WiiM Mini Review (Streamer)

[amirm]

The raspberry Pi by itself is not a streamer at all, it can do nothing out of the box without additional software and work to configure it. It is more of a hobbyist project.

Don't be pedantic. Question was raised about the cost of implementing Roon endpoint and I pointed out that if it fits in RPi, then platform cost is simply a non-issue.

 

[amper42]

The raspberry Pi by itself is not a streamer at all, it can do nothing out of the box without additional software and work to configure it. It is more of a hobbyist project. Btw the Pi prices like many other things have gone up recently.

The RPI4 is absolutely a streamer. You can buy it preconfigured or start from scratch with lots of free software options. The biggest problem for new users is it's out of stock everywhere right now. From the Boss2 to a standard $35 board its unavailable. Glad I bought 3 in the last year.

Current Raspberry Pi Boards in US

One stop for ALL Pi needs. Add-ons, HATs, UPS, cases, SD cards, accessories, projects and ideas.

www.pishop.us

 

[Brantome]

Discovered that RME provides a set of WAV test files to determine whether the path is bit-perfect. Copied the 24/192 file to my LMS server, played it via the Material Skin over my WiFi via UPnP to the WiiM via its optical output to my RME DAC. Yep, the path is indeed bit-perfect, without any use of the WiiM app.

View attachment 200405

I didn’t really understand the question about the “app” being bit perfect - surely the question is/was whether the device firmware is bit perfect - the app is its control point, not transport?

 

[MCH]

I have not read all the posts so sorry if someone mentioned this before.

Is there a way to do room correction upstream with this?
(that is, without the need to do it downstream with a minidsp/avr style solution)
Thanks.

Question 2, and sorry for the deeply newbie one: how does the 1 kz 90 db sinad of the dac here compare to the ca. 90db imd limit we see in the minidsp flex in real life use, that is, listening to music? I get that probably at lower volumes the wiim with have more noise (?), but other than that which one is best, worst, needed to avoid, don't need to care about...

 

[TheBatsEar]

That’s the problem. @amirm made ASR such a success that, as the founder and tester, his recommendations, even if it is qualified as personal views, are seen as objective. He is now very deservedly on an objective pedestal. The downside is people on that position are not expected to have personal views.

While i don't agree with Amir, i don't see that this is his problem. Seems to be entirely in your head. It sure isn't in mine.

Amir does these reviews for fun, not profit, on his personal page, which this forum is. If he doesn't like a device because it's to round or not round enough, that's fine with me.
All i can say to Amir is this: don't buy it then.

I can't be the only one that reads his reviews mostly for the measurements and to discover new "stuff"?

 

[TheBatsEar]

Is there a way to do room correction upstream with this?

You could use CamillaDSP to bend the data to your taste and send it using DLNA to the WiiM. You could use Moode or pulseaudio-dlna on any Linux box, pretty sure something is available for Windows as well.

So it should be a standard feature of any streamer targeting enthusiasts. The only work-around for Roon users is to use Apple Airplay which causes performance degradation. This is not acceptable.

Or Roon could use DLNA, like everyone else. Don't make this a WiiM problem when it is a Roon problem.
You want to use proprietary protocols? Fine. Live with it's limitations, you have just seen one.

I voted "fine" due to the average DAC performance.

It's DAC is as good as the one in the MiniDSP Flex is what @MarcosCh suggests. Now that you know, vote "Great" ;-)

The raspberry Pi by itself is not a streamer at all, it can do nothing out of the box without additional software and work to configure it. It is more of a hobbyist project. Btw the Pi prices like many other things have gone up recently.

I would rather say because of it's vastly higher flexibility, a RPi based solution has more complexity. To me that is a bonus, i like flexibility. To others it's a detriment. And the prices for RPi hardware are definitively on the crazy side now, true.

 

[MCH]

You could use CamillaDSP to bend the data to your taste and send it using DLNA to the WiiM. You could use Moode

Not telling you are wrong, but i don't see it being evident. How do you stream the signal after camilladsp? How do you connect a moode streamer to the wiim? Via dac > analog in? Again, honest questions.
The other options you propose, i will have a look, thanks

 

[DrZingo]

Unless one needs a higher bitrate than 48kHz (I don't) one can just use an ordinary Chromecast and an HDMI splitter/audio extractor. Seems cheaper and easier (no setup or extra app).

 

[JSmith]

It's DAC is as good as the one in the MiniDSP Flex is what @MarcosCh suggests. Seems to be fine there.

Unsure what you mean there, the Flex measures well in testing apart from analogue input?


