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WiiM Amp Pro Streaming Stereo Amplifier Review

Rate this streaming amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 8 2.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 24 7.3%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 118 35.8%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 180 54.5%

  • Total voters
    330
this story of output to dac in usb must be seriously checked......but easy to try..
amirm???
;-)
 
which is interesting and which fundamentally, we cannot consider as "hifi" this behavior they say "erratic" in f-r of these little chips, case by case, despite the effort of the pffb really helps to erase this problem...the loads are complex, see, and it surprises me that not enough is said, often very higher than 8ohm on the tweeters (what does 2k-20k measurements give under 16 see 32ohm?)...and as we can see affect quite low the fr in areas that are already sensitive, see at crossings that are already often complicated...not only very high (doesn't concern me)...
but this pffb really clearly helps for this """mk2"""...good news


Thread 'Complex impedance load amp FR influence - WiiM Amp review by Erin' https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...p-fr-influence-wiim-amp-review-by-erin.52301/
(It should come as no surprise that many of these little amplifiers based on these chips, until the recent arrival of the pffb, ended up (at least around me) after a passage of "for the price it's still astonishing!'.. .at the bottom of the cupboards, see just for troubleshooting, " too stiff or tiring", among those who had hindsight on the use of small class ab amps etc in the same circumstances... the pffb will clearly level out this problem a little ;-))
I've had two for a long time now and they have never bothered me or those around me. One here in France under my television. A more powerful one taken to Brazil: this one has a big flaw: standard bananas are too long to be used. But that's its only fault.
 
USB out to an external DAC
But not in the context of sub out. WiiM have been “investigating” the use of the usb out and sub out for a few months now with no sign of that being validated. I don’t see the Amp Pro delivering that in the short term if the Ultra and existing Amp currently don’t so it’s misleading to mention simultaneous usb out and sub out at this point in time for this new device.
 
I like Wiim. Their products set a new standard in the price/performance department, even more so when you consider their (software) support.

I still have doubts however, about the rise in distortion with higher frequencies. It's a common Class-D 'flaw' that only few seems to be borthered with. At first you see 100dB SINAD which is nice, but at the same time THD+N is -65dB @ 3watts and -55dB @ full power around 15KHz.
 
But not in the context of sub out. WiiM have been “investigating” the use of the usb out and sub out for a few months now with no sign of that being validated. I don’t see the Amp Pro delivering that in the short term if the Ultra and existing Amp currently don’t so it’s misleading to mention simultaneous usb out and sub out at this point in time for this new device.
See comment #11 here
 
I've had two for a long time now and they have never bothered me or those around me. One here in France under my television. A more powerful one taken to Brazil: this one has a big flaw: standard bananas are too long to be used. But that's its only fault.
I don't have the same feedback around me as you ;-)
and maybe, don't blame me, we're all entitled to it, age helps too and the impact on hearing by going up in frequencies...

ps the latency for video use and the history of heat dissipation are really the two things to check it seems to me for this little all-in-one ;-)
 
I'd just like to see hf distortion come down a bit to match the rest of it. Just a probably daft hunch, but I'm minded of metal dome tweeters taking off at 30 - 40kHz, often badly. Add the distortion harmonics and just possibly/maybe (maybe not), any intermodulation effects might come down into the audio band - maybe/possibly (maybe not).. The rest of it seems great and the price is very low really for a little box like this (my local audio salon now sells them as well - wonders never cease!!!), so forgive my excessive caution here.
Apart from the fact that the energy in these higher frequencies is low to non-existent in music, among those who can no longer call themselves youth there is hardly anyone who hears these higher frequencies at all.
 
I like Wiim. Their products set a new standard in the price/performance department, even more so when you consider their (software) support.

I still have doubts however, about the rise in distortion with higher frequencies. It's a common Class-D 'flaw' that only few seems to be borthered with. At first you see 100dB SINAD which is nice, but at the same time THD+N is -65dB @ 3watts and -55dB @ full power around 15KHz.
Not common to all class D, only the simpler designs. Check out Purifi and it has the best treble distortion of any class and price.

