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Impressions on WiiM Pro Plus vs Yamaha WXC-50 and miniDSP Flex vs miniDSP 2x4 HD

privilege15

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I thought I'd share some input here guys as I've recently upgraded my equipment:
  • Audio streamer: from Yamaha WXC-50 to WiiM Pro Plus
  • Audio processor: from miniDSP 2x4 HD to miniDSP Flex (external DAC+room correction)
I've used my original hardware for about 3 years now and as some of ASR audience may know, WXC-50 has an architecture downside, where the volume controlling DSP is Yamaha YSS952 resamples all outbound signal to 48kHz and miniDSP 2x4 HD has some average DAC performance in terms of measurements in general.

The idea to upgrade was twofold. First, I wanted to upgrade the streamer/receiver to something more functional and modern which wouldn't break the bank but up until WiiM evolution progression there were hardly any meaningful competitors to WXC-50 in terms of low cost and high performance. Second, I just wanted to have a better DAC with the same flexible room correction capabilities as 2x4 HD and miniDSP Flex option looked like the best candidate for the upgrade.

Both candidate devices are objectively better than their predecessors. Their reviews and measurements can easily be found on ASR. Even though I don't use WiiM Pro Plus as a DAC and could have gone with a cheaper version but the price difference isn't that high anyways.

For me personally WiiM Pro Plus advantages over WXC-50 are the following:

1. WiiM has the search function that scans through all available sources and nicely structures the results based on source.
2. WiiM doesn't lag when browsing local NAS music library with Minim Server running and works flawlessly so far. WXC-50 used to fail to load the last item by displaying "Loading...." all the time, be it the last album or song or artist in the category.
3. With WiiM I can finally scroll through songs when they are being played from my local NAS so I can skip through half the song for example.
4. WiiM also has auto-sensing of Optical In, which is a nice touch.

In terms of miniDSP Flex vs 2x4 HD, the Flex simply has just a much better DAC. I was pleasantly surprised that once exported, all settings from miniDSP 2x4 HD including PEQ, crossovers etc, I was able to import them flawlessly and seamlessly into miniDSP Flex in one sweep motion so the whole migration between miniDSP DACs took me maybe 10 minutes.

Now for the fun part and subjective impressions from the upgrade. Before I do so, it's a good idea to share the end to end connectivity solution and how the hardware in the discussion integrates into it.

Audio_Connectivity.jpg


And the impressions are ...drumroll... I noticed no difference before and after :) Well, I did not perform blind testing and on the spot switching between the two setups to notice any subtle differences. If there are any, I didn't notice them.
 
Well, it says a lot about the quality of the WXC-50 upon its release, 8 years ago. Your findings mirror mine. By sheer curiosity, I thought of buying one of these Chinese ESS DACs that are supposedly such great value and went through what can only be described as being in groundhogday watching what seemed to be the same review over and over again....where the "reviewers" (more like paid influencers) over inflates every single aspects, making the watcher believe that there will be differences....and the truth is that there aren't

I have a remotely controlled RCA switcher which allows me to listen either the WXC-50 analog output or the SMSL DO100 Pro.... boasting 2 9039Q2M chips
What a shock it was to hear no difference. The DO100 might have sounded ever so slightly more open but....the difference was hard to discern and the Yamaha has a 9006 ESS Sabre. In my case, I have a more resolving system than you, Class A amp, Supravox TQWT speakers...
Even worse, the DSP functionalities of the Yamaha made it sound better...Audiophile heresy.

I recently built a Volumio Streamer on an RPI 5 and playing around with the upsampling functionalities of the RPI which I could only connect to the SMSL USB input, I have to admit that the music felt much wider and smoother. Seems like upsampling does work which I find baffling, up until then, I was one of the big sceptics but I'm getting converted... I switched back and forth several times between External upsampling up to 384k and none and couldnt dismiss the difference in SQ. It was there

Thus, I figured, if I'm going to improve once and for all my streaming, might as well buy an R2R NOS DAC with an upsampling streamer. Will be costly but at least, I wont feel like I'm compromising and be done with gear buying. That upsampling experiment was really eye opening and as a consequence wallet opening. But In the end, it's not that much money when considering the pleasure extracted out of it and how little money differential it represents over time
 
Do you use the miniDSP as volume control or the Wiim Pro Plus?
I have both too
i use wiim pro for volume control and set my max volume i want on the flex.
 
I have both too
i use wiim pro for volume control and set my max volume i want on the flex.
Alright. That's identical to my chain then. I only have my miniDSP turned up max. and attenuate on my power amplifier to what I decide is the safe max volume.
It works really well with the bluetooth remote for the Wiim.
 
Alright. That's identical to my chain then. I only have my miniDSP turned up max. and attenuate on my power amplifier to what I decide is the safe max volume.
It works really well with the bluetooth remote for the Wiim.
I do not have volume or limiter on my power amp :(
 
Nice setup there privilege15. Appreciate the visual!

I have similar with a Yamaha powering bookshelf speakers and a pair of subs all optimized with 2x4HD & DIRAC
That is in my multi-seat listening room where we use TIDAL on a MicrosoftSurface as the source.

I plan to ditch my family rooms 5.1 AVS to implement a similar 2.1 system soon. Was planning on going with the FLEX for its digital volume display. Wasnt really expecting any sound quality difference but may temporarily swap it in the listening room to compare. Ashame i need to spend an additional $250 to get a volume display but it is what it is.
 
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