Dayton Audio WBA31 Streamer Review

[Tangband]

If some people consider as a total fail something that has a lower but still inaudible SINAD than its their personal thing and not every ASR member thinks like that.

You may have a point, but we shouldnt put up with less than real 20 bit resolution in the digital domain, regardless if SRC and digital volumecontrols are used . Not in the year 2023.
Im not supporting bluetooth or mp3 either , simply because theres no need for lossy codex or bad bit truncations. Its only a symptom of bad engineering. Again - we dont need to put up with anything less than stellar in the digital domain at 2023, almost regardless of price.

Things were a bit different 1990.

( the comparison with WiiM pro seems interesting, the newest measurements of WiiM shows a true 24 bit resolution when using the digital volume control, making it perfect as a digital preamp )

WiiM Pro Streamer

what is the sample rate? 44.1, 48, 96, 192? What cable are you using for the coaxial? Expecially if you are at the higher end of sample rates, you should be using digital audio coax cable not analogue audio RCA. Yes it is an analog cable and not digital, the reason is that my cable does not...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[rarewolf]

Personally, I believe it’s a shame @amirm couldn’t recommend the WiiM Mini solely because it didn’t support Roon (yet). There are a number of ways to stream the digital to a DAC, and as long as the streamer supports SPDIF out you’re in business (least wise, for 24/192 PCM)…

… On the other hand, jitter from the Mini’s TOSlink looks good enough that I shouldn’t have to consider the different jitter management implementations as provided by either Topping E70(ESS) or E70(AKM)… (i.e., my future match with my L70 amp…)

… my CA$0.02…

 

[Svet Angelov]

A bit lackluster compared to the direct competitors. I just don't see justification for this over the slightly more expensive WiiM Mini.

 

[BobPM]

Personally, I believe it’s a shame @amirm couldn’t recommend the WiiM Mini solely because it didn’t support Roon (yet). There are a number of ways to stream the digital to a DAC, and as long as the streamer supports SPDIF out you’re in business (least wise, for 24/192 PCM)…

… On the other hand, jitter from the Mini’s TOSlink looks good enough that I shouldn’t have to consider the different jitter management implementations as provided by either Topping E70(ESS) or E70(AKM)… (i.e., my future match with my L70 amp…)

… my CA$0.02…

Amir sees every streamer as a ROON endpoint which is like evaluating a Windows PC and failing it because it can't run the Apple OS. A streamer is primarily a computer with a software interface. They should be evaluated on the quality of the software being run, followed by the quality of the digital output. Its good to know if the optional DAC is any good, but its hardly a deal breaker for many if you can use an external.

With respect to software, is it intuitive, does it crash frequently, and will it be supported. p.s., ROON is a good but expensive program that has a very marginal presence in streaming. It is used by a fraction of Tidal and Qobuz users that are a fraction of all streaming services. Anyone paying $75 for a WIIM Mini is probably not going to subscribe.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

ROON is a good but expensive program that has a very marginal presence in streaming...

... and its adamant refusal to support UPnP/DLNA, likely by far the most widely available protocol(s), is just silly, IMO, and limits its customer base.

These devices are very easy to test via UPnP from LMS, which is very easy to install and support, without the AirPlay 16/48 limit. It's very likely that FAR more people use LMS than use Roon.

 

[Chr1]

Can somebody please explain what advantages boxes like this and the WiiM Mini have over android media boxes with Toslink out? I have been using several Minix Neo U1s for several years and they can be bought very cheaply. Doubt the internal DAC is much good but a non issue if you are outputting to an external one... Thanks.

 

[rarewolf]

... and its adamant refusal to support UPnP/DLNA, likely by far the most widely available protocol(s), is just silly, IMO, and limits its customer base.

These devices are very easy to test via UPnP from LMS, which is very easy to install and support, without the AirPlay 16/48 limit. It's very likely that FAR more people use LMS than use Roon.

“… LMS…”?

I use JRiver which uses a proprietary type of DLNA, but the WiiM works great with it, and I’m not limited to the WiiM player. I still get to use the JRiver client player…

 

[rarewolf]

Can somebody please explain what advantages boxes like this and the WiiM Mini have over android media boxes with Toslink out? I have been using several Minix Neo U1s for several years and they can be bought very cheaply. Doubt the internal DAC is much good but a non issue if you are outputting to an external one... Thanks.

Any differences or advantages are not obvious, although some may prefer the coaxial SPDIF that comes with the WiiM Pro…

 

[sarumbear]

Personally, I believe it’s a shame @amirm couldn’t recommend the WiiM Mini solely because it didn’t support Roon (yet).

Why do you care about his recommendations? By definition a recommendation is a subjective decision. The whole purpose of his tests is to give you the data so that you make the decision as per your own criteria. Otherwise we are back to magazine review mess.

 

[sarumbear]

... and its adamant refusal to support UPnP/DLNA, likely by far the most widely available protocol(s), is just silly, IMO, and limits its customer base.

Who is "it" in your sentence?

And, what data do you have shows that UPnP/DLNA is the most widely used protocol?

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

Who is "it" in your sentence?

And, what data do you have shows that UPnP/DLNA is the most widely used protocol?

"it" is Roon.

From 2107:

At last count, it (DLNA) had achieved over four billion shipments of certified products, across 25,000 device models.

Roon has, what, 150K shipped products, with a dozen or two endpoint device models?

