Am I crazy? WiiM Ultra Amp + Dynaudio

[Steemax]

I’ve had my pair of Dynaudio Contour 30’s for a few years now. They were paired with Yggydrasil
DAC and Yamaha A-S1200 amplifier. Though with little kids around that want to just mess with the expensive amp, try to climb on top of it I’ve had to put them in storage before they break something.

For the time being I ordered a WiiM Ultra Amp, disabled the screen and they pay no attention to it and I get to still enjoy my music.

Everyone has told me it’s sacrilegious to put a $500 amp on these “demanding/expensive” speakers and I’m leaving so much on the table but I can’t hear any difference for the life of me. In fact now that I have room correction via Roomfit, it sounds even better to me. The single only difference is it doesn’t get anywhere near as loud as the Yamaha can but I don’t listen at such high levels anyway.

This got me excited so I ordered a Speedwoofer 10S MKII since the WiiM has a sub out.

Now I’m thinking of just selling my Yamaha and Yggy. I just need a sanity check I suppose.

 

[kemmler3D]

Hey, welcome to ASR.

You are leaving some headroom on the table by using a 100w amp instead of 2-3x that, but aside from that there is no serious downside I know of. Doing the room correction is a nice upgrade also.

Selling the other amps might not be a bad idea if you can get a good price! But that all depends on your situation beyond what sounds good.

 

[Steemax]

Hey, welcome to ASR.

You are leaving some headroom on the table by using a 100w amp instead of 2-3x that, but aside from that there is no serious downside I know of. Doing the room correction is a nice upgrade also.

Selling the other amps might not be a bad idea if you can get a good price! But that all depends on your situation beyond what sounds good.

Thank you for the welcome!

To be fair on paper it has more power than the Yamaha which is 90 watts into 8ohms and 150 into 4ohms so I’m not sure what the reasoning is behind the lower max volume.

The Dynaudio are 4ohm so the WiiM should be ok since rated at 200 watts into 4ohms. I’m no expert in the science behind all of it so maybe watts don’t directly equal decibel output.

All that aside though it gets loud enough for me.

 

[kemmler3D]

watts don’t directly equal decibel output.

They basically do for the same speaker - volts are what actually drive output but it's convertible directly to watts at the same impedance. Either way, you're right, the WiiM should get just as loud, but loud enough is loud enough.

 

[staticV3]

I’m not sure what the reasoning is behind the lower max volume.

Gain is what creates loudness, rated power is what enables it.

If the Amp with more power still plays quieter, then you're simply missing gain.

 

[Steemax]

Gain is what creates loudness, rated power is what enables it.

If the Amp with more power still plays quieter, then you're simply missing gain.

So the WiiM does have gain adjustment, I guess I can experiment with that but does that add distortion?

 

[staticV3]

So the WiiM does have gain adjustment, I guess I can experiment with that but does that add distortion?

Not unless you're exceeding 0dBFS digital signal amplitude or exceeding the Amp's power rating.

 

[Steemax]

Not unless you're exceeding 0dBFS digital signal amplitude or exceeding the Amp's power rating.

Got it, thanks!

 

[mrehorst]

I use Quad ESL-63s with Wiim Amp Ultra. I have the DSP setup as a crossover and send the lows, below 80 Hz, to an SVS 3000 Micro sub with everything above 80 Hz going to the Quads. They play as loudly as I and my neighbors can stand and distortion is very low.

 

[OldTimer]

Actually class A/B amp (Yamaha) still can compete with class D amp (Wiim). Probably you used the amp wrong or doesn't match to the speakers.
For me, using the yamaha is wasting electricity.

 

[Steemax]

I use Quad ESL-63s with Wiim Amp Ultra. I have the DSP setup as a crossover and send the lows, below 80 Hz, to an SVS 3000 Micro sub with everything above 80 Hz going to the Quads. They play as loudly as I and my neighbors can stand and distortion is very low.

I'm glad to hear it and I'm not the only one. I'm patiently waiting for Fedex to drop off my sub today.

Actually class A/B amp (Yamaha) still can compete with class D amp (Wiim). Probably you used the amp wrong or doesn't match to the speakers.
For me, using the yamaha is wasting electricity.

