WiiM Ultra

[Purité Audio]

Nothing has changed in dacs for what at least ten tears probably more and I don’t expect any improvement.
If the streamer is well designed then a change in power supply will not make a shred of difference.
Keith

 

[zeluxao]

Nothing has changed in dacs for what at least ten tears probably more and I don’t expect any improvement.
If the streamer is well designed then a change in power supply will not make a shred of difference.
Keith

From what i get here, specially with asmr reviews, one can get better and better performance for less money. And with more features. What i meant with the power supply is let it be external. With the affordable products from wiim i think it can make a difference. From my subjective experience at least. One can make a choice of what ps to use and it is more future proof. If there's a problem with the ps, it's just a matter of finding a new one and connecting it. Again just my opinion, no expert.

 

[Purité Audio]

Look at @VintageFlanker measurements of the Wiim Pro Plus in this very site, an external power supply will not make the slightest difference, linear power supplies are just another nonsense aimed at the the typical man, slightly OCD, and technically uninformed a perfect storm for snake oil manufacturers.
Keith

 

[Middle Earth]

Are there power supplies

Look at @VintageFlanker measurements of the Wiim Pro Plus in this very site, an external power supply will not make the slightest difference, linear power supplies are just another nonsense aimed at the the typical man, slightly OCD, and technically uninformed a perfect storm for snake oil manufacturers.
Keith

Are there power supplies that are so poorly conceived and constructed that an average low cost power supply could make a difference ?

 

[zeluxao]

Look at @VintageFlanker measurements of the Wiim Pro Plus in this very site, an external power supply will not make the slightest difference, linear power supplies are just another nonsense aimed at the the typical man, slightly OCD, and technically uninformed a perfect storm for snake oil manufacturers.
Keith

That's me!

 

[Purité Audio]

Are there power supplies

Are there power supplies that are so poorly conceived and constructed that an average low cost power supply could make a difference ?

There are some poorly designed components that exhibit power supply noise on their outputs, again that noise is explicit in their measurements, I wouldn’t buy one if I were you.
Keith

 

[Matt_Holland]

i'm a separates person myself. Everything evolves at lightning speed, specially dacs. Chances are if a streamer has a decent dac right now, it'll be subpar 1/ 2 years from now. Better choose/ use your own dac and cange it/ upgrade it when you want, with the features you want. If they keep upgrading the software and just add more outputs and you choose a good ps to use with it and then a good dac, you can beat the eversolos and fiios of this life when regarding sound quality. (what really matters) Also, i don't get the touch screen craze. It means you use the unit in close range/ desktop environment. What's the point? Just use you pc or mac and have a bigger one! Also, what happens when the UI, android version, etc. becomes unusable with the updated apps? KISS is the name of the game imo.

I’m interested to know how you think DACs can evolve? We can already have SOTA for $500.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

I’m interested to know how you think DACs can evolve? We can already have SOTA for $500…

…and transparent to the source for $100.

Added functionality is pretty much the only way to go, because we’re not far away from it being possible to build a transparent DAC into every device which needs one.

Standalone DACs will soon be only for those chasing SOTA figures purely for bragging rights, unless they can offer something extra.

 

[MCH]

I’m interested to know how you think DACs can evolve? We can already have SOTA for $500.

if there was a choice of devices like the minidsp flex for less than $500, i would agree with you.

imo, a digital output in a device like this is always welcome, just in case

 

[Esprit]

Standalone DACs will soon be only for those chasing SOTA figures purely for bragging rights, unless they can offer something extra.

Balanced outputs?
My professional monitors only have XLR.
I currently own a €200 DAC (XLR output) which replaces a Mytek from many years ago which cost €1600.
With a USB output I might add a USB to AES/EBU converter for when I switch to Genelec.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

Balanced outputs?
My professional monitors only have XLR.
I currently own a €200 DAC (XLR output) which replaces a Mytek from many years ago which cost €1600.
With a USB output I might add a USB to AES/EBU converter for when I switch to Genelec.

That’s fair play, and to an extent falls within the remit of my post - “just a transparent DAC’ might become something built in as prices fall further. Balanced outs, I appreciate the functionality, and in my mind at least, fall within “something extra”.

 

[zeluxao]

I’m interested to know how you think DACs can evolve? We can already have SOTA for $500.

I'd say at least pricing, features/ funcionality and design/ form factor/ size. Otherwise not much point in looking at new dacs, making reviews and reading them etc. specially from brands where most units are already sota, right?

