• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Tech Daily Canada

Tech Daily Canada

  • Streaming
    • Hereโ€™s How to Watch Hulu in Canada โ€“ A Quick Guide
    • Can I Stream ESPN+ in Canada?
    • Watch HBO Max Canada in 3 EASY Steps
    • Can I Watch Hotstar in Canada?
    • Is Sling TV Available in Canada?
    • Can Canadians Watch YouTube TV?
    • Streaming Peacock TV in Canada
  • Fintech
    • Wealthsimple Trade Review
    • 3 Alternatives to Robinhood Canada
    • Interactive Brokers vs Questrade: Which is Better?
    • A Guide on How to Buy Stocks in Canada โ€“ 5 EASY Steps (2021)
    • ETRADE Alternatives for Canadians
    • Charles Schwab Brokerage Alternatives for Canadians
    • Interactive Brokers Canada Review
    • Tastyworks Isn’t In Canada…Yet!
  • Mobile
  • Guides
  • Reviews
Home > Reviews > Riva Concert Review

Riva Concert Review

Sachin Bahal by Sachin Bahal | May 2, 2019

Riva Concert Speaker Front Lit Up

 
 
When it comes to smart speakers, there are plenty of options on the market such as Amazonโ€™s Echo speakers or Sonosโ€™ lineup of speakers. However, there are also a new breed of boutique brands bringing Alexa-powered speakers to the market for audio enthusiasts at very competitive prices.

 

Design & Hardware

The Riva Concert has a premium two-tone look and rounded corners. The speaker is fairly compact and only weighs about 3.0 lbs.

The outside of the speaker is a combination of metal and plastic materials. The front of the speaker has the Riva logo on it which lights up blue when youโ€™re talking to Alexa and turns red when you mute the microphone.

Riva Concert Speaker Front Lit Up Red
 

The top of the speaker is where youโ€™ll find the volume up and down buttons, next and previous track, mic mute button and the ability to change sources. Each of the buttons on the Riva Concert has braille raised dots as well.

Riva Concert Speaker Top Buttons
 

The back of the Riva Concert is where youโ€™ll find the power port, mounting slot, AUX input, USB port and a switch for home and away mode. Away mode allows you to stream directly to the speaker when not connected to your home Wi-Fi. The speaker will create a Wi-Fi network that you can connect to, making connecting to it very simple and seamless.

Riva Concert Speaker Back
 

Whatโ€™s really great about the Riva Concert and rarely seen, is that you can purchase an optional battery that connects to the speaker via connectors on the bottom. The battery therefore makes the Riva Concert portable and Riva notes that the battery can last around 15 hours. Perfect for days by the pool, barbeques, picnics and more!

Riva Concert Speaker Bottom
 

The one issue I did have was that after a few minutes of the speaker being on, it would go into sleep mode which meant the buttons would become unresponsive. If I wanted to skip to the next track, I would have to press it 2-3 times to wake up the speaker from sleep mode. Maybe a setting that can be adjusted via the app in the future?

The speaker is splash resistant and comes with Rivaโ€™s Trillium™ Audio technology which will take left-right stereo audio signals to create a stereophonic image to make the speaker sound much larger than the actual size of the speaker.

 

Sound

Overall, the Riva Concert sounds great. It especially sounded crisp when I was playing music through Spotify as well as with a directly connected USB drive – a lot of deep bass and it got really loud.

When playing via Bluetooth, I had to really crank the volume up on the speaker to make it sound good. Different kinds of music also sounded great on the Riva Concert. Playing more upbeat, pop music, I noticed a more balanced sound while playing rock music sounded deeper and bass-heavy.

The Riva Concert provides around 50 Watts of power and uses three ADX drivers in combination with three passive radiators.

The Riva Concert is available now from Rivaโ€™s website (which takes you to Amazon actually) for $199 USD and comes in two colours, black and white. The optional battery costs $79 USD.

 

Software

Riva Voice App 1
 

To set up the Riva Concert, youโ€™ll need the Riva Voice app on Android or iOS. The app takes you through the setup process which is fairly straightforward – connect it to Wi-Fi and youโ€™re ready to go.

Riva Voice App Audio Output
 

The Riva Voice app is fairly basic in its design. Itโ€™s divided up into four sections – Discovery, Add, Tutorialsand Settings.The Discovery section is where youโ€™ll be able to control playback on your Riva Concert.

When you tap on one of your speakers in the app, you can control the volume and also easily switch inputs. The General Settings for the Riva Concert allow you to choose the type of audio output from Trillium, Power, Left and Right and also Bass and Treble. You can definitely hear the difference when changing the audio output, with Trillium providing a fantastic all-encompassing sound in large rooms.

Add is where youโ€™ll be able to set up another Riva speaker. Tutorials is pretty self-explanatory and show you support articles for your Riva Concert. The Settings section is slightly misleading as it doesnโ€™t actually allow you to change settings for your specific speaker but instead, just two settings for the Riva Voice app.

The Riva Concert offers lots of connectivity, from Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirPlay, DLNA, Spotify Connect in addition to the AUX port and USB port on the speaker. Multi-Room Music isnโ€™t yet supported on the Riva Concert but itโ€™s a feature that is coming soon.

Riva Voice App Connectivity Options
 

As mentioned earlier, the Riva Concert has Alexa built-in, meaning that you can talk to Amazonโ€™s voice assistant, just like their Echo devices. You can use Alexa to control not only music playback but also ask questions like โ€œWhatโ€™s the weather?โ€ or control your smart home products (such as Philips Hue, Ecobee and more) and also as an intercom via Alexa calling and messaging.

Riva Voice App Alexa
 

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Riva Concert is a great sounding smart speaker and a great competitor to the likes of Sonos with a lot of connectivity options.

About the Author

Sachin Bahal

Sachin Bahal

Sachin is a talented and versatile writer with a passion for technology and loves to write about gaming, entertainment, tech and more. He started TheCanadianTechie back in 2012 to become the ultimate, independent source for tech enthusiasts or โ€œtechies.โ€

Share this post:

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Filed Under: Reviews

Related Articles

Netflix Canada Review: Features, Pros, Cons, Content & More

May 14, 2023

Ring Alarm Review

March 31, 2023

Cash App vs PayPal: Which is Better?ย 

March 21, 2023

Primary Sidebar

More to See

Netflix Canada Review: Features, Pros, Cons, Content & More

May 14, 2023 By Kat Segui

Ring Alarm Review

March 31, 2023 By Shawn Gant

Cash App vs PayPal: Which is Better?ย 

March 21, 2023 By Shawn Gant

TP Link AC3200 Review

TP-Link AC3200 Triband Gigabit Router Review: Simply Outstanding

December 4, 2022 By Shawn Gant

Asus VivoBook Vs. ZenBook

Asus Vivobook vs ZenBook: Which Compact Laptop is Better For You?

December 4, 2022 By Shawn Gant

Footer

Serving over a million Canadian readers annually, Tech Daily was born to fill the void many of us have experienced when seeking information about technology in Canada.

  • Fintech
  • Streaming
  • VPN
  • Web Hosting
  • Crypto
  • Mobile
  • Features
  • Guides
  • About Tech Daily
  • Contact
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertising Disclosure

Copyright © 2023 Tech Daily. All Rights Reserved.