WiiM Amp Streaming Amplifier Review

[Ze Frog]

Andrew Robinson panned on it and that was confusing to me...he's increasingly coming across as a douche.

I plan on using it in the following set-up:

1. Pro-Ject Debut Pro S Turntable
2. Ifi Audio Zen Phono Stage
3. WiiM Amp
4. Wharfedale Diamond 12.1
5. Klipsch R-8SW Subwoofer (down firing, small SW that will sit in a IKEA Kallax shelf)

I'd be extremely weary of Andrew Robinson or indeed any of the main 'reviewers'.

They all have a vested interest in not hyping certain products, a small manafacturer comparatively, who sells at a reasonable price... well there's not much financial gains to be had from them. As for Andrew, he has steadily grown more and more pig headed as time goes by, happens to them all, having a YouTube channel really does strange things to people. Hell, even Cheap Audio Man has become one of the pompous types where originally his channel was the anti audiophool type deal.

 

[Ze Frog]

Dummy question regarding that load dependency issue here: Will its nature and amount (if any) be depending directly on the connected speaker set? In a way, that this issue could change/vanish with connecting a different speaker set?

To be fair, the change is going to be so small it's a non issue, especially as people have already stated, it has EQ so effectively you can remove the issue anyway.

Unless you have speakers verging on overly bright already, I highly doubt you will notice a difference either way. Plus it's high up in frequency so unless you are a teenager and can hear beyond 17 Khz it's no problem. Especially for £300. If this was a £3000 amp, then yeah, I'd be more concerned just because I'd feel the engineering wasn't matching my outlay. I'm meant to be getting rid of gear, lol, but I'm very nearly at the point of getting one of these, it's an absolute steal.

 

[effj]

Anybody using one of these yet? And if so please specify speakers used and how your experience is so far?

I purchased a Wiim Amp this week as soon as I saw @amirm ’s review and read about the product. My first impressions after having it a few days are as follows.

It checks all the high-priority boxes for me:
- Within my budget
- 2-way crossover
- SPDIF inputs for my CD players and TV
- Streaming from PC (PC USB would’ve been ideal but Chromecast is good enough)
- Supported impedance down to 4 Ohms
- Primarily digital inputs
- At least 40 or 50 watts / channel
- Remote control
- Doesn’t sound cheap when it plays

Other things I really like:
- Very small size
- Looks very nice
- Network music player
- Comprehensive smartphone app

Could be better but is tolerable:
- Maximum idle standby timer option is 20 minutes (too low)

Would be nice to have:
- PC USB connection or the same playback features in the Windows app as the iPhone app
- Subwoofer gain up/down buttons on the remote control

I really can’t complain, though. This thing is beyond awesome considering the price.

I have two Wharfedale EVO 4.4 floor standers that I listen to at very close range, and one Klipsch SPL-120 sub.

 

[Endibol]

It isn't very much broken though:

Fosi Audio TB10D Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and is only sale for US $70 on Amazon including shipping. We have the typical compact desktop aluminum case. Controls feel nice for the class. Tone controls are not centered...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Maybe his sample wás…

 

[ocinn]

View attachment 353464

(down the notes of the link you posted)

What's fair is fair.

Damn this is really embarrassing for me.

When I was a little kid my parents stopped doing Easter with me because I would stare directly at a bright pink egg surrounded by green grass and not be able to see it. Apparently I haven’t changed much since then since I completely missed that.

Apologies to everyone in this interaction!

Anyways, kudos to wiim for the feature. I believe it is one of the only somewhat competent amps apart from the absolutely fantastic Sabaj A30A in this relative price range to offer this.

Would love to see a delay feature added to these products. More often than not, just phase inversion isn’t enough to optimize the transfer function and integrate subwoofers perfectly, but obviously the processing power to retain a buffer to do this would likely knock it out of this wonderful price bracket. Hopefully in a few years we get “Minidsp Flex + 3E TPA3255PFFB” functionality and performance under $400 or so.

 

[Ze Frog]

I purchased a Wiim Amp this week as soon as I saw @amirm ’s review and read about the product. My first impressions after having it a few days are as follows.

It checks all the high-priority boxes for me:
- Within my budget
- 2-way crossover
- SPDIF inputs for my CD players and TV
- Streaming from PC (PC USB would’ve been ideal but Chromecast is good enough)
- Supported impedance down to 4 Ohms
- Primarily digital inputs
- At least 40 or 50 watts / channel
- Remote control
- Doesn’t sound cheap when it plays

Other things I really like:
- Very small size
- Looks very nice
- Network music player
- Comprehensive smartphone app

Could be better but is tolerable:
- Maximum idle standby timer option is 20 minutes (too low)

Would be nice to have:
- PC USB connection or the same playback features in the Windows app as the iPhone app
- Subwoofer gain up/down buttons on the remote control

I really can’t complain, though. This thing is beyond awesome considering the price.

I have two Wharfedale EVO 4.4 floor standers that I listen to at very close range, and one Klipsch SPL-120 sub.

Thankyou.
It's nice to see actual views of owners living with it. I think I'm going to buy one even if just as an emergency stand in. Imagine, this is their first amplifier, god only knows what future stuff will be like from them. Now if only they did a matching CD player.

 

[Matt_Holland]

released

Anybody using one of these yet? And if so please specify speakers used and how your experience is so far?

Using mine with old Panasonic Plasma TV (ARC control) and Revel M16 speakers. I stream Amazon music using my iPhone. I haven’t used the supplied remote control once and all my family can use it. Once setup it’s essentially invisible.

Couldn’t be happier with functionality and sound.

I work in the custom install industry in the UK and a lot of people are testing these as a genuine Sonos multi-room alternative.

