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WiiM Mini Review (Streamer)

Rate this streamer:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 12 2.6%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 47 10.0%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 224 47.8%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 186 39.7%

  • Total voters
    469

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Mini Wifi/Bluetooth streamer. It is on kind loan from a member and is on sale on Amazon for US $89.

Wiim Mini Review Digital Out Wifi Analog Streamer Android Bluetooth.jpg


As you can see the former factor is a "hockey puck." An included phone charger needs to be used to power the unit over USB-C. It did not work so when I used my computer USB port.

Initial setup is by connecting using Bluetooth and the available App. I connected using BT but the Android app would not see it. I had to shut off BT and turn it back on for it to recognize it. While this is disappointing, I have had similar issues with other streamers. Once there, the app was reliable and gave me the option of configuring Toslink output for bit exact and its maximum sample rate which I appreciated. It also updated the device on first connection.

WiiM Mini Measurements
My first tests were using Aiplay 2.0 as initiated by my Roon player. As usual, Airplay itself becomes the bottleneck as we see with Toslink digital out:
Wiim Mini Measurement Toslink Streamer Wifi Bluetooth.png


Not sure if Airplay forced the sample rate to change to 48 kHz or the device did it. Using it with analog out we get:
Wiim Mini Measurement Analog Streamer Wifi Bluetooth.png


While we are beating the company spec, performance is lackluster as is typically the case in this category of product. Noise performance is not great either:

Wiim Mini Measurement DNR Analog Streamer Android Bluetooth.png


There is however good news if you use the App and output over Toslink:

Wiim Mini Measurement Toslink Streamer Android Bluetooth.png


This is the best you can do with 24-bit dithered signal. At 141 dB, your limit then will be what your DAC can do as even state of the are units have a SINAD of 123 dB.

Using the same signal but now testing the analog output we get:
Wiim Mini Measurement Analog Streamer Android Bluetooth.png


So just a hair better than using Airplay. The internal DAC as expected, is a mass market product than high performance.

Using the same for jitter we have:
Wiim Mini Measurement Jitter Analog Streamer Android Bluetooth.png


Noise floor is fairly high which can hide a lot of sins.

Since my analyzer can't control streaming devices, these are all the tests I can reasonably run. I think we have a good picture though.

Edit: by request, here is the frequency response from the internal DAC:

Wiim Mini Measurement Frequency Response Analog Streamer Android Bluetooth.png


Edit WiiM Mini ADC Analog In Measurements
Feeding the Mini analog input and capturing the same, gives this output:
Wiim Mini Measurement Analog in Analog Out Streamer Android Bluetooth.png


Performance is dominated by distortion. Switching to Toslink out to eliminate effect of the DAC we basically get the same result:

Wiim Mini Measurement Analog in Digital Toslink Out Streamer Android Bluetooth.png


So just like the DAC, this is a mass market ADC implementation. Good enough for common uses though but I would not route the clean output of any DAC through it.

Conclusions
If you use the App and Toslink output, you basically have a transparent wireless link to your stereo. Connect it to your favorite DAC and your performance will only be limited by the rest of your system. For me personally lack of Roon support is a big deal. I don't want to use their App to play or stream content. I hope the company looks at supporting Roon endpoint. Analog output of the unit is just OK.

Personally I can't recommend the WiiM Mini due to lack of support for Roon player. That aside, it is great to see bit exact digital output in a budget streamer allowing you to improve its performance to any level you want using your own DAC.

-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 
Last edited:

Rottmannash

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Thanks. Looks like they bought the old stock of Amazon Alexa pucks lying around. Not bad performance for $89 if one needs an inexpensive streamer add-on but I'll keep my Node 2i.
 

VMAT4

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A review on a Friday night? Isn't this a night off usually? BTW, any thoughts on reviewing the Fostex t60rp? Pardon me if I'm out of line here.
 

Kachda

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Doesn't seem bad for $99 and if using own DAC. The list of supported music services through their app seems quite good (Apple Music is missing as usual). You can also have multi-room as per their website. Of course, I have no idea how well it works in practice.

music@2x.png
 

Ralph_Cramden

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So, with an external DAC, this is a perfect alternative to a Raspberry Pi for those who don’t give a damn about Roon. It will transparently support 24-bit FLAC streaming via UPnP from LMS or other DLNA servers. It supports Tidal Connect. It integrates nicely with Alexa. It supports many more streaming services than Roon. Good enough for me.
 

