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WiiM Mini Streamer

Music1969

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This coming Amazon HD firmware update is one of the most anticipated

If I can "cast" bit perfectly hi-res, from the Amazon app without a 3rd party UI (which WiiM says will work) this is a game changer

Currently can't be done even from Apple Music app (cast from app over network)
 

Smartplug

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This coming Amazon HD firmware update is one of the most anticipated

If I can "cast" bit perfectly hi-res, from the Amazon app without a 3rd party UI (which WiiM says will work) this is a game changer

Currently can't be done even from Apple Music app (cast from app over network)
The original update supposed to be end of April but got push back till mid May. I can only cast amazon apps using airplay. The update will support ultra hd using wiim apps. Where did you see you can cast ultra hd using amazon apps and project the sound on wiim?
 

Music1969

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Where did you see you can cast ultra hd using amazon apps and project the sound on wiim?
Has been discussed in this thread already - WiiM confirmed by email.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, if this actually is true, it will be the first such solution on the planet.

I'm not aware of any current way to do this from Amazon app (not 3rd party UI) direct to some digital output streaming device. Not hi-res bit perfect over the network.

We'll know in the next few weeks. I'm eagerly anticipating a potential game changer.

You can email WiiM support also, to double check.
 

Smartplug

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According to wiim website, there’s an update on April 30. Are we going to see that update tomorrow?
 

Jmudrick

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The new firmware seems to not work with Audirvana 3.5 over uPNP. All I'm getting is bursts of static. This is whether I output to an external DAC or use the internal WiiM DAC. Audirvana is confirmed working directly connected to a DAC and to my Samsung TV using uPNP. The new WiiM firmware is also working fine with the WiiM app and Tidal Connect. Is there a way to revert to the previous firmware?

Edit: After some testing, Audirvana is now working with WiiM, but only on 16/44.1 files. Earlier I wasn't getting anything because I upsampled and have now turned upsampling off. Anything 24 bit or upsampled gets static. Tidal over Audirvana also works on 16/44.1 (HiFi), but any MQA music (24 bit) gets static too. All worked fine on the previous firmware. This is a bummer if I can't revert to the previous firmware as Audirvana was the only way I could play Tidal MQA through the WiiM in hires.
I'm not seeing any more problem with 24/96 Qobuz files streamed from Audirvana (Windows) to the WiiM via network wifi connection. I get dropped connection occasionally but that's always been a problem with Audirvana and Upnp.
 

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Brantome

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According to wiim website, there’s an update on April 30. Are we going to see that update tomorrow?
I'd doubt that on a couple of fronts: one, it's a weekend, and two, a minor bug fix version v1.3.9 ("Display incorrect device in Device tab") was only released a day or so ago. I can't see them releasing a significant update today otherwise they would have held v1.3.9's minor bugfix till the larger release. Plus I think there's a little slippage showing in their plans - I'm not surprised as that's software development for you :)
 

Brantome

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The original update supposed to be end of April but got push back till mid May. I can only cast amazon apps using airplay. The update will support ultra hd using wiim apps. Where did you see you can cast ultra hd using amazon apps and project the sound on wiim?
You can use Alexa cast from the Amazon Music app to the WiiM if you've connected it via Alexa in its settings. Currently that's only lossy MP3 Amazon Music and not lossless 16 bit nor 24 bit Amazon Music HD/UHD.

As said above and earlier in the thread (which is worth reading), when WiiM release support for lossless Amazon Music, it's hoped that casting will also support the higher, lossless tracks too, but if they do manage that it could well be a first - I'm not even sure that casting to Amazon's own echo devices supports that. That's why the inclusion of the bit depth and sample rate (and hopefully bitrate in a later update) in the WiiM app is important - that should tell us whether casting to WiiM is indeed lossless and bit perfect.
 

Smartplug

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I'd doubt that on a couple of fronts: one, it's a weekend, and two, a minor bug fix version v1.3.9 ("Display incorrect device in Device tab") was only released a day or so ago. I can't see them releasing a significant update today otherwise they would have held v1.3.9's minor bugfix till the larger release. Plus I think there's a little slippage showing in their plans - I'm not surprised as that's software development for you :)
To me, the block buster release would be May 15 when they release amazon ultra hd and tidal master since I have both services.
 

Smartplug

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You can use Alexa cast from the Amazon Music app to the WiiM if you've connected it via Alexa in its settings. Currently that's only lossy MP3 Amazon Music and not lossless 16 bit nor 24 bit Amazon Music HD/UHD.

