WiiM Amp Pro Streaming Stereo Amplifier Review

[swenak]

Tell me what would be better:
Wiim amp pro vs yamaha wxa-50?
Or some other streamer amplifier up to $700

Years ago I sold WXA-50 + KEF Q300 and it was big mistake. For me amazing combination (in terms of sound). Now I have few days Wiim Amp and QA 3030i and for me it is very poor sound As someone wrote in this thread too, it is like 96kbps mp3, sometimes it is like you have volume on 100% and speakers don't keep up, but it is 20% volume. For me it is "bunch of sounds" and not music, what I hear. I'm not audiophile, only my ears are sensitive. I now testing EQ/PEQ, but maybe I will send back Wiim Amp and I will order Wiim Amp Pro (or something else?), but maybe I try to buy WXA-50 and Q300 to revert my previou experience. WXA-50 have some problems (overheating and loud fan - I solved it with external Noctua fan), don't have HDMI and if I remember, SPDIF cant be used as trigger (solved with USB step-up USB to 12V) and so, but sound with that Q300 was for me sometimes pleasantly scare

 

[Old_School_Brad]

Years ago I sold WXA-50 + KEF Q300 and it was big mistake. For me amazing combination (in terms of sound). Now I have few days Wiim Amp and QA 3030i and for me it is very poor sound As someone wrote in this thread too, it is like 96kbps mp3, sometimes it is like you have volume on 100% and speakers don't keep up, but it is 20% volume. For me it is "bunch of sounds" and not music, what I hear. I'm not audiophile, only my ears are sensitive. I now testing EQ/PEQ, but maybe I will send back Wiim Amp and I will order Wiim Amp Pro (or something else?), but maybe I try to buy WXA-50 and Q300 to revert my previou experience. WXA-50 have some problems (overheating and loud fan - I solved it with external Noctua fan), don't have HDMI and if I remember, SPDIF cant be used as trigger (solved with USB step-up USB to 12V) and so, but sound with that Q300 was for me sometimes pleasantly scare

It seems you prefer the sound of the Q300 over the QA3030i. It's possible that you might be pushing your amplifiers into distortion or clipping, especially since the WXA-50 overheated with the Q300s.

How loud do you usually listen to your music?

 

[swenak]

I listening very low volumes (15% to 50% max, but poor sound is on each tested volume), because I have this in bedroom and I don't need high volumes. Yes, maybe it is question about Q300 vs AQ3030i, but for me it is like night and day and not like nigt and midnight.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

I listening very low volumes (15% to 50% max, but poor sound is on each tested volume), because I have this in bedroom and I don't need high volumes. Yes, maybe it is question about Q300 vs AQ3030i, but for me it is like night and day and not like nigt and midnight.

I think that is to be expected as it's two different speakers.

 

[swenak]

Maybe, but when I tested few years ago some combinations (3-4 amplifiers and 3 speakers), it was not "so bad" with any combination, it was only "like / dislike", this combination of Amp + 3030i is for me simple poor and not only dislike (I will testing EQ/PEQ, placement, port plugging). It is realy as "something is wrong", like something is lost. As I wrote, I will try Pro too (at this time is not available at amazon.de), because I like how it look with 3030i (grey), simplicity, fanless, ... . App have some problems and is on some cases complicated, but in generally (except sound) it is Wiim platform usable.

 

[Lutuy]

Does anyone have a comparison with Denon ceol n9-10-11 the sound quality?

 

[kyuu]

Does anyone have a comparison with Denon ceol n9-10-11 the sound quality?

Based on what I can see of the Denon Ceol, if there's any difference in sound quality at all, it will be marginal and in the Wiim's favor.

 

[Piotr]

Have you checked this out?

UniFi PowerAmp - Ubiquiti Store

Premium speaker amplifier designed for high-fidelity multi-zone audio streaming and immersive spatial sound experiences.

eu.store.ui.com

Seems as a strong competition to the Wiim Amp Pro. Offering 130W per channel—pretty impressive!
It also features AirPlay 2
Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Digital via eARC

569€ net in Europe

 

[Kagemusha]

Isn't that a WiFi company, do they do audio now?

 

[swenak]

I think that is to be expected as it's two different speakers.

