Wiim announce WiiM Amp Ultra

[Deleted member 89782]

@john61ct is correct:

View attachment 478411

Unfortunately that won‘t help me in my fututre setup. The power amp will take RCA and XLR.
But good to know anyway, Thank you both.

 

[john61ct]

At this point I've got lots of spare DACs around, even inexpensive "dongle" ones are great SQ these days.

But if you end up wanting to sell your WAU let me know

 

[Deleted member 89782]

At this point I've got lots of spare DACs around, even inexpensive "dongle" ones are great SQ these days.

But if you end up wanting to sell your WAU let me know

Where are you located? I‘d pass it on to you for a bargain price. EU would be perfect.

 

[qirex]

Am I satisfied? Yes and no. It will stay for a while but eventually I will probably buy an Appollon Eigentakt 9040 power amp and something like a WiiM Ultra (not Amp) or a Bluesound Icon as an In-source.

A Node Icon plus outboard amp was my original idea for an upgrade but between Bluesound having some teething usability/stability problems, a 20% price jump, plus their shoehorning of undefeatable meaningless MQA filters into the thing made me take a chance on the Wiim for 1/4 the cost once you factor in a Dirac license. Upgrading my speakers is the more important project anyway and this leaves more budget for that.

 

[john61ct]

Where are you located? I‘d pass it on to you for a bargain price. EU would be perfect.

USA. might be too risky with the tariff snafu situation currently

 

[Deleted member 89782]

USA. might be too risky with the tariff snafu situation currently

Yes indeed. It wouldn‘t be worth all the hassle involved.
I‘ve found another application for it in my study anyway. It will replace a Bluesound device, which I am growing increasingly tiered of. Especially after having seen the great usability performance of the WiiM.

 

[cusx]

I often wonder why WiiM doesn’t just add a USB-C input to their devices. It feels like such a simple upgrade that could make desktop setups cleaner, more modern, and far more convenient.

 

[john61ct]

Many computers output SPDIF already, or you can connect to the mobo headers.

Meantime, USB to optical SPDIF (toslink) converters are not pricey.

Hifime UT23 – USB to Optical SPDIF converter

Hifime USB to Optical converter

The UT23 connects to your computer via USB and sends out an optical SPDIF signal. There is no DAC involved, just the USB to optical feature.

hifimediy.com

USB audio interfaces also do the job

 

[BillG]

I often wonder why WiiM doesn’t just add a USB-C input to their devices. It feels like such a simple upgrade that could make desktop setups cleaner, more modern, and far more convenient.

With the exception of the Ultra (streamer) with its headphone jack, WiiM doesn't seem to be aiming for the desktop market currently. They seem to be focusing more on multi-room setups with their WiiM Mini, WiiM Pro, and Pro Plus models, and TV-centric systems with their amps, none of which have a headphone jack or USB input, but to accept HDMI and optical input.

For the desktop, though, one could always use a DAC-AMP dongle of their choice as analog input into the amps in-line input.

I actually have an older Klipsch PowerGate for my desktop system currently and use an Apple DAC-AMP dongle to get audio from my computer, even though the PowerGate accepts USB audio input. The reason I'm doing it, however, is to bypass its weak DAC subsystem.

Another way to get audio into a WiiM desktop system, would to install a music server application on the PC that supports UPnP-DLNA, Google Cast or SlimProto. The Web app on the PC would then control streaming audio to the Amp over one of the three listed protocols via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

 

[john61ct]

accept HDMI and optical input

That is the Wiim way.

Headphone amp in the Ultra is poor, USB output to a better DAC / HPamp the way to go for that.

The Wiim internal DAC is great though, so going in via TOSlink is IMO the best path to integrate other digital sources.

RCA line-in is good for analog-only sources, to avoid redundant DA/AD conversions.

> Another way to get audio into a WiiM desktop system, would to install a music server application on the PC that supports UPnP-DLNA, Google Cast or SlimProto

Yes LMS (Logitech/Lyrion Music Server) is most excellent, and IMO far better compared to the first two.

I haven't heard of "SlimProto" outside IoT / home automation integration - is "Squeezelite" a very different term or just a different implementation domain?

 

[BillG]

Yes LMS (Logitech/Lyrion Music Server) is most excellent, and IMO far better compared to the first two.

