WiiM Amp Pro Streaming Stereo Amplifier Review

[V.b.]

Any way to let my speakers play down to 60hz or so but still let the subwoofer handle <80hz?

Currently using Dali Oberon 1 + KEF Kube 12b, small 3x3.2m bedroom with a queen-size bed so don`t really have much room to rearrange stuff, bass is not that great on main listening position, played with crossover between 50-100hz but doesn't really make a difference, mostly I miss that chest thump feeling, atm I can only really achieve it by using the "Main speakers output bass" toggle, effectively letting the speakers play full-range + sub crossed at 80hz

Can't say I'm unsatisfied with how it sounds but been wondering about this lately. Adding another subwoofer is definitely not in my plans since the bed itself takes half the room, then there's a nightstand, desk and computer, very limited space and the only place I could possibly put another sub was also very thin on bass for my MLP

Tried room correction from the WiiM app and overall it does sound better to me but didn't really do much for the low-end

Planned on buying the UMIK-1 for better room correction but still, assuming my speaker positioning/MLP indeed does suck (and I can't really do much about it unfortunately) what'd you guys do? Currently using "Main speakers output bass" + crossover sub anywhere from 60-80hz does it for me but I wonder how much better it could be with everything perfectly integrated, though since I can't do much about repositioning maybe I'm at a loss here?

You can set a 60Hz subwoofer crossover and check subwoofer bypass mode. After that sub gets full range and you can play with subwoofer's own LPF.

 

[gasolin75]

The dac and power

Get the amp pro and a tablet or use a tablet if you need a screen,monitor

 

[gabo4au]

Was looking for something to use with a pair of speakers, a nice sub, and bluetooth streaming from my phone. This looks like the perfect solution and has additional capabilities for future uses. Nice looking product. Thanks for the review!

 

[gabo4au]

Was looking for something to use with a pair of speakers, a nice sub, and bluetooth streaming from my phone. This looks like the perfect solution and has additional capabilities for future uses. Nice looking product. Thanks for the review!

Update: I received my WiiM amp pro and love the sound and operation. However there does seem to be one problem that is a bit odd. Maybe it's due to my niche usage.

For what I'm doing, I set up the amp in my house, which has Wifi. I updated the firmware and set up a few things on the unit.

Then I transported it to the place it's going to live, which is a remote seasonal cabin. The cabin does have electricity so it's not actually off grid, but is remote and has no internet access. The usage is just to connect to it via bluetooth with my phone and use Spotify, relying solely on playlists and albums that I download to my phone on spotify. I've been using a JBL boombox for this, which works great, but I wanted to upgrade the sound. The cabin actually has a really nice sounding room and it's a place I can enjoy music.

The problem I'm having is that sometimes songs just skip to the next song. So I'm playing one song, it gets about half way through and just skips to the next song. It does this frequently. I'm not using the Wiim Home App (it requires a network connection to operate), I just turn on bluetooth on my phone, connect to my WiiM Amp Pro, and play spotify.

 

[staticV3]

Update: I received my WiiM amp pro and love the sound and operation. However there does seem to be one problem that is a bit odd. Maybe it's due to my niche usage.

For what I'm doing, I set up the amp in my house, which has Wifi. I updated the firmware and set up a few things on the unit.

Then I transported it to the place it's going to live, which is a remote seasonal cabin. The cabin does have electricity so it's not actually off grid, but is remote and has no internet access. The usage is just to connect to it via bluetooth with my phone and use Spotify, relying solely on playlists and albums that I download to my phone on spotify. I've been using a JBL boombox for this, which works great, but I wanted to upgrade the sound. The cabin actually has a really nice sounding room and it's a place I can enjoy music.

The problem I'm having is that sometimes songs just skip to the next song. So I'm playing one song, it gets about half way through and just skips to the next song. It does this frequently. I'm not using the Wiim Home App (it requires a network connection to operate), I just turn on bluetooth on my phone, connect to my WiiM Amp Pro, and play spotify.

There is an optional IR Remote for the WiiM.

