Wiim announce WiiM Amp Ultra

[chelgrian]

Personally I wouldn't put too much faith in Arylic's characterization, or let it lead to speculative concern about Wiim product longevity. Who knows what sort of support contract may/may-not have been negotiated, who knows how the chip vendor's firmware stack might play into it, etc.

But I do worry that these networked audio devices are inherently vulnerable to defacto obsolescence sooner or later. I doubt anyone will be buying an old Wiim amp at a thrift store in 2065 and having it "just work", as is commonplace today with amps and receivers from the 80's.

There is nothing other to go on than speculation and rumour given the lack of statements and given the things we do know are:

- Linkplay removing AirPlay sending support even from old products

- Linkplay not having AirPlay at all in newer products

- Older Linkplay products from WiiM having Spotify lossless support

- Older Linkplay products from at least one 3rd party vendor not having Spotify lossless support and the company making a statement that Linkplay won’t support them to add it.

Yes there must be more to all this than meets the eye but I’m not going to give any of the companies involved the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Shrek6]

Bit the bullet and bought one with the holiday discount. I don't think I need any of the extra stuff vs the Amp Pro, but after shopping for furniture, the $100 difference seemed trivial in comparison. Maybe the touch screen on the front will improve longevity, in case the mobile application ever stops working. I would have usually waited for measurements, but I figured they've earned the benefit of the doubt at this point.

It's kind of perplexing that better bluetooth codecs are missing. To have all these features, but no aptX or LDAC? Bizarre.

 

[chelgrian]

Bit the bullet and bought one with the holiday discount. I don't think I need any of the extra stuff vs the Amp Pro, but after shopping for furniture, the $100 difference seemed trivial in comparison. Maybe the touch screen on the front will improve longevity, in case the mobile application ever stops working. I would have usually waited for measurements, but I figured they've earned the benefit of the doubt at this point.

It's kind of perplexing that better bluetooth codecs are missing. To have all these features, but no aptX or LDAC? Bizarre.

The basic aptX is really no better than SBC you can get as far as aptX HD without licensee fees as the patents have expired but you wouldn’t be able to use the trade mark. The most recent aptX are still under patent protection.

LDAC also requires a licence and the decoder is entirely proprietary and must be licensed from Sony.

For example no Apple products support any form of aptX or LDAC either,

Bluetooth is pretty fragile the better LDAC and aptX codecs need the theoretical maximum of ~1Mbit/s provided by the relevant radio mode of Bluetooth however you almost never get this as it needs essentially perfect RF conditions and to be sitting on top of the receiver. In most cases these codecs will be scaling down to a much lower bitrate.

We have to assume that Linkplay are either unwilling or unable to license Airplay, aptX or LDAC.

 

[kyuu]

I can understand being a bit bummed about the Bluetooth codec support if that's intended to be your main playback method (although honestly it's typically fine). But since these are intended to live on your network, which your phone or whatever other device you are playing from is also connected to presumably, most people should typically not be using Bluetooth most of the time.

 

[cusx]

What’s the best way to connect USB-C from a MacBook to a WiiM Amp Ultra? Is the Douk U2 enough, or should I get the U2 Pro, or something else? And for output, should I use Toslink or coax?

 

[staticV3]

What’s the best way to connect USB-C from a MacBook to a WiiM Amp Ultra? Is the Douk U2 enough, or should I get the U2 Pro, or something else? And for output, should I use Toslink or coax?

The Amp Ultra doesn't have Coax in, so Toslink is the only choice.

Which USB to Toslink adapter you use does not affect sound quality.

Some less expensive options include the Cubilux SPDIF adapter and Hifime UT23.

Note that many of these adapters will disable the default MacOS volume control, so you will only be able to control volume using the WiiM remote, WiiM volume knob, WiiM Home App, and any volume sliders built into your playback software.

But the keyboard volume up/down keys won't work.

There are USB to Toslink adapters that preserve MacOS default volume control capability, but finding them is tricky.