The curious case of DLNA

DLNA has dissolved into a new entity, and while some have dismissed it CSI discovers continued interest from some quarters and regions

www.csimagazine.com

 

[sarumbear]

"it" is Roon.

From 2107:

Roon has, what, 150K shipped products, with a dozen or two endpoint device models?

The curious case of DLNA

DLNA has dissolved into a new entity, and while some have dismissed it CSI discovers continued interest from some quarters and regions

www.csimagazine.com

DLNA was built for a world where local media was king. Is it still significant today? I don’t thing so.

Almost all music and TV playback in the world is done via cloud. Streaming killed the local media and pushed it to a niche. Roon is also a niche. Why bother which is used?

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

DLNA was built for a world where local media was king. Is it still significant today? I don’t thing so.

Almost all music and TV playback in the world is done via cloud. Streaming killed the local media and pushed it to a niche. Roon is also a niche. Why bother which is used?

?? As noted above, using UPnP to test these Linkplay-based devices, which all support UPnP, eliminates the limited AirPlay bandwidth issue. They will all accept up to 24/192, vs 16/48 for AirPlay. Using Roon to test these devices currently limits you to AirPlay (Chromecast for the new WiiM Pro). Using LMS with UPnP or Chromecast would allow testing them fully.

 

[DWPress]

DLNA was built for a world where local media was king. Is it still significant today? I don’t thing so.

Definitely this is the trend but only for those who have ACCESS to these services. There are still many of us (mostly rural) where the connection to the WWW is an expensive yet necessary luxury and certainly not unlimited. I still rely heavily on local media and I know many other rural dwellers/media junkies who must cope the same way.

I use Roon and Tidal connected to a tethered device for 4G internet in my main system. Along with some casual YouTube viewing it's easy to max out that dedicated 50GB plan just with streaming music/video and updating all that precious meta data we've all come to enjoy so much and which Roon does especially well.

 

[sarumbear]

Definitely this is the trend but only for those who have ACCESS to these services. There are still many of us (mostly rural) where the connection to the WWW is an expensive yet necessary luxury and certainly not unlimited. I still rely heavily on local media and I know many other rural dwellers/media junkies who must cope the same way.

Keep forgetting the limits of rural USA. It’s not easy to comprehend that fast broadband penetration in the USA is still at 24% while in the U.K. and most of Europe it’s reaching 90%.

 

[The Guy who cares]

Since these days one can't hear what a audio product sounds like. I would just stick to your favorite brand. If you love Rotel just buy Rotel, same if you like Luxman or what ever, stick with the brand, if you want a better sound move up the ladder with the same brand.

 

[DWPress]

Keep forgetting the limits of rural USA. It’s not easy to comprehend that broadband penetration in the USA is still at 24% while in the U.K. and most of Europe it’s reaching 90%.

This was very apparent to me - I was recently in Europe for 4 weeks, picked up a cheap SIM in Barcelona with 100GB + tethering plan for less than half the price I pay here and it worked everywhere I went in southern Europe including some mountainous areas with very little population to warrant the 3G signal available. BUT it DID work!

At risk of taking thread too far off course - but streamers need a network to connect to after all....

 

[sarumbear]

This was very apparent to me - I was recently in Europe for 4 weeks, picked up a cheap SIM in Barcelona with 100GB + tethering plan for less than half the price I pay here and it worked everywhere I went in southern Europe including some mountainous areas with very little population to warrant the 3G signal available. BUT it DID work!

That is the wireless broadband! Here in the UK a third of all premises have the option to be have a fibre connection into their premises (FTTP), which offers you symmetrical (up/down) Gigabit connection. I have one and I don't even think about connection anymore. It is the same feeling as having electricity. Even my Wi-Fi is faster (700Mbps) than any NAS on the SME market. What DLNA?

 

[thewas]

You may have a point, but we shouldnt put up with less than real 20 bit resolution in the digital domain, regardless if SRC and digital volumecontrols are used . Not in the year 2023.
Im not supporting bluetooth or mp3 either , simply because theres no need for lossy codex or bad bit truncations. Its only a symptom of bad engineering. Again - we dont need to put up with anything less than stellar in the digital domain at 2023, almost regardless of price.

I am an engineer and I don't agree on such oversimplified black and white views and generalisations. Good engineering is when a product fulfils its predefined catalog of requirements. For the biggest part of the population who just want to listen to some music and don't care about measurements other factors are important like low price and ease to use, than for example a $50 device with a lower SINAD can be a better buy to them than a much more expensive with a high one. Especially at audio electronics since decades the audible deficits are so much lower than on typical loudspeakers and room acoustics. Also it is funny that many audiophiles condemn bluetooth and mp3 (which since years have also variants which have an inaudible degradation of sound quality) but talk about vinyl and tube amps with worse than -50 dB distortion. A modern good BT headphone streamed by a decent current mobile phone can often give a much higher quality reproduction than most typical living room loudspeaker stereo systems despite the "bad bluetooth and Spotify mp3". To collect music of course lossless encoding gives a better feeling to us audio enthusiasts but its less a rational thing.

 

[amirm]

Personally, I believe it’s a shame @amirm couldn’t recommend the WiiM Mini solely because it didn’t support Roon (yet).

Roon remote protocol is by far the best streaming protocol. It is designed from ground up to do this as opposed to nightmare, political design committee of DLNA for example. Combine that with certification and it brings very high reliability as well. So excuse me as I hold back my recommendation as to encourage the industry to support it. The only alternative to it is Airplay with its 16 bit limitation.