Is it possible that there is some stray IR source in the vicinity, which every so often your WiiM misinterprets as the remote sending a skip command?

I'd try finding the location of the WiiM's IR sensor, taping over it, and seeing if anything changes.

 

[gabo4au]

There is an optional IR Remote for the WiiM.

Is it possible that there is some stray IR source in the vicinity, which every so often your WiiM misinterprets as the remote sending a skip command?

I'd try finding the location of the WiiM's IR sensor, taping over it, and seeing if anything changes.

Ah, that's a good point. I do have the WiiM's IR remote in the cabin. I don't actually know why I took it down with the unit. But maybe it's doing something as you pointed out. I'll retrieve it and take it back to the house. I'll be periodically taking the unit back home and using it so that's where the remote needs to stay.

I've also learned via the WiiM forum that if I have wifi, even without internet, I can then use the home app to configure things. I think I have an old AP that I can take to the cabin. Easy enough to set up a wifi without internet.

 

[staticV3]

I do have the WiiM's IR remote in the cabin. I don't actually know why I took it down with the unit. But maybe it's doing something as you pointed out. I'll retrieve it and take it back to the house.

The source of the stray IR light might not be the remote itself, hence my suggestion to (temporarily) tape off the Amp's IR sensor to eliminate that variable.

If the issue is gone with the IR receiver blocked, then you know what to look for.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

There is an optional IR Remote for the WiiM.

Is it possible that there is some stray IR source in the vicinity, which every so often your WiiM misinterprets as the remote sending a skip command?

I'd try finding the location of the WiiM's IR sensor, taping over it, and seeing if anything changes.

Pretty certain it’s a BT remote.

 

[gabo4au]

Pretty certain it’s a BT remote.

There is an optional IR Remote for the WiiM.

Is it possible that there is some stray IR source in the vicinity, which every so often your WiiM misinterprets as the remote sending a skip command?

I'd try finding the location of the WiiM's IR sensor, taping over it, and seeing if anything changes.

Update: I removed the WiiM's remote from the building and have not had any more problems. Thanks for that suggestion.

 

[ricardomontalbahn77]

Just ordered a wiim amp pro. Will run with my MA Silver 100 and recently acquired Polk R200. Let's see how it goes.

 

[mrehorst]

There is a lot more to a product than the measurements.

I recently bought a Wiim Amp Pro for my bedroom system, but when I discovered that the bass management can be configured as a crossover, I decided to try it in my living room system. Right now I have it hooked to Quad ESL-63s and an SVS 3000 Micro sub with the crossover set at 150 Hz (still playing with that). The sub gives me the lower bass that the Quads never could, and allows them to play louder with low distortion. I think the best thing is the simplicity of it. I mostly stream music from my own server and Tidal. When I want to listen to music, I select what I want using my phone or tablet and the amp and sub wake up and play. When the music is over, the amp and sub go back to standby. There are no buttons to push, and no remotes to juggle. The phone that's always in my pocket is the only remote control needed for both the sub and the amp, and all adjustments can be made from whatever chair I'm sitting in. The amp can be put into a cabinet or under furniture so it's out of sight. I can't see how the UI could be improved.

That's the sort of stuff that a technical review doesn't capture.

 

[ricardomontalbahn77]

Just ordered a wiim amp pro. Will run with my MA Silver 100 and recently acquired Polk R200. Let's see how it goes.

So far I have run the wiim amp pro with both of the speakers above but in different room. Comparing to my Martin Logan Forte amp with room correction, the ML sounds clearer in the high frequencies while the wiim amp pro sounded more subdued in the highs. Briefly tried the room correction for the wiim but it was noticeably worse so i used the peq which worked better. Overall a little dissappointed with the depth of the sound compared to the ML forte with room correction. Will keep playing around with it. Perhaps I need to get used to the subdued highs or adjust the peq further.