Seems to be very good now with +5 db gain.

 

[dominikz]

I’ve had my pair of Dynaudio Contour 30’s for a few years now. They were paired with Yggydrasil
DAC and Yamaha A-S1200 amplifier. Though with little kids around that want to just mess with the expensive amp, try to climb on top of it I’ve had to put them in storage before they break something.

For the time being I ordered a WiiM Ultra Amp, disabled the screen and they pay no attention to it and I get to still enjoy my music.

Everyone has told me it’s sacrilegious to put a $500 amp on these “demanding/expensive” speakers and I’m leaving so much on the table but I can’t hear any difference for the life of me. In fact now that I have room correction via Roomfit, it sounds even better to me. The single only difference is it doesn’t get anywhere near as loud as the Yamaha can but I don’t listen at such high levels anyway.

This got me excited so I ordered a Speedwoofer 10S MKII since the WiiM has a sub out.

Now I’m thinking of just selling my Yamaha and Yggy. I just need a sanity check I suppose.

You are not crazy.

WiiM Amp Ultra is a great amp regardless of price, and with the features like streaming, multiroom, PEQ, bass management and RoomFit it brings a lot extra to the table compared to traditional amps.

If you can get the playback levels you need then I see no reason not to use it.

Enjoy!

 

[gasolin75]

You are leaving some headroom on the table by using a 100w amp instead of 2-3x

why do you think that ???????????????????????? NOT true at all

 

[kemmler3D]

why do you think that ???????????????????????? NOT true at allView attachment 549310

View attachment 549311

For some reason I thought the amp had less power than this, you're right.

 

[gasolin75]

It's the wim amp and wiim pro 2x60 watt and 2x120 watt but a yamaha a-s1200 still don't have 2-3 x times that

 

[john61ct]

Wiim Ultra Amp is a great product as an "all in one".

However the power amp section is very much a solved problem, nothing unique there welcome to modernity, can be very inexpensive even at higher power output without distortion.

I say this because buying the line-level analog + digital out Wiim Ultra separately from the power amp gives more flexibility for system expansion and/or future repurposing.

 

[Ruediger]

To be fair on paper it has more power than the Yamaha which is 90 watts into 8ohms and 150 into 4ohms so I’m not sure what the reasoning is behind the lower max volume.

I think that's just about the source, gain adjustment. The Amp Ultra isn't lacking power. But it has more options to adjust.

The Yamaha A-S are superb amps in my opinion. It's hard to let them go. If it were some AVR I would say don't think twice about it. But maybe you want a regular size class AB back at one time. Needless to say the Yamaha can also play poweramp in a more modern scenario.

 

[gasolin75]

But the price is a whole new level,tier compared to a wiim amp ultra

Would be nice if they would make an amp with double the power that could compete with a lyngdorf TDAI 1120 in sound quality and TDAI -2210 for power for only 10 or 20% more than a wiim amp ultra

The wiim amp ultra has aut room cortrection incl a sub (use a quality mic for best results) and makes it a better choice than a ever solo play that has manual adjustmenst only and you have to guess if you don't have a mic and an advanced program for your pc, it also lacks power + it's a little behinde the spund quality of a wiim amp ultra

 

[Ruediger]

The fact that I can get 3 WiiM Amp Ultra for the price of 1 A-S1200 here is crazy.

The old hifi world is probably in for some major disruption years.

 

[gasolin75]

The fact that I can get 3 WiiM Amp Ultra for the price of 1 A-S1200 here is crazy.

The old hifi world is probably in for some major disruption years.

The fact that a wiim ultra streamer is the ultimate swiss knife for any price let's say under 1000 euros, is sooo impressive, a wiim amp ultra can do the same

The a-s1200 is not 3 times as good, some good cables feet what ever you need and a quality pair of speakers for 400-500 euros, dali sonik,kupid,elac debut,wharfedale diamond 12i,used kef ls 50 og what ever you can find, you have a whole system for less than 2/3 new of the price of a yamaha a-s1200 amp add a 400 euro subwoofer you have a very competent system with bass, room correction and good sound, still for less than the price of a new yamaha a-s1200 + some extra to buy music,concerts or a used cdplayer + cd's