So, for test I connected to same speakers Marantz M1 and problem is not in speakers Yes, sound is not same as KEF Q300 (expectedly), but without any special settings and corretions, soud is realy better. I hear more in that speakers, included more significant stereo. Yesterday I upgrade to latest Wiim app, where room correction was polished and yes, it is better but M1 is way better. While Wiim connected, I hear distorsions, disintegration of sound. I know, M1 is pricey, but I mean, that Amp (for me) is realy bad not only "not so good". I will send it back and wait for Pro version.

 

[RoA]

Have you checked this out?

UniFi PowerAmp - Ubiquiti Store

Premium speaker amplifier designed for high-fidelity multi-zone audio streaming and immersive spatial sound experiences.

eu.store.ui.com

Seems as a strong competition to the Wiim Amp Pro. Offering 130W per channel—pretty impressive!
It also features AirPlay 2
Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Digital via eARC

569€ net in Europe

130 W, 8 Ω, 1 kHz, < 0.05% THD+N, EIA (CEA-490-A)

HDMI earc too

£598.80 VAT incl.

Might try this and compare to my Cyrus ONE Cast. The speaker connections look weird though and I just noticed the streaming platforms are all compressed audio so I still need an outboard streamer.

Seems unnecessary hobbled.

Perhaps I don't.

 

[kyuu]

Isn't that a WiFi company, do they do audio now?

They're a networking company. Networked audio is a pretty natural area to expand into.

I'd be interested to see how that Ubiquiti streamer amp measures. It has more power than the Wiim, but otherwise seems more limited in terms of the streaming part and is pricier.

 

[mrick39]

130 W, 8 Ω, 1 kHz, < 0.05% THD+N, EIA (CEA-490-A)

HDMI earc too

£598.80 VAT incl.

Might try this and compare to my Cyrus ONE Cast. The speaker connections look weird though and I just noticed the streaming platforms are all compressed audio so I still need an outboard streamer.

Seems unnecessary hobbled.

Perhaps I don't.

Speaker connections are standard banana plugs. They include adapters for connecting bare wire. Kinda cool actually.

 

[mrick39]

Have you checked this out?

UniFi PowerAmp - Ubiquiti Store

Premium speaker amplifier designed for high-fidelity multi-zone audio streaming and immersive spatial sound experiences.

eu.store.ui.com

Seems as a strong competition to the Wiim Amp Pro. Offering 130W per channel—pretty impressive!
It also features AirPlay 2
Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Digital via eARC

569€ net in Europe

Very intriguing. No bluetooth but with Airplay2 I think I'm ok with that. I wonder about their app.

 

[MelodiousThunk]

I am new to HiFi and was hoping for some insight. I am strongly considering the WiiM Amp Pro to power my Definitive Technology Demand D15 3-Way Towers (Sensitivity 85.5db) and DN8 Subwoofer. Would the Amp Pro be a good option? Or would the Marantz M1 be worth the extra do re mi? Thanks in advance!

​

 

[Doodski]

I am new to HiFi and was hoping for some insight. I am strongly considering the WiiM Amp Pro to power my Definitive Technology Demand D15 3-Way Towers (Sensitivity 85.5db) and DN8 Subwoofer. Would the Amp Pro be a good option? Or would the Marantz M1 be worth the extra do re mi? Thanks in advance!

​

100W@8R for the Marantz versus a tested @ ASR 8R power output of 59 Watts/ch for ~triple the expense for the Marantz. How loud do you plan on playing the audio and what kind of PEQ results do you expect. If you start PEQing the speakers which you should do and add bass to the audio then the extra power will be handy.

 

[staticV3]

FYI, rather unintuitively, the extra 40W output power of the Marantz M1 translate to just ~15% higher loudness, compared to the WiiM.

 

[Doodski]

FYI, rather unintuitively, the extra 40W output power of the Marantz M1 translate to just ~15% higher loudness, compared to the WiiM.

Do you think 56W@8R or even 100W@8R is enough for these speakers? They have a high power rating and medium to lower efficiency.

 

[staticV3]

Do you think 56W@8R or even 100W@8R is enough for these speakers?

About 100dB SPL Peak with 10ft listening distance, so yes: I think it's enough.

 

[Doodski]

About 100dB SPL Peak with 10ft listening distance, so yes: I think it's enough.

Hmmmz... According to Google 100 DB is comparable to a nightclub, jack hammer at 1m or a loud gasoline powered lawn mower. 100 dB should suffice.