JSmith

 

[TheBatsEar]

Not telling you are wrong, but i don't see it being evident. How do you stream the signal after camilladsp? How do you connect a moode streamer to the wiim? Via dac > analog in? Again, honest questions.
The other options you propose, i will have a look, thanks

1. Install Moode on a RPi Zero 2 or better, Zero works, but may stutter at highest data rates
2. Hook up to a DAC of some sort
3. Configure CamillaDSP on Moode
4. Go to "Configure", "Audio Config", "UPnP/DLNA" and say "Yes" to "UPnP Client for MPD"
5. Tell WiiM to use Moode as UPnP/DLNA output device

Music played from the Wiim should now come DSP corrected out of the DAC on the RPi.
Untested, because i don't have a WiiM.

 

[MCH]

Unsure what you mean there, the Flex measures well in testing apart from analogue input?


JSmith

Well i wasn't suggesting but asking. What i referred to about the flex is the imd that maxes at 90db

 

[TheBatsEar]

Well i wasn't suggesting but asking.

My bad then.

 

[MCH]

1. Install Moode on a RPi Zero 2 or better, Zero works, but may stutter at highest data rates
2. Hook up to a DAC of some sort
3. Configure CamillaDSP on Moode
4. Go to "Configure", "Audio Config", "UPnP/DLNA" and say "Yes" to "UPnP Client for MPD"
5. Tell WiiM to use Moode as Output device

Untested, because i don't have a WiiM.

But this uses wiim as a "server" of sorts, your streamer now is a pi running moode

 

[TheBatsEar]

But this uses wiim as a "server" of sorts, your streamer now is a pi running moode

I don't understand, you want to play music on the WiiM and route it through DSP before playing, don't you?

 

[MCH]

I don't understand, you want to play music on the WiiM and route it through DSP before playing, don't you?

Well i am curious if this is possible, yes.
I see this is a terrific little device, but for my use case, if i cannot do room correction or i need to use a avr downstream.... i will stick to the pi solution... so i am curious if there is a way (app, whatever) to send to the wiim a signal with the room correction already applied, so one can connect the wiim to a normal dac and call it a day.
If to do this i need a crazy pi setup + wiim, ill skip the wiim altogether.

 

[TheBatsEar]

Well i am curious if this is possible, yes.

Ok, then i told you how it's done.

if there is a way (app, whatever) to send to the wiim a signal with the room correction already applied,

Yes, there is, as i said earlier. It's called UPnP/DLNA and you can send DSP corrected signal from your PC using pulseaudio-dlna to the WiiM for rendering.

 

[PeteL]

First, show me there is a trade off. People used to say that getting better SINAD cost more money. I showed that this was not the case. It just required better engineering. Same here. This is not 20 years ago where flash and DRAM were expensive. We can buy the computing base for that in RPi for $35.

I may not be able to show you that, I don't have Insight in their product meetings. So you'd say That Roon End Point was a free thing , just a box to check with a mouse right? But they would say: -Hey let's not check it, cost us zero but let's piss off Roon Users, just for the sake of it.. When is the last time you hired someone who can provide "good engineering" ? and when you went to pay him he said: nah, good engineering is free, allong with great Sinad, I can give you all for free chief!

 

[Atanasi]

common sense tells us that it'll work with the *supplied* power adapter, otherwise why would it be provided with that? The original review mentions that it did not work when powered by computer USB port and that the included phone charger needs to be used.

The specs of Wiim Mini say that the included power supply provides 1 A. This is more than guaranteed by a USB 2 port (0.5 A) or even a USB 3 port (0.9 A), so it is not surprising that it doesn't work. Technically USB hubs are even not required to provide power if the device doesn't do USB bus negotiation, unless the port is marked as a charging port, but common implementations do it anyway.

One common issue to test with USB type-C power inputs is if they work with a C-C cable. The issue boils down to including the correct resistor to enable the bus voltage, as this resistor is not needed with an A-C cable. At least a couple of Topping products fail this test (BC3 and NX7). This may not matter to many users but it is a simple way to see if the manufacturer practices good engineering.

 

[Triliza]

Reviews like this shows that things are working as intended on this site, people read the measurements/data and can make their own conclusions about the product, which in this case the majority doesn't agree with Amir's (the three people voting "Poor" must be Amir and our two moderators ). It shows that ASR is not a cult with Amir the leader as it's portrayed on other audiophiles forums.

Now that said and done, lets all pray Amir the Great, we want to keep his spirits high, so he can provide us with more interesting reviews. Don't want to make him sulky, he can give us 2-3 DACs reviews next week, and you know how interesting they are...

 

[Jmudrick]

Well i am curious if this is possible, yes.
I see this is a terrific little device, but for my use case, if i cannot do room correction or i need to use a avr downstream.... i will stick to the pi solution... so i am curious if there is a way (app, whatever) to send to the wiim a signal with the room correction already applied, so one can connect the wiim to a normal dac and call it a day.
If to do this i need a crazy pi setup + wiim, ill skip the wiim altogether.

I use PW-Link for Anthem room correction between WiiM and DAC. It works, it's cheapish ($199 with mic), it's not a pi.