I haven't heard of "SlimProto" outside IoT / home automation integration - is "Squeezelite" a very different term or just a different implementation domain

I use Lyrion with both the Google Cast and DLNA Bridging plug-ins. The former is my preferred protocol, as I'm invested in the Google Cast ecosystem, with SlimProto seeing occasional use, and the latter rare. All things considered, their function and performance is equal to SlimProto for my purposes.

SlimProto is the name of the actual native streaming protocol LMS and the original Squeeze devices use(d). Squeezelite is the headless player application that runs on various devices. Ex. One's PC, Mac, iPad, or Android device.

 

[BillG]

I often wonder why WiiM doesn’t just add a USB-C input to their devices. It feels like such a simple upgrade that could make desktop setups cleaner, more modern, and far more convenient.

I just thought of another rarely discussed option for WiiM desktop use: digital audio output from the HDMI of a graphics card.

Here's how it's enabled on Nvidia cards:

To set up digital audio on your graphics card

 

[somebodyelse]

I haven't heard of "SlimProto" outside IoT / home automation integration - is "Squeezelite" a very different term or just a different implementation domain?

Adding to @BillG's explanation, it goes back to the name of the original company, Slim Devices, and their original hardware device, the SLIMP3, back in 2001. Squeezebox Server was the server software, and the follow-up hardware was called the Squeezebox. The server side got renamed Logitech Media Server when Logitech bought Slim Devices. There are other software players like Squeezelite but with a GUI - SoftSqueeze and SqueezePlay.

 

[john61ct]

For me, computers are just back end infrastructure, I rarely sit using a kb/gui and certainly do not want to for music listening sessions or watching films.

Ideally I would control audio using a remote designed for purpose. Second best from my Android phone or tablet, or maybe (reluctantly) an iPad if I need to go there for Mimir.

So far material skin seems the most recommended, plugin, plus app on the phone or tablet?

There are other software players like Squeezelite but with a GUI - SoftSqueeze and SqueezePlay.

 

[somebodyelse]

So far material skin seems the most recommended, plugin, plus app on the phone or tablet?

Yes - it certainly works better than the included skin on phones and tablets, and you can use the browser's 'Add to home screen' option for an experience close to having an app. I use Squeezer on Android but I think there are others. iPeng is usually the recommended one for iOS I think.

 

[BillG]

So far material skin seems the most recommended, plugin, plus app on the phone or tablet?

Yes, the Material Skin plug-in, and the LMS Material app if on an Android mobile:

GitHub - CDrummond/lms-material-app: Android WebView wrapper for LMS Material Skin

Android WebView wrapper for LMS Material Skin. Contribute to CDrummond/lms-material-app development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

The app is simply a Web view wrapper. So using the server's ip and port as the URL in a Web browser would present the same control interface. Please see the attached screenshot of my doing so from Opera browser on my Android:

 

[somebodyelse]

and the LMS Material app if on an Android mobile:

Does that have any advantage over the browser's 'Add to home page' option?

 

[d00]

I have this Amp Ultra and it's great. It replaced my Yamaha A-S701 + WiiM Ultra.

I like playing and it's OK.

 

[Tom22]

I own it since 10 days now, replaced my Lyngdorf TDAI-1120. Immediately notice much more power (and power reserve) with the KEF LS50 Meta. The Lyngdorf concept of Equibit seems outdated, even though RoomPerfect is great (cf. Amir‘s review of the bigger TDAI). The 1120 is rather weak though.

I especially like:
- fit and finish/design quality
- Roon ready (I am an Apple user, but do not miss Airplay at all)
- RoomFit: I have a Dayton UMM-6, the calibration file can be easily imported in the Wiim app, works perfectly
- enough power for my purpose, I did not exceed 45 % so far
- very nice remote, Bluetooth is handy for me as I often don‘t sit in front of the device
- pricing: I paid just a bit more than 500 EUR which is an absolute bargain!!

Can‘t wait to read Amir‘s review (but I already bought it )

 

[Deleted member 89782]

I own it since 10 days now, replaced my Lyngdorf TDAI-1120. Immediately notice much more power (and power reserve) with the KEF LS50 Meta. The Lyngdorf concept of Equibit seems outdated,

It‘s interesting you say that. Compared to my TDAI 2170 it has noticably less power. That‘s on Dali Epicon 2 speakers.