 

[ianjams21]

Anyone have suggestions for this chain, since I still want to utilize my schiit equipment. Currently using JBL LSR305 and planning to upgrade to LS50 Meta + Sub with Wiim Amp Ultra.

There will be re-conversion (Digital > Analog > Digital) but thinking sound will still be better if first going through Schiit Bifrost 2/64.

 

[obsessive9119]

That seems like a lot of unnecessary steps.

Why not just
WiiM -> jotunheim -> amp -> speakers

You won’t hear the difference between the DACs and you don’t need the equalizer when you have PEQ.

 

[ianjams21]

That seems like a lot of unnecessary steps.

Why not just
WiiM -> jotunheim -> amp -> speakers

You won’t hear the difference between the DACs and you don’t need the equalizer when you have PEQ.

I wanna use the schiit equipment + the DSP and HPF/LPF of the wiim amp ultra.

But will this degrade the quality and I should just go Wiim amp ultra to KEF LS50 meta directly?

 

[obsessive9119]

I wanna use the schiit equipment + the DSP and HPF/LPF of the wiim amp ultra.

But will this degrade the quality and I should just go Wiim amp ultra to KEF LS50 meta directly?

You could do

WiiM (rca) -> amp -> speakers
WiiM (optical) -> bifrost -> jotunheim -> headphones

That keeps the headphone amp out of your signal path and still lets you use most of your schiit gear.

I don’t think you’re gonna get any positives , and maybe some negatives, from running everything though the ADC input. It’d be a PITA to use (which components are controlling volume?) and you can’t really use the WiiM for its primary purpose (streaming).

 

[ianjams21]

You could do

WiiM (rca) -> amp -> speakers
WiiM (optical) -> bifrost -> jotunheim -> headphones

That keeps the headphone amp out of your signal path and still lets you use most of your schiit gear.

I don’t think you’re gonna get any positives , and maybe some negatives, from running everything though the ADC input. It’d be a PITA to use (which components are controlling volume?) and you can’t really use the WiiM for its primary purpose (streaming).

Thanks for the feedback, thats a good suggestion. I guess we've come a long way and there really won't be much of a difference between the Schiit Bifrost 2/64 and Wiim Amp Ultra DAC?

Will be using PC mainly as the source since its for a near-field desktop setup.

 

[obsessive9119]

Thanks for the feedback, thats a good suggestion. I guess we've come a long way and there really won't be much of a difference between the Schiit Bifrost 2/64 and Wiim Amp Ultra DAC?

Will be using PC mainly as the source since its for a near-field desktop setup.

If you’re using a PC, what role is the WiiM playing? Just room correction/PEQ? You could do that in software

 

[ianjams21]

If you’re using a PC, what role is the WiiM playing? Just room correction/PEQ? You could do that in software

Besides the room correction and PEQ, high Pass for the speakers also and subwoofer connection.

 

[Shrek6]

So far so good

 

[Descartes]

Has anyone used this with an iPad to get Apple Hi-Res playing using an RCA to USBc cable connection?

 

[Inertiaman]

At long last, the review we've all been waiting for . . .
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/wiim-amp-ultra-streaming-amplifier.68501/

 

[SoundMagic]

Has anyone used this with an iPad to get Apple Hi-Res playing using an RCA to USBc cable connection?

You would need to connect a DAC to your iPad and RCA out from DAC to the RCA input to the amp ultra. If you have a lightning port you would also need a lightning to camera adapter.

I run Apple Lossless through a 7th gen iPad connected to a topping d10 and RCA out of it.

 

[staticV3]

You would need to connect a DAC to your iPad and RCA out from DAC to the RCA input to the amp ultra.

USB->Optical->WiiM would be the logical choice as it's less expensive and without unnecessary double conversion - just straight digital.

 

[SoundMagic]

USB->Optical->WiiM would be the logical choice as it's less expensive and without unnecessary double conversion - just straight digital.

Yes that would work. Better to check the bit rates supported by the converter. If the do 24/192 then good enough for Apple Lossless. I play DSD files and the converters do not work for me.