi is the streamer, and a DAC board on top of it is the DAC. Add an amplifier and speakers, or powered speakers.
Then: Your amplifier and speakers
A streamer, a DAC and a preamp in one box. Connect it to an amplifier, or straight to powered speakers.
Then: Your amplifier and speakers
Active speakers have the amplifier inside. Connect them to a streamer DAC, such as Primo Plus, and the chain is complete in two boxes.
Passive speakers need an amplifier between them and the streamer DAC: three boxes, each with its own job.
Separates: Rivo is the streamer (a transport), Preciso is the DAC. Each box does one job, as well as it can.
Then: Your amplifier and speakers
Your turn
The device guide asks what you have and suggests a Volumio device. Or build your own streamer with a Raspberry Pi.