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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

Brantome

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is advertised as such...
to confirm factually...
Is that a cheap shot that they won’t deliver what they’ve said? While some features are taking longer to be implemented than some might wish, I don’t think it can be denied that Linkplay are putting a lot of disproportionate effort into development of such a cheap device.
 

morillon

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a low blow..no.
I spent enough time trying to help move wiim forward on the mini to feel light on this point.
just that if a good friend asked me the question of a purchase of this future product for the use of this chromecast function.. I would advise him to wait until it is verified and effective, without bugs..
not you?
the first time it's ignorance.. the second time will be stupidity, right?

Icône de validation par la communauté
 

Music1969

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Is that a cheap shot that they won’t deliver what they’ve said? While some features are taking longer to be implemented than some might wish, I don’t think it can be denied that Linkplay are putting a lot of disproportionate effort into development of such a cheap device.

Actually, while I disagree with his constant concerns about jitter ! :D I actually agree with (what I think is his point) not to buy on a promise.

But I'm pretty sure WiiM Pro will actually launch with Chromecast built-in but we don't know.

For context: I was following iFi's Zen Streamer thread on head-fi. iFi's website promised Chromecast would come via a firmware update.

They've since removed Chromecast from their website and it probably won't come. A lot of people purchased based on this future update which still hasn't come and they aren't happy on the head-fi thread.

Chromecast needs certified hardware. Everything out there is pretty much StreamUnlimited hardware (part owned by Google).

Will be curious to see how WiiM Pro have done it, given LinkPlay hardware is essentially a competitor to StreamUnlimited.

An example of unhappy iFi Zen Stream customer (you might recognise him !):

 

DeepSpace57

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Ground hog day.

As long as you have an optical cable , that can pass bit perfect test up to 24b/192k, from WiiM Mini's TOSlink output: then WiiM Mini's jitter is completely irrelevant

Jitter is only important right at the point of A to D and D to A.

You can ask all the best DAC designers, not GoldenSound

If your DAC deals well with TOSlink jitter like RME ADI-2 or even this cheap SMSL DO100 below, there is no jitter to worry about from WiiM Mini

What DAC do you have @DeepSpace57 ?

index.php


Or another cheap DAC:

index.php
sorry for the late response as I have just noticed your post. I have Topping D70s MQA
 

DeepSpace57

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Hey Folks,

I now consider to buy this little guy, but I have a couple of concerns about losing CD quality
Any chance to stream a hi-res file (16/48 at least) by Apple Music for an external DAC? I read that the IOS Apple Music app first converts the file to AAC, then transmit it to the endpoint (so wiim mini) through Airplay 2. Is it right?

How is it possible to stream 24bit/96khz from Apple Music? any way to do this?
 

onlyoneme

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Hey Folks,

I now consider to buy this little guy, but I have a couple of concerns about losing CD quality
Any chance to stream a hi-res file (16/48 at least) by Apple Music for an external DAC? I read that the IOS Apple Music app first converts the file to AAC, then transmit it to the endpoint (so wiim mini) through Airplay 2. Is it right?

How is it possible to stream 24bit/96khz from Apple Music? any way to do this?
I think the only way to get 96kHz or above from Apple Music is when you connect physically the dac to the supported device.
 

CyBorek

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Apr 27, 2021
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Sorry guys if it was earlier solved and I missed that, but: every time after a longer brake of not streaming I need to restart the device because android app can't connect (it shows the device but can't connect and report error). Restarting device is the solution proposed by the app itself..is it any other way how to fix this issue?
 

RoyB

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Feb 12, 2021
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I just "UPGRADED" from a $89 Arylic streamer to the $84 WiiM Mini.......Simply an amazing upgrade in sound quality....I really didn't think there would be any difference. But after reading and watching all the reviews and the YouTubers going crazy over it, for $84 I had to try it! I put it up against my Node2i both through a Gustard DAC and as crazy as it seems, it was Very, Very close.....Imaging, Depth, etc was spot on. So just for kicks I put the Arylic and a Andover Songbird through the Gustard......Not even close. Those two streamers were horrible though a higher end, much more resolving system.
Using the WiiM Mini on my "office" system I figured I'd order a cheap DAC....I bought the Topping E30 II......And again, a demonstrable improvement over the Mini's internal DAC.....So I went one step further and just ordered the next step up Topping DX3 Pro+....It will be here Monday and more listening is instore.....Roon, I don't need no stink'n Roon!

System Video Here:
 

thomasward00

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May 13, 2021
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Is that a cheap shot that they won’t deliver what they’ve said? While some features are taking longer to be implemented than some might wish, I don’t think it can be denied that Linkplay are putting a lot of disproportionate effort into development of such a cheap device.
I think that Linkplay is investing time and money into ironing out the kinks into the software platform so that they can use it in future products. They are doing a great job so far.
Their investment goes well beyond the Mini.
 

Green

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Oct 10, 2022
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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.

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

View attachment 200372

Edit WiiM Mini ADC Analog In Measurements
Feeding the Mini analog input and capturing the same, gives this output:
View attachment 200375

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

View attachment 200376

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.

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Hello. I am using the mini to connect to my peachtree nova 150 integrated amp with built in DAC. I don’t know what bit rate/sample settings I should use on the mini. Thanks for your advice.
 

Turambar

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May 30, 2022
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Use 24 / 192, this is also the max resolution supported by the nova optical input.
 

telemike

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Jul 8, 2020
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Hello. I am using the mini to connect to my peachtree nova 150 integrated amp with built in DAC. I don’t know what bit rate/sample settings I should use on the mini. Thanks for your advice.
Depends on your source. Spotify 44.1/16. Amazon Music 192/24. Etc
 

Brantome

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Depends on your source. Spotify 44.1/16. Amazon Music 192/24. Etc
Surely the source doesn’t matter, you’d set it at the max your target device can support and the the WiiM Mini will deliver whatever source resolution bit perfect to the target?
 

MrOtto

Senior Member
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Nov 4, 2020
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If I play music from Tidal Android app with Tidal Connect to WiiM Mini, toslink out, do I get this kind of performance:

index.php


Or this:

index.php
 

MrOtto

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I asked for "kind of performance", not if Airplay was available on Android.
 
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