WiiM Amp Streaming Amplifier Review

[Head_Unit]

I have to mount this on its side, obviously maybe not great for heat dissipation, but that's all the room I have on the shelf behind my tilted TV. Should I have it knob up or knob down?

 

[harkpabst]

I have to mount this on its side, obviously maybe not great for heat dissipation, but that's all the room I have on the shelf behind my tilted TV. Should I have it knob up or knob down?

The top of the body is closed anyway, so there's no heat transfer by convection of air moving through the case. Mounting the WiiM Am on its side should be fine. I've seen it done before.

How would you actually "mount" it and to what surface?

I wonder if there is enough space left around the WiiM Amp Ultra for radiation. This and you cable management requirements should be your primary concern.

 

[somebodyelse]

I have to mount this on its side, obviously maybe not great for heat dissipation, but that's all the room I have on the shelf behind my tilted TV. Should I have it knob up or knob down?

I think it might actually be better on its side - that'll place the fins of the bottom heatsink (covered by the plastic base) vertically and encourage convective flow through the slots - see teardown video for details. It's hard to know which orientation would be better (if either) as the main sources of heat are the SMPS on one side and the amp on the other, and it's not clear which is greater. I'd suggest putting the warmer side at the bottom if there is one, otherwise whichever is more stable with cables, or just looks better. Processor cooling is near the middle of the top panel and may also benefit from the top now being vertical, but won't be affected by which side is up.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I have to mount this on its side, obviously maybe not great for heat dissipation, but that's all the room I have on the shelf behind my tilted TV. Should I have it knob up or knob down?

I doubt that it matters, but if you need frequent access to the knob, which is better for convenience?

 

[Head_Unit]

I doubt that it matters, but if you need frequent access to the knob, which is better for convenience?

I hope I don't need frequent access because that is difficult.

 

[SuicideSquid]

Grabbed one of these on a Black Friday Sale for $350 CAD and set it up last night.

Really impressed with it. Feels great, looks great, was super simple to set up. I was planning to connect an SMSL PL150 CD player to it via optical and realized I had forgotten to order an optical cable. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that WiiM included HDMI, Optical, and RCA cables in the box. A tiny think like that, that couldn't have cost the company more than a couple bucks, is so nice to see.

Here's my new secondary listening space. Living room's got the main surround setup with Denon AVR4700 and Totem Forests. This is my den with the WiiM Amp, SMSL Pl150 cd player, and a pair of speakers I made a couple of years ago, modelled after the Totem Model 1 but with much more neutral voicing.

 

[SlowJim]

I dig the woodwork. Assuming those are rear ported? If so, they might benefit from a little bit of separation from the wall.

 

[SuicideSquid]

I dig the woodwork. Assuming those are rear ported? If so, they might benefit from a little bit of separation from the wall.

They are rear-ported. Room functionality takes precedent over ideal sound quality for this room (in the living room the forests are a full 12" from the wall with a sound panel behind them).

That said I don't have a sub in this setup so the bit of bass boost provided by proximity to the wall is mostly beneficial.

And re: the woodwork, thank you, did it all myself. Tonnes of work but very pleased with how it turned out.

 

[SlowJim]

Has anyone measured an improvement connecting an external dac now that we can use USB out?

 

[Burnside]

Has anyone measured an improvement connecting an external dac now that we can use USB out?

You’d need to then connect that to a totally different device as you couldn’t loop that back into the WiiM Amp.

 

[SlowJim]

Ah I see. Thanks

 

[Chrispy]

Has anyone measured an improvement connecting an external dac now that we can use USB out?

What improvement could there be?

 

[SlowJim]

Just trying to think through a way to overcome the SQ limitations of the Wiim amp. I think the amp is likely the limiting factor, not the DAC. You could probably gain some performance by using the USB out into a transparent DAC and then a higher quality amp... but at that point it would be easier to just upgrade to the Amp Pro instead.

 

[Matt_Holland]

Just trying to think through a way to overcome the SQ limitations of the Wiim amp. I think the amp is likely the limiting factor, not the DAC. You could probably gain some performance by using the USB out into a transparent DAC and then a higher quality amp... but at that point it would be easier to just upgrade to the Amp Pro instead.

The Amp Pro is a downgrade from the Amp Ultra.

If you want the Wiim user experience but a more powerful amp, you can partner the Wiim Ultra (streamer) with the amp of your choice.

EDITED as I thought this was the Amp Ultra thread.

 

[Chrispy]

Just trying to think through a way to overcome the SQ limitations of the Wiim amp. I think the amp is likely the limiting factor, not the DAC. You could probably gain some performance by using the USB out into a transparent DAC and then a higher quality amp... but at that point it would be easier to just upgrade to the Amp Pro instead.

What are the SQ limitations, tho?

 

[somebodyelse]

What are the SQ limitations, tho?

The main one's the load dependency. It's not insurmountable because you can use the PEQ to correct if it's a problem with your speakers, but it's more complicated to sim or measure than most will be happy with.

 

[gwing]

Just trying to think through a way to overcome the SQ limitations of the Wiim amp. I think the amp is likely the limiting factor, not the DAC. You could probably gain some performance by using the USB out into a transparent DAC and then a higher quality amp... but at that point it would be easier to just upgrade to the Amp Pro instead.

Or alternatively change to any of the more flexible amp-less Wiim mini/pro/pro+/ultra and the amplifier of your choice thus avoiding the same conundrum if you become unhappy with the amp section of the Amp Pro.

 

[kaintfm]

Bought this for my parents to run a pair of Micca MB42 G2s and it's kind of insane.

This level of DSP control, 10 parametric EQ with possible Low and High Shelf, with the ability for separate EQ for both Left and Right speaker? That usually costs what this entire system costs (without using a PC). Throw in a fair DAC, a pre-amp with easy adjustment of -10/10 decibels, and a good speaker amplifier with more than enough just for typical bookshelf speakers?

This is without considering all the easy streaming music options, HDMI Arc for easy TV volume control, Alexa, Google, etc controls, excellent and simple bluetooth remote with voice controls?

Needless to say, my parents are very happy with the results.

 

[SlowJim]

My Wiim Amp received a firmware update today and I now have 3 options for DAC filtering. Would be interested to know if there are any measurable differences.