I think it’s a game changer. There is literally no risk in buying the Wiim amp in my opinion.

 

[Joffy1780]

Damn this is really embarrassing for me.

When I was a little kid my parents stopped doing Easter with me because I would stare directly at a bright pink egg surrounded by green grass and not be able to see it. Apparently I haven’t changed much since then since I completely missed that.

Apologies to everyone in this interaction!

Anyways, kudos to wiim for the feature. I believe it is one of the only somewhat competent amps apart from the absolutely fantastic Sabaj A30A in this relative price range to offer this.

Would love to see a delay feature added to these products. More often than not, just phase inversion isn’t enough to optimize the transfer function and integrate subwoofers perfectly, but obviously the processing power to retain a buffer to do this would likely knock it out of this wonderful price bracket. Hopefully in a few years we get “Minidsp Flex + 3E TPA3255PFFB” functionality and performance under $400 or so.

To err is human.

 

[GiBo61]

Damn this is really embarrassing for me.

When I was a little kid my parents stopped doing Easter with me because I would stare directly at a bright pink egg surrounded by green grass and not be able to see it. Apparently I haven’t changed much since then since I completely missed that.

Apologies to everyone in this interaction!

Anyways, kudos to wiim for the feature. I believe it is one of the only somewhat competent amps apart from the absolutely fantastic Sabaj A30A in this relative price range to offer this.

Would love to see a delay feature added to these products. More often than not, just phase inversion isn’t enough to optimize the transfer function and integrate subwoofers perfectly, but obviously the processing power to retain a buffer to do this would likely knock it out of this wonderful price bracket. Hopefully in a few years we get “Minidsp Flex + 3E TPA3255PFFB” functionality and performance under $400 or so.

I completely agree with you about the Sabaj A30a. In an ideal world the hardware of the Sabaj coupled with the constant firmware updates that Wiim provides for their products would lead to the production of a killer integrated amplifier.

 

[harkpabst]

Anyways, kudos to wiim for the feature. I believe it is one of the only somewhat competent amps apart from the absolutely fantastic Sabaj A30A in this relative price range to offer this.

Hey, at least you've been worrying about the right thing. Unfortunately, some wannabe experts still talk BS about how you absolutely "must" match your sub to your speakers' "natural" roll-off (and.all tgings natural must be good, right? ). No, not with proper bass management!

Would love to see a delay feature added to these products. More often than not, just phase inversion isn’t enough to optimize the transfer function and integrate subwoofers perfectly, but obviously the processing power to retain a buffer to do this would likely knock it out of this wonderful price bracket.

I'd love to see that, too. Pretty much every sub allows polarity inversion, anyway, so having it in the app is more of a convenience feature. Not sure if it's realistic to ask for it.

At least WiiM are targeting these things in the right order, starting with most useful features.

 

[Krusty09]

What types of filters are they using? Bttrworth, bessel, link w/Riley? Also can you change it to 12 18 24 . Or are they just fixed in a way.

Just wondering .

 

[NTK]

What types of filters are they using? Bttrworth, bessel, link w/Riley? Also can you change it to 12 18 24 . Or are they just fixed in a way.

Just wondering .

From a very quick look, the filters seem to be 4th order Linkwitz Riley (-6 dB at corner frequency instead of -3 dB). Below is the calculated response from LR4 filters with Fc = 250 Hz.

[Edit] Below is Erin's measurement.

 

[Descartes]

Thank Amir, I just bought one and paired it with a pair of KEF LS50 that I had laying around!

 

[Brantome]

Thank Amir, I just bought one and paired it with a pair of KEF LS50 that I had laying around!

I think, therefore I Amp

 

[Ze Frog]

Thank Amir, I just bought one and paired it with a pair of KEF LS50 that I had laying around!

How does it fare with the LS50, the LS50 being pretty power hungry?

 

[Shallow]

I would like to buy this amp to use in a very near field setup. I read a while ago that some units from earlier batches had buzzing/humming sound. That sound would be obvious and distracting in my setup. Has that problem be resolved in newer batches? Thanks.

 

[staticV3]

I would like to buy this amp to use in a very near field setup. I read a while ago that some units from earlier batches had buzzing/humming sound. That sound would be obvious and distracting in my setup. Has that problem be resolved in newer batches? Thanks.

Yes.

 

[56suited]

I'd be extremely weary of Andrew Robinson or indeed any of the main 'reviewers'.

They all have a vested interest in not hyping certain products, a small manafacturer comparatively, who sells at a reasonable price... well there's not much financial gains to be had from them. As for Andrew, he has steadily grown more and more pig headed as time goes by, happens to them all, having a YouTube channel really does strange things to people. Hell, even Cheap Audio Man has become one of the pompous types where originally his channel was the anti audiophool type deal.

He was the first YouTuber for HiFi that I found. Then Cheap Audio Man. Do you have any reviewers that you like or that seem to come across as genuine?

 

[Ze Frog]

He was the first YouTuber for HiFi that I found. Then Cheap Audio Man. Do you have any reviewers that you like or that seem to come across as genuine?

I only trust Amir and Erin to be honest, they provide more than subjective opinions and allows you to see if something is worth a try. Everything else is just people forming an opinion wether it's for gain or intended to be honest. Either way, without some kind of evidence like measurements etc, it's just a total crapshoot.

 

[Krusty09]

I only trust Amir and Erin to be honest, they provide more than subjective opinions and allows you to see if something is worth a try. Everything else is just people forming an opinion wether it's for gain or intended to be honest. Either way, without some kind of evidence like measurements etc, it's just a total crapshoot.

That's an interesting point of view.