WiiM Mini Review (Streamer)

[Sel53]

WiiM Mini Measurements
My first tests were using Aiplay 2.0 as initiated by my Roon player. As usual, Airplay itself becomes the bottleneck as we see with Toslink digital out:

My apologies for the simple question… What is the signal actually being measured for the “Toslink digital out” signal? Is it the Toslink being fed through a reference DAC, or something else? It sure doesn’t look like a a Toslink signal itself, but like an audio signal.

If it is a reference DAC, which one please? Doesn’t that show more about the ability of the DAC to tolerate a digital signal’s characteristics, rather than the quality of the digital signal itself?

Or am I just reading this wrong.

Thanks much,
sl

 

[Music1969]

If it is a reference DAC, which one please?

It can't be a DAC because he shows a SINAD of 140 dB with optical out when using WiiM app ...

Clearly it is digital capture

 

[Sel53]

It can't be a DAC because he shows a SINAD of 140 dB with optical out when using WiiM app ...

Clearly it is digital capture

A Toslink signal is an SPDIF signal, right? So I would expect the spectrum to be 2+MHz, not 1kHz. Something decoded the Toslink and made an audio signal. What did that?
Maybe an SPDIF signal analyzer?

 

[Music1969]

A Toslink signal is an SPDIF signal, right? So I would expect the spectrum to be 2+MHz, not 1kHz.

?

The analyzer simply has TOSlink input. Nothing more complicated than that.

Simple digital capture as i said

Have a look at what he wrote for measuring Chromecast Audio toslink output:

I connected the Toslink output of the Chromecast Audio to the input of my APx555 Audio Precision analyzer Toslink input.

 

[Sel53]

?

The analyzer simply has TOSlink input. Nothing more complicated than that.

Simple digital capture as i said

Have a look at what he wrote for measuring Chromecast Audio toslink output:

Thanks for the link.

So it seems the AP analyzer is quite capable of properly decoding the Toslink digital input into the digital domain. But it also seems that really doesn’t show the quality of the Toslink signal itself from the device, upon which a DAC relies and hence may or may not render nicely into an analog signal. I am wondering why this approach was taken rather than, for instance, the jitter measurements done with the Allo Digione.

 

[Music1969]

But it also seems that really doesn’t show the quality of the Toslink signal itself from the device

The only thing that matters with TOSlink source is bit perfect transfer.

My RME bit perfect test file passed 24/192k from WiiM Mini output . Don't need any more information from APx555 for the source side

 

[Jpdelaney.tml]

As of the new firmware, my use case for using the Mini is complete.
1) iPhone 7 (surplus wife's old one for streamer display and remote control.
2) spdif from mini to Yamaha RX-V620
3) spdif from AVR to Balanced/single ended DAC (Soncoz LX)
4) balance out from DAC to Numark SA-3000 amp.
5) single ended out from DAC to CD-in RX-V620
6) Peavey PBX-12 monitor speakers (Numark) and Polk Atrium 4 (RX-V620) when needed.
All old stuff, added new DAC and Mini for $350, and now feel pretty good with my Amazon UHD subscription.
Hurray! Nice job Wiim.

 

[fquails]

One of my three Wiims just upgraded firmware to 4.6.421455. But I can’t find info about what the update was for. And my other two Wiims did not update.

 

[Mat]

So is this a better medium for 48k Airplay than things like the Airport Express or Apple TV for optical-out to a proper DAC (in terms of performance, jitter, whatever), or are they all going to do the same job?

Or maybe more specifically, does the ($120) WiiM perform better than the results of the ($20, used) 1st gen Airport Express?

 

[Music1969]

So is this a better medium for 48k Airplay than things like the Airport Express or Apple TV for optical-out to a proper DAC (in terms of performance, jitter, whatever), or are they all going to do the same job?

Supports only 16/44.1k on Airplay at the moment - exactly like Airport Express

They've asked Apple to approve 24/48kHz but waiting

Apple TV resamples everything to 48kHz

 

[Mat]

Supports only 16/44.1k on Airplay at the moment - exactly like Airport Express

They've asked Apple to approve 24/48kHz but waiting

Apple TV resamples everything to 48kHz

but quality wise, same or better? its funny you mention they want to approve 48k since most people see that as a downside of the ATV, since Airplay is fixed at 41k

I find with the ATV I get random dropouts, buffering, and (there's a trick to this but when cranking my amp volume and putting the music volume to zero, theres a massive amount of noise buried in the signal that auto-mutes after a second of nothing playing, not sure if thats an AppleTV issue or Airplay protocol one). So if there's a streamer that does a better job I'm all for it...