Tangband

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Mini Wifi/Bluetooth streamer. It is on kind loan from a member and is on sale on Amazon for US $89.

View attachment 200172

As you can see the former factor is a "hockey puck." An included phone charger needs to be used to power the unit over USB-C. It did not work so when I used my computer USB port.

Initial setup is by connecting using Bluetooth and the available App. I connected using BT but the Android app would not see it. I had to shut off BT and turn it back on for it to recognize it. While this is disappointing, I have had similar issues with other streamers. Once there, the app was reliable and gave me the option of configuring Toslink output for bit exact and its maximum sample rate which I appreciated. It also updated the device on first connection.

WiiM Mini Measurements
My first tests were using Aiplay 2.0 as initiated by my Roon player. As usual, Airplay itself becomes the bottleneck as we see with Toslink digital out:
View attachment 200173

Not sure if Airplay forced the sample rate to change to 48 kHz or the device did it. Using it with analog out we get:
View attachment 200174

While we are beating the company spec, performance is lackluster as is typically the case in this category of product. Noise performance is not great either:

View attachment 200175

There is however good news if you use the App and output over Toslink:

View attachment 200176

This is the best you can do with 24-bit dithered signal. At 141 dB, your limit then will be what your DAC can do as even state of the are units have a SINAD of 123 dB.

Using the same signal but now testing the analog output we get:
View attachment 200177

So just a hair better than using Airplay. The internal DAC as expected, is a mass market product than high performance.

Using the same for jitter we have:
View attachment 200178

Noise floor is fairly high which can hide a lot of sins.

Since my analyzer can't control streaming devices, these are all the tests I can reasonably run. I think we have a good picture though.

Conclusions
If you use the App and Toslink output, you basically have a transparent wireless link to your stereo. Connect it to your favorite DAC and your performance will only be limited by the rest of your system. For me personally lack of Roon support is a big deal. I don't want to use their App to play or stream content. I hope the company looks at supporting Roon endpoint. Analog output of the unit is just OK.

Personally I can't recommend the WiiM Mini due to lack of support for Roon player. That aside, it is great to see bit exact digital output in a budget streamer allowing you to improve its performance to any level you want using your own DAC.

-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Very interesting and good its bitcorrect. How about using the digital volumecontrol with the app , is the toslink output fixed or can you change the digital output volume level ? If you can do this, is it any sample rate conversion going on when using the volume , and is it any good ?

You didnt post any frequency response curve , is there any measurements on this ? Thanks for the review .
 
Last edited:

jhaider

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There are a lot more Roon boxes than AirPlay2 boxes. For those of us who use AirPlay and don’t care about Roon because it doesn’t add value compared to the built in Music app in our iPhones and Macs, it seems like a fine alternative to a used AirPort Express.
 

Tangband

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There are a lot more Roon boxes than AirPlay2 boxes. For those of us who use AirPlay and don’t care about Roon because it doesn’t add value compared to the built in Music app in our iPhones and Macs, it seems like a fine alternative to a used AirPort Express.
Yes it seems like it.:) The toslink output also seems to be very good.
 

pavuol

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It would be beneficial if someone whith knowledge/overview/time compiled some nice spreadsheet style comparison of current "affordable" HW streamers, both reviewed and untested. Because otherwise google searchers are left with something like this:
 
Last edited:

respice finem

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Seems fine to me, but one question (just curious): is the device generally incompatible with USB-C charging, or is it only the higher power requirement that prevented it from working with your USB port?
 

PeteL

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If I picture the typical Roon user, on the hunt from a streamer, I see him on his computer googling "Best streamer under 1000". When I picture the typical customer for this, mass market music listener looking for convenience and good sound, I picture him googling "Best streamer under 100". One less zero. Not the same person at all.
 

Tks

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This is the best you can do with 24-bit dithered signal. At 141 dB, your limit then will be what your DAC can do as even state of the are units have a SINAD of 123 dB.

Ah well, sucks for state of the art products. They've got a long way to go since Rob Watts has the ability to detect artifacts at -300dB down.

Oh and when I saw that 141dB SINAD I got bopped for a second thinking this is what the DAC was outputting lol.
 
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