Anyone have experience with Riva Audio speakers?

[conn]

I just set up a Riva Stadium with my WiiM Pro Plus via optical and it sounds fantastic. I knew of the Riva brand but never purchased anything until now.

Apparently they went out of business (or were almost going out) but are back now selling on Amazon with "Upgraded" version of the Festival speaker and calling it the Stadium. I was wondering if anyone else is using them with success.

While the sound is great setup was sloppy and the app seems janky at the moment. Seems like there are firmware issues with these products but I can't seem to find specific details.

Regardless, it's a damn good sounding speaker that gets loud but I really haven't fiddled around with it enough yet.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

I have been using RIVA Speakers for a few years, and have various models including the RIVA S, RIVA Turbo X, RIVA Arena, and RIVA Festival.

 

[conn]

I've seen the brand mentioned over the years, especially the Turbo X. I think I may have associated them with the Creative Labs speaker brand that also makes PC audio cards.

The Stadium is an impressive speaker as far as sound and build quality. I'm not sure why these are not as popular as some of the other brands in the same class.

The pricing on Amazon is confusing, they are charging $359 for the "New" Stadium and $399 for the "older" Festival, the specs appear to be the same and the only difference I can find is the front Riva logo glows on the Stadium. I also cant find many Youtube reviews which is odd, usually there are a ton for products like these.

Support has acknowledged my request almost immediately which was surprising so hopefully they can resolve the few issues I'm having, (strange volume behavior and cant log into Alexa)

 

[QuarryHunslet]

I will be interested to hear if you have any luck with the WiiM implementation of DLNA Casting to your RIVA Stadium, as it doesn't work satisfactorily with my RIVA Arena's or RIVA Festival's, even though they support DLNA casting up to 24 bit 192 kHz.

 

[conn]

I will give DLNA casting a try when I get a chance to play around more with it and report back.

Personally, I've given up on trying to mix speakers using different cast methods as its been nothing but a hassle. I'm putting everything on a WiiM device or using only Audio Pro speakers at this point.

 

[conn]

It appears that Riva's Software for this product is unsurprisingly broken as of right now.... So hard for me to comprehend why these manufactures just can't get the software right with the hardware, not sure why this topic is not talked about more....

Regardless, the speaker works fine, offline (in its "Airplane mode") via the optical input connected to my WiiM Pro Plus.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

It appears that Riva's Software for this product is unsurprisingly broken as of right now.... So hard for me to comprehend why these manufactures just can't get the software right with the hardware, not sure why this topic is not talked about more....

Regardless, the speaker works fine, offline (in its "Airplane mode") via the optical input connected to my WiiM Pro Plus.

Which part of the RIVA Software is broken for you? It seems to be working fine for me.

 

[conn]

Speaker is unable to connect with Amazon service to enable Alexa. Not a deal breaker but I personally would prefer if all features work as they should on stuff that I buy. It also exhibits strange behavior when trying to adjust volume via the app (jumps around). Physical buttons work fine.

Per Support:
"It seems we have a SW issue on our side, particularly with Amazon login on Android-based devices. We are working on a new FW version right now to address this issue and push to production to solve this issue."

Oddly, I was able to login to Amazon with my iPad but the speaker still would not function properly when trying to use an Alexa command, then the logo would blink nonstop, multiple colors until reset. I think there are a few issues with the current software as of now.

Who knows if and when it will be addressed as I get a strange vibe on the current state of this company.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

Mine are the earlier versions, and they don't support Amazon Alexa, so that would explain why I don't have those problems.

I do have a problem with one of my RIVA Arena speakers, after I tried to update the firmware via a file downloaded. It now won't connect to my WiFi, so it has turned into a Bluetooth speaker with an auxiliary input. This could possibly be fixed via a firmware update using a USB flash drive, or even returning it to RIVA, but this would be expensive to ship it to the USA.

 

[conn]

Yeah, I've come across a few discussions regarding firmware issues, OTA update issues, mailing it in for update, etc...

Not sure if they are a sinking ship or slowly trying to get their act together but hopefully they continue with support.

Here's a discussion I came across on Reddit, not sure if it's of any help or maybe you already have seen it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SmartSpeakers/comments/1c91pim/riva_arena_firmware_needed

 

[QuarryHunslet]

Thanks, I read that and tried various things mentioned, but didn't get anywhere.

 

[kdhuk]

I have 2 Riva Arenas. I have posted on some of the reddit threads mentioned above.

Seems the company came out of hibernation around October last year and their dormant website started to come to life again. There was initially a convuluted method posted that enabled updates to be applied to both types of speakers (the Alexa enabled speakers- Concert/Stadium and the Google Cast speakers- Arena/Festival ).

In February a new app was launched called Riva Audio which has been updated twice, and is now capable of initiating OTA firmware updates to the speakers.
I managed to update mine in November successfully but it was tricky - when the new app arrived I updated again but turns out it was the same November firmware installed.This updated process via the App was really easy though.

Mine continue to work pefectly well...using Google Cast all of the time, with the 2 Arenas set up as a stereo pair in a Google Home speaker group

Interestingly Amazon US is selling "Upgraded" Arenas at $149 with $30 off coupon that can be applied and only a $14 surcharge to ship to the UK?

In spite of all the complications, they sound really really good!

 

[conn]

I have had nothing but issues with the app, its pretty terrible to be honest (3.3.13)... I've had to reset the speaker a few times already a setting it up is a bizarre procedure that seems different every time... I've even had the speaker completely crash and need to be reset up by just trying to log out of Alexa because it didn't want to use it. The volume slider also does not MAX out via the app... it goes about a quarter of the way and when trying to go all the way it just jumps back down again.... weirdest thing. I have to max it out with the physical buttons on the speaker.

Since I'm using mine as primarily a dumb speaker (optical in), I don't mind not having to using to app. The problem is the speaker is does not revert to it's "last current state" if power is lost. So if the power flickers (I'm in Florida, rough weather) I have to reset it again to Optical and then max the volume out again because there is no Fixed Volume settings (even though they added an optical input)... like I said, its a pretty dumb speaker.

My gut feeling is that these are a failed endeavor and they are trying to get rid of what they have. I see no improvements, no firmware updates, no communication from the company other than weird, AI generated crap posted on their Facebook page... Support is obviously foreign and they don't properly read emails or communicate well...

It is a shame because it does sound really good with the WiiM pro plus connected to it, the Stadium absolutely gets loud...

 

[kdhuk]

Well... If so - let's hope the upcoming new Wiim Sound speakers will be great replacements