 

[Music1969]

its funny you mention they want to approve 48k since most people see that as a downside of the ATV, since Airplay is fixed at 41k

Well no, they've asked apple to approve 24/48k and WiiM want to try bit perfect

That would be different to an ATV since it resamples everything to 48k, as prev mentioned.

Anyway what they'd like to do and what is technically possible, they're waiting to hear back from Apple

 

[Music1969]

I find with the ATV I get random dropouts, buffering, and (there's a trick to this but when cranking my amp volume and putting the music volume to zero, theres a massive amount of noise buried in the signal that auto-mutes after a second of nothing playing, not sure if thats an AppleTV issue or Airplay protocol one). So if there's a streamer that does a better job I'm all for it...

AirTunes? Are you using a really old model?

My AirPort Express is running latest Airplay2 and works perfectly, no dropouts or strangeness

 

[Mat]

Well no, they've asked apple to approve 24/48k and WiiM want to try bit perfect

Anyway what they'd like to do and what is technically possible, they're waiting to hear back from Apple

But isn't the Airplay 2 standard only capable of sending 44.1? What is the 48k coming from?

AirTunes? Are you using a really old model?

Just what I named my device

 

[fquails]

Has anyone actually verified if Tidal’s claim that its HiFi music is indeed at 1411kbps? How about Apple Music’s Lossless and HiRes files?

 

[Music1969]

Has anyone actually verified if Tidal’s claim that its HiFi music is indeed at 1411kbps?

Tidal's HiFi tier is littered with MQA-CD crapola unfortunately.

Their non-MQA CD quality stuff is proper but unfortunately there is so much MQA CD stuff being release every thing.

Simply connect WiiM Mini to an MQA DAC that supports MQA on optical input (like SMSL M500 Mk2 and another SMSL model) and you will see MQA light up.

This has been discussed in hundreds of MQA threads across various forms.

Apple Music Hi-Res is legit but getting bit perfect 24/192 is a pain (need cables connected to iPhone/iPad).

 

[serious]

Recurring issue with the Wiim Mini. I use it exclusively as an Apple Airplay streamer and it keep disappearing as an option from Airplay's list of devices to stream to. I have to constantly reset it by unplugging the power and it pops back up as a device on the list.

Is there anyway to get around having to constantly unplug it? Any reason why is keeps disappearing from the Airplay list?

 

[Brantome]

Recurring issue with the Wiim Mini. I use it exclusively as an Apple Airplay streamer and it keep disappearing as an option from Airplay's list of devices to stream to. I have to constantly reset it by unplugging the power and it pops back up as a device on the list.

Is there anyway to get around having to constantly unplug it? Any reason why is keeps disappearing from the Airplay list?

WiiM don’t read this forum, so the best way to get this resolved is to raise a ticket within the WiiM app. That will send your device logs to them and allow them to help diagnose and hopefully resolve your issue.

 

[Jim Shaw]

I just offer one more data point to the WiiM topic:

I installed it on my bedroom system. I use the bedroom system for morning classical radio, nighttime Amazon HD, and occasional podcasts.
>It works fine. Setup was a piece of cake. I control it with the Android app on a Pixel 5A. It feeds Toslink to my Denon PMA600NE which feeds a (Elac) subwoofer and a pair of Klipsch RP600Ms. [Not great, but they work, if one doesn't listen too carefully.]
>It sounds fine -- surely sounds much better than the Amazon Echo Input I was using.
>The Android app is quite simple, once you discover where the important buttons are. The app lets me play CD+ quality music, podcasts, and live radio stations that stream.
>I take exception to Amir's refusal to recommend the WiiM just because it doesn't run Roon. Roon is an option, a tax, not a necessity.
>I would consider adding a Wiim to my living room system for more serious listening.
>At $89, the WiiM seems an incredible bargain.

The only thing important to me that isn't there (or I can't find) is a sleep timer for bedtime.
-Just one man's view.

 

[fquails]

The only thing important to me that isn't there (or I can't find) is a sleep timer for bedtime.
-Just one man's view.

Not familiar with your music sources, but when streaming Tidal or Apple Music, the Wiim app has a sleep timer accessed through the current song playing interface. I just tap the 3 dots under the currently playing song’s
artwork. See pic for screenshot while I listened to Apple Music.