As said above and earlier in the thread (which is worth reading), when WiiM release support for lossless Amazon Music, it's hoped that casting will also support the higher, lossless tracks too, but if they do manage that it could well be a first - I'm not even sure that casting to Amazon's own echo devices supports that. That's why the inclusion of the bit depth and sample rate (and hopefully bitrate in a later update) in the WiiM app is important - that should tell us whether casting to WiiM is indeed lossless and bit perfect.
Are you saying that the bitrate showing on amazon 16/44.1 is lossy?
 

morillon

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for my part, I observe a 48k/16bit aac on radios that I know have 192k or 256k aac
(from where I find the interest to obtain in the info part or an indication of the quality of the wifi, an info in real time of the volume of the flow)
 

tsammyc

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I'm not seeing any more problem with 24/96 Qobuz files streamed from Audirvana (Windows) to the WiiM via network wifi connection. I get dropped connection occasionally but that's always been a problem with Audirvana and Upnp.
Same here. They have updated my firmware to 415357 and Tidal Masters and Hi Res files now work with uPnP and Audirvana again. For me, it seems also that all dropouts with Audirvana and uPnP have been resolved. But I will listen more extensively tomorrow to check for sure.

Not certain if this firmware is a general update or a beta fix for me. Anyway, kudos for their responsiveness
 

Smartplug

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Indeed I am. I don't believe Wiim support lossless Amazon Music yet, whether that's 16 bit HD or 24 bit UHD.
I have wiim connected to toslink to external dac then to analog input on AVR. Music quality on amazon wasn’t good compare to the MusicCast that Yamaha provided on same music provider. Maybe Yamaha MusicCast does give real HD? It even display bitrate on MusicCast.
 

Brantome

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I have wiim connected to toslink to external dac then to analog input on AVR. Music quality on amazon wasn’t good compare to the MusicCast that Yamaha provided on same music provider. Maybe Yamaha MusicCast does give real HD? It even display bitrate on MusicCast.
I believe Yamaha have supported Amazon Music HD natively from around Feb’21 - they were late to the game if memory serves me. So, if you are using the native Yamaha app, you should be able to play lossless 16bit HD and 24bit UHD tracks from Amazon Music HD. If your AVR shows you the bit rate as well as bit depth and sample rate, that should be approx 1.4Mbps for a lossless stereo 16/44.1 track (16*44.1K*2 ~ 1.4Mbps). For the lossy compressed mp3 or aac equivalent of that track, that bitrate would be, for example, 320Kbps or such.

I suspect if you cast from the Amazon Music app to your Yamaha, you’ll see the lower bitrate, indicating that casting doesn’t support lossless. If you’re lucky, it might even support lossless HD but not lossless UHD.

What you’re probably seeing with your DAC and analog input is the lossy MP3 track, converted to analogue and input to your Yamaha, displaying whatever bitrate it samples its analogue inputs at (if it does so).
 
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TomInDenver

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The wiim app now displays the bit rate of the song that is playing when played directly from the wiim app. Both Amazon music and Tidal display 16/44.1 when played directly from the wiim app so I am going to assume that that is bit perfect.

I just got Alexa working on the wiim for the first time and using Alexacast from the Amazon Music app is way cool. Once you cast to the wiim you can shut down tablet and wiim keeps streaming so wiim has a direct connection to amazon.

Neither Amazon alexacast nor Tidal connect display bit rate in wiin app when casting but both show up in my AVR as 44.1. I have wiim connected to AVR with toslink. Now the stream from Amazon may be lossy but it shows up as 44.1 because wiim has to decode to fixed bit rate so it could be lossy but it seems that since it is bit perfect 16/44.1 directly from the wiim app, it would be just as easy to do bit perfect when casting so may very well be bit perfect.
 

Brantome

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.., it would be just as easy to do bit perfect when casting so may very well be bit perfect.
I don’t believe “it would just as easy to do bit perfect when casting” - that’s the big “if” or $64k question here.

While some articles I’ve seen suggest that Tidal Connect supposedly supports up to 24/96 (or 24/192 to an MQA certified device), I’ve not experienced Amazon Music’s AlexaCast do anything better than lossy tracks when casting to my Heos Link HS2 which does support lossless Amazon Music up to 24/192 when using its own app. Having said that, Heos support for casting is delivered via an Alexa skill, while the WiiM Mini appears as an Alexa enabled speaker which can be used in echo multiroom groups, which the Heos Link can’t do, so maybe it’ll fare better.

Another factor that might figure in casting is determining the capability of the device being cast to - currently when playing on the Amazon Music app, it only delivers lossless tracks at a resolution the target playing device can support. This would suggest the casting protocol would need to be able to determine that too, or it assumes the worst and sends a lossy mp3 file that is almost universally supported. Again, maybe the WiiM’s implementation as a near echo device will stand it in better stead than devices like the Heos Link that are implemented thru an Alexa skill interface that perhaps can’t determine the target device capabilities.

I guess we’ll continue to speculate until WiiM deliver their solution for lossless Amazon Music HD/UHD…
 

Ralph_Cramden

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I've finalized the script for the Waveshare 7" screen and uploaded it to github.

I'll do a step-by-step instruction set once Amazon delivers the blank SD cards I ordered (due today, but not yet out for delivery at 5:20PM, so...).
Well, I tried installing this on the shiny new Bullseye release. Nope. No workie - different screen driver for Bullseye, gives nothing but a yellow screen and "out of space" errors.

Edit: Was able to get it up and running using Buster without issue. Started a thread here.
 
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