privilege15
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- Nov 29, 2021
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I thought I'd share some input here guys as I've recently upgraded my equipment:
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.
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.
- Audio streamer: from Yamaha WXC-50 to WiiM Pro Plus
- Audio processor: from miniDSP 2x4 HD to miniDSP Flex (external DAC+room correction)
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.
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.