 

[dtaylo1066]

Balanced out is always nice, and particularly desired by me with balanced Hypex amps, but not of use to most in their target audience. Of course one can bite the bullet and get an RCA to balanced converter, but that only adds cost in the converter and extra cables. Almost all of the similar streamers in the $500 to $1,000 range lack a single ended input, which kind of sucks in my opinion for those of us with an analog tape or turntable in our system.

Ah, it's hard to find perfection in an audio component.

 

[Matt_Holland]

I’ll eat my hat if the Ultra doesn’t have analogue outputs.

I predict it will up the game in these areas compared to Pro Plus:

- look and feel, I.e pride of ownership. Possibly nicer remote.
- display. Not a large screen to display album art, just a nice display for input and volume. Target market is the all-in-one streamer/DAC/pre
- inputs. It will have every consumer input going
- DAC. Even better measured performance than Pro Plus. Balanced outputs. DSD and MQA decoding.
- bass management. Two sub outputs. Home App will improve and allow more adjustment of mains and subs.

That’s it.
Make this the end-game streamer/DAC/pre.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

I’ll eat my hat if the Ultra doesn’t have analogue outputs.

I predict it will up the game in these areas compared to Pro Plus:

- look and feel, I.e pride of ownership. Possibly nicer remote.
- display. Not a large screen to display album art, just a nice display for input and volume. Target market is the all-in-one streamer/DAC/pre
- inputs. It will have every consumer input going
- DAC. Even better measured performance than Pro Plus. Balanced outputs. DSD and MQA decoding.
- bass management. Two sub outputs. Home App will improve and allow more adjustment of mains and subs.

That’s it.
Make this the end-game streamer/DAC/pre.

I think it’ll be like the Arylic BP50…

Arylic BP50 Preamp with HDMI ARC Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of Arylic BP50 preamp with internal DAC, phono stage, HDMI ARC and Bluetooth. It was kindly drop shipped to me by a member and costs US $99. Front panel doesn't hint at the immense amount of functionality BP50 provides. You get that from the back...

audiosciencereview.com

…only with a streamer…

…and good.

 

[zeluxao]

I’ll eat my hat if the Ultra doesn’t have analogue outputs.

I predict it will up the game in these areas compared to Pro Plus:

- look and feel, I.e pride of ownership. Possibly nicer remote.
- display. Not a large screen to display album art, just a nice display for input and volume. Target market is the all-in-one streamer/DAC/pre
- inputs. It will have every consumer input going
- DAC. Even better measured performance than Pro Plus. Balanced outputs. DSD and MQA decoding.
- bass management. Two sub outputs. Home App will improve and allow more adjustment of mains and subs.

That’s it.
Make this the end-game streamer/DAC/pre.

You forgot price.

 

[OldTimer]

Hopefully it has a display and usb out only (no dac/amp mumbo jumbo) to reduce the cost. Of course also has ethernet port, wifi n is enough as long as wpa3 supported (like Apple Homepod).

 

[Matt_Holland]

You forgot price.

No I didn’t
The above could easily be done for a product retailing at $400-500 when you consider what Wiim have delivered in the Pro Plus.

 

[Matt_Holland]

Hopefully it has a display and usb out only (no dac/amp mumbo jumbo) to reduce the cost. Of course also has ethernet port, wifi n is enough as long as wpa3 supported (like Apple Homepod).

When you consider how small the market is for a streamer without a built-in DAC, it would be a disaster for the Ultra to not have one.

And let’s face it, they could put a DAC in with performance better than 99.9% of boutique DACs.

In fact, I’m starting to wonder if the Ultra should be a streamer amp. Wiim will want maximum market share and imagine if they made a Wiim amp on steroids with a genuine 300W/ch with a load-independent output stage for around $500-600.

 

[morillon]

Hopefully it has a display and usb out only (no dac/amp mumbo jumbo) to reduce the cost. Of course also has ethernet port, wifi n is enough as long as wpa3 supported (like Apple Homepod).

the irony is that precisely if you remove functions such as a DAC etc (which only increase the price by a few tens of euros leaving the Chinoix workshop) by imagining thus lowering the price it will become a product for a good market smaller, more niche, and will therefore be much more expensive...

but also we can also add a host of "audiophile" appearance functions without them being carried out in a qualitative manner and therefore without any real added value... it would be an effort to do for wiim...
(remind me the eversolo has some success because a chinoix device has a very competitive price for what it offers, right?)