Also the audibility of treble distortion is lower, and music signal is not as high in that region as the multi tone tests.

Overall a "tier 4" out of 4 of all class D topologies imo.
 
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Hi

For many years, the term Chi-Fi was derogatory...
Is it now with the avalanche of sensibly priced (lowly?)superior performance, high functionality gears these companies are churning incessantly?
In this specific case: So much power and convenience for so little money ...
Wait until these people start making AVRs...
...

... And Loudspeakers.

Peace.
 
So what's in a musical recording at such high frequencies?

What commonly used acoustic music miking mics - I'm not talking about the ones used for some unrealistically well-made test recordings to show that there are harmonics at a high level after placing the mic in the mouthpiece of the trumpet or flush with the piano strings at the very end of the soundboard -, go above 20-21 Khz? Not the great Neumans anyway. Some B&K go higher but they don't have much to capture when they are 2 m or more from the instruments to be recorded... And what is there to record at these frequencies in a concert hall ?

Not much and on an infinitesimally small level...

What effects potentiated with each other could have effects an octave or two lower that would measure up and be found in the audible band?

I don't know... if someone can tell us...
One speaker manufacturer which has a model using twin metal-dome tweeters with corresponding response mess over 25kHz or so, says it doesn't matter as there's nothing up there to set them off and of course, I'd politely suggest that most owners of said speaker can't hear above 15kHz anyway due to age ;) Having seen the dire things B&W and KEF tweeters do these days, it kind of sets alarm bells ringing for steady state noise and so on, even if most music tracks have little to nothing above 17kHz or so.

@Mulder, I'd just rather not have these tweeter 'tin can' resonances in the first place and also, driven by an amp which is basically 'clean' and noise free up to 30 - 40kHz or so, maybe gently tailing off above that. It's just me I suspect, brought up in an earlier era of amplification, that's all. It's all a compromise, I accept that :)
 
I don't have the same feedback around me as you ;-)
and maybe, don't blame me, we're all entitled to it, age helps too and the impact on hearing by going up in frequencies...

ps the latency for video use and the history of heat dissipation are really the two things to check it seems to me for this little all-in-one ;-)
I assure you not only do my ears hear the unbearable distortions of 33 rpm recordsin the treble played according to the rules of the art, but my entourage is full of young people who are no more bothered than me by the sound that comes out of these little amps. .. neither me nor many people who own them on ASR and speak of them in very glowing terms.
 
Now this is an integrated amp with not only fine measurements but also useful features which are unfortunately missing on most other inexpensive amps, both from old big and new small brands.

I see great future in this brand. :cool:
 
I hope that there will be a day when someone, or some company, or some team, or whatever, will organize a very thorough double blind test with 100 plus people to finally get a definitive answer on what kind of distortions (and at what level) are audible or not. Things like amplifier distorion levels, different amplifier topologies, different speaker membrane materials, above 20KHz break-ups etc... It has me curious. Maybe it's just my ignorance on the subject and has it been done already?
 
Excellent performance. Whenever I have need for a 2-channel amp, can't see any reason to spend more than this, even ignoring everything else this little gem can do.

Now, Wiim, get on making a multichannel amp and/or full-fledged AVR pretty please!
The challenge with AVRs is that they’re multiple orders of magnitude more complicated when it comes to the software and firmware side.

You have to integrate all of the surround formats (plus pay licensing fees to Dolby and DTS), you have to develop or license a room correction system, you have to handle video signal routing now as well, you have to include many more amp channels, and you have to make all of that work in the same box without electrical noise from the various components bleeding in to everything else.

The smaller company AVRs have had some innovative features, but the affordable ones such as those from Emotiva or Monoprice have been plagued by software/firmware issues.

Granted the really fancy boys like Trinnov and Storm Audio have figured it out, but when you’re making a cost-is-no-object type of product you can afford to hire good software developers apparently.
 
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