 

[kyuu]

Unless the Martin Logan Forte is load dependent and you're getting a boost in the treble with your speakers due to that, there's no reason there should be any difference in the response between the two amps. If you're doing full-range correction (which I would advise against, limit correction to Schroeder) with the ML it's also possible that's applying a boost to the high frequencies. In any case, a simple PEQ filter to boost the treble a bit should alleviate that.

 

[ricardomontalbahn77]

Unless the Martin Logan Forte is load dependent and you're getting a boost in the treble with your speakers due to that, there's no reason there should be any difference in the response between the two amps. If you're doing full-range correction (which I would advise against, limit correction to Schroeder) with the ML it's also possible that's applying a boost to the high frequencies. In any case, a simple PEQ filter to boost the treble a bit should alleviate that.

Forte is reducing treble in the graph after room correction and I adjusted the targets further to reduce high frequency but it still sounds cleaner than the wiim amp pro. Can't think of any other word to describe it. I will try to increase the highs on the peq and see how it goes.

 

[ricardomontalbahn77]

ok now that I have the wiim amp pro dialed in it sounds great. The Forte has a tipped up treble sound signature it seems at least in my room so I had to get used to the wiim amp pro that has a more neutral sound. It is very good, detailed sound with both of my polk r200 and MA silver 1007g speaker sets. Impressed. The power will not blow you away but i is good enough for my use case and very practical with all of the streaming capabilities.

 

[ricardomontalbahn77]

ok now that I have the wiim amp pro dialed in it sounds great. The Forte has a tipped up treble sound signature it seems at least in my room so I had to get used to the wiim amp pro that has a more neutral sound. It is very good, detailed sound with both of my polk r200 and MA silver 1007g speaker sets. Impressed. The power will not blow you away but i is good enough for my use case and very practical with all of the streaming capabilities.

just to add, the included dac playing my old CD player with Optical out through the optical input on the Wiim amp pro is just amazing. Super impressed. The soundstage and detail is really quite good!

 

[SHDK]

Seems like a pretty nice little amp. Any of you guys who can say a bit on how it compares to the Marantz M1?

 

[mrehorst]

I looked into the M1. I can't comment on the sound quality, but software/firmware is very different. Marantz uses Heos, and doesn't have room correction (OK, you can add DIRAC for an extra $169), and only limited bass and treble controls. The Wiim has 10 band PEQ and GEQ, RoomFit, and subwoofer sync. The M1 is 100W/ch into 8 Ohms, but only 125W into 4, so a bit higher power than the WAP. The WAP has comprehensive streaming services, except Airplay. The M1 has Airplay but many fewer streaming services (maybe updates have/will add more). If you're locked into Apple, you don't want the WAP.

You have to add DIRAC bass management (another $349) to get bass management in the M1.

The Wiim Amp Ultra produces 100W in 8 and 200W into 4 ohms and has all the same features as the WAP.

 

[SHDK]

I looked into the M1. I can't comment on the sound quality, but software/firmware is very different. Marantz uses Heos, and doesn't have room correction (OK, you can add DIRAC for an extra $169), and only limited bass and treble controls. The Wiim has 10 band PEQ and GEQ, RoomFit, and subwoofer sync. The M1 is 100W/ch into 8 Ohms, but only 125W into 4, so a bit higher power than the WAP. The WAP has comprehensive streaming services, except Airplay. The M1 has Airplay but many fewer streaming services (maybe updates have/will add more). If you're locked into Apple, you don't want the WAP.

You have to add DIRAC bass management (another $349) to get bass management in the M1.

The Wiim Amp Ultra produces 100W in 8 and 200W into 4 ohms and has all the same features as the WAP.

Thanks.

Sounds like the ultra is more of a competitor to the M1 then the pro. Seems like the ultra has a stronger power supply then the M1 too, at least on paper.

I did some searching and apparently the ultra should be stable down to 2 ohm. Quite impressive, and nice if you have low impedance speakers

 

[louwii]

There's a good black friday deal on the Amp Pro, which I'm interested into. However, I use a DDRC-24 as DAC for DIRAC, so I won't use any of the digital input of the Wiim Amp Pro. Is it still a good purchase, or should I look